The city of Bitcoin was a smash hit, but it was defeated in the words "no one used".

Globally, the number of merchants receiving bitcoin payments is growing, but there is always a problem, and most Bitcoin users don't want to spend that number of gold, at least not yet.

Nearly 15,000 merchants accept bitcoin payments

As of April 2019, the number of merchants receiving bitcoin payments was 14,518, and it is on the rise, with most of them concentrated in Europe and the United States. In 2018, the number of Bitcoin ATMs doubled, far exceeding 4,000. These seem to be good indicators of overall popularity.

However, as far as the current situation is concerned, few people are interested in buying Bitcoin with a premium of 8% (the average handling fee of Bitcoin ATM is 8%) on the Bitcoin ATM and then spending the money on the sandwich.

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(Global Bitcoin merchant distribution, source: Coinmap)

Although the above picture is exciting at first glance, the acceptance of Bitcoin by merchants does not mean that people are willing to pay for it.

Although Bitcoin has great application value in high inflation countries such as Venezuela, HODLer from the West seems to only use it for speculation and preservation.

They may be attracted to the freshness of Bitcoin City, but most people won't buy a pizza with Bitcoin at all, because that's probably the most expensive meal they've ever paid.

Encrypted currency billionaire Brock Pierce bought a $1.2 million luxury home in Amsterdam with a bitcoin mortgage, which explains everything.

A billionaire can easily buy a house for $1 million. But this is a bitcoin entrepreneur who doesn't want to sell assets. If he doesn't want to spend even when he buys a house, he will definitely not use Bitcoin to buy coffee.

The concept of Bitcoin City sounds good, however…

Arnhem of the Netherlands claims to be the world's most friendly city for Bitcoin:

(Bitcoin City) By building a bitcoin economy, there is another option in the current financial system.

From wine shops to clothing stores, hotels and restaurants, there are approximately 114 merchants in Arnhem accepting bitcoin payments. Sounds cool.

In fact, if you want, you can stay in the city of the Netherlands and pay only with bitcoin. However, you may prefer not to do this yourself.

Since Bitcoin has gradually entered the mainstream in 2014, the number of people using Bitcoin has declined in recent years as bitcoin prices have soared from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars.

Since the beginning of 2019, there have been fewer than 50 such transactions.

When talking about their own bitcoin payment experience, a user said:

At that time (2015), I felt very stupid… I bought a t-shirt with BTC worth $30… Later, the price of the currency soared. In retrospect, I spent about $1,000 to buy the t-shirt.

Not only Arnhem. He has gone to Amsterdam more than once. The first time he went, he introduced a bicycle rental merchant to a local project called Bitstraat to help the company accept bitcoin payments, and the project is now gone.

Two years later he visited the store again and asked the cashier about the BTC payment. He said that she wiped off the dust of the BTC payment terminal and then replied:

No one really settles with bitcoin, maybe only one or two… But I hope I bought some coins before the price soared.

It costs little to spend bitcoin in developed countries.

Although we have all seen the development of global infrastructure, the reality is that most Bitcoin holders only see it as digital gold. You can't see people buying fast food with jewelry – at least in developed countries like the Netherlands.

That's because their bank card system works very well. Database-based payments are cheap and fast. They have no hyperinflation and have not suffered the whims of dictators. Bitcoiners in the Western world are like Brock Pierce, which is no big deal.

However, although BTC is temporarily not the preferred payment method in developed countries, the number of merchants accepting this payment method is growing. Because it is easy to accept bitcoin payments, you don't need to spend a penny. Therefore, it is at least a good thing to have the opportunity to spend your hodl's funds.

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