Just 12 years into its existence, the Bitcoin network today already processes more dollar value than PayPal, a 23-year-old American digital payments company. Impressive as it is, experts reckon that the network could even outstrip credit card giant Mastercard in the number of dollar transactions value processed, as early as 2026. bitcoin value

In a recent report by market intelligence platform for blockchain and other distributed ledger technology, Blockdata, it was stated that the Bitcoin network processed about US$489 billion per quarter in 2021, which is greater than Paypal’s US$302 billion.

Titled “When might the Bitcoin network process volumes like Mastercard and Visa?” the report said that after just 12 years in existence, Bitcoin processes about 27% of Mastercard’s US$1.8 trillion per quarter, and 15% of Visa’s US$3.2 trillion. “If Bitcoin were to increase its value transferred per transaction today by 260%, it would be processing an equivalent volume to Mastercard on a daily basis,” it added.

Among the three factors that could see the Bitcoin network rise to the level of the two credit card giants in terms of total volume processed according to Blockdata is; the total number of transactions, the average amount of Bitcoin sent per transaction, and the rise of the price of Bitcoin.

The report however could not find current data indicating that the average amount of Bitcoin sent per transaction is on an upswing. While it is inevitable that the trend could change in the future, a rise in price to US$245,000 at the current volume would also bring Bitcoin to match Mastercard by 2026, Blockdata said.

Notwithstanding Bitcoin’s yearly average price, which if placed into consideration, could take as long as 2060 before the network is able to match that of Mastercard. Nevertheless, the report concluded Bitcoin has performed admirably well for a network that began a little over a decade ago.

In comparison to other cryptocurrency in the market though, Bitcoin has shown a steady rise in value over the years. At this point, there are many experts who believe Bitcoin is on its way to passing the US$100,000 mark, with no certainty on when it could actually happen, given its volatile nature.

Of course the Bitcoin network processes a lot more than just payments, people use it to transfer funds to and from services, or even between their own wallets. The point isn’t to say that Bitcoin may overtake Mastercard and Visa as payment rails, but to look at how it is transferring as much volume as some financial household names.

Bitcoin is also a fundamentally different network from Mastercard and Visa. It is more of a “savings technology” than a “spending (more than you have) technology”. Naturally, they appeal to different use cases and audiences.

Overall, there are a growing number of companies across a plethora of industries who are embracing cryptocurrencies, allowing customers to use them as an official method of payment for goods and services. Visa, Mastercard and PayPal are one of them.

How many transactions can the Bitcoin network handle? bitcoin value

The Bitcoin network processed an average of 25 million transactions per quarter over the past year on its base layer, the blockchain. This translates to around 280k transactions per day.

On a whole other level, Mastercard processed an average of 33 billion transactions per quarter over the past year, or 366 million per day. And Visa processed an average of 53.7 billion transactions per quarter over the past year, or 597 million per day. This is where the gap between the networks is staggering, but not without reason.

The Bitcoin network has a limited transaction throughput on its base layer, by design. This ensures that the network can remain decentralized and operated by individuals around the world. Even if these individuals happen to be located in countries with lower internet bandwidth, or forced to hide behind anonymous connections due to their local regime.

However, this limitation at the base layer doesn’t mean the Bitcoin network is limited to processing 280k transactions per day. There are decentralized layers and solutions built on top of the Bitcoin blockchain, which can facilitate a transaction throughput that is many orders of magnitude larger. bitcoin value

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