Number of Merchants Accepting Bitcoin Surges in 2023

According to CryptoPotato, the number of merchants accepting Bitcoin has been steadily increasing, with data from BTC Map showing that the count reached 6,126 by the end of 2023, up from 2,207 at the beginning of the year. As of January 8, the current number of merchants accepting Bitcoin stands at 6,332, slightly down from the peak of 6,590 observed in late September. Over the past year, the number of active locations has tripled from the January 2023 level of 2,000. Further statistics reveal that 5,535 businesses are open to on-chain transactions, 5,107 merchants are accepting Bitcoin Layer 2 solution Lightning for faster and cheaper payments, and 1,050 vendors are supporting contactless transactions. While concerns about Bitcoin’s volatility persist, its adoption has remained mostly unfazed and has been consistently rising. In response to this demand, merchants of various sizes in diverse fields have expanded their payment options to cater to new audiences. The data also revealed that there were more Bitcoin-accepting merchants in Central and South America, with fewer in Africa and Asia. The United States and Europe also exhibited elevated numbers of venues accepting the flagship crypto asset. Among the latest large organizations to outline support for Bitcoin payments was the Japanese giant – Mercari. It has over 20 million monthly users and will accept the BTC payments starting in June. Meanwhile, the total count of crypto ATMs worldwide has declined from 37,827 on January 1, 2023, to 33,628 on January 1, 2024. 2023 marked a departure from the historical trend, resulting in a net decline in Bitcoin ATMs by the end of the year. The current count of installed crypto ATMs across the world is approximately 11.1% lower than at the beginning of 2023. The United States witnessed the largest drop of 15.4%, falling from 32,672 to 27,631 throughout 2023.