Bitcoin Acceptance by Merchants Surges 174% in 2023

Over the past year, the number of organizations accepting the leading cryptocurrency as payment increased from 2,207 to 6,126, marking a 174% rise.

Shadowy Suppertaggers ftw. ? https://t.co/TO0prl431n

— ⚡ BTC Map ⚡ (@btcmap) January 7, 2024

This information was provided by the tracker BTC Map, which uses open-source data from OpenStreetMap. The service allows users to mark locations where Bitcoin is accepted as a payment method.

The highest concentration of such vendors is recorded in Central and South America, with fewer in Africa and Asia.

The United States and Europe show the most significant adoption of crypto payments. In contrast, such adoption is virtually absent in China, India, and Russia.

In early 2024, Japanese online retailer Mercari announced that it will begin accepting Bitcoin from June.

Previously, Italian car manufacturer Ferrari added digital assets as a payment method in the US, with plans to expand this feature to Europe in the first quarter of this year.

In May 2022, Italian fashion house Gucci started accepting digital asset payments in five US stores.

In December 2023, billionaire Elon Musk revealed plans to launch Bitcoin payments on the social network X. The company is currently awaiting financial service licenses.