In 2023, the global count of merchants accepting Bitcoin payments nearly tripled, BTC Map, a provider of Bitcoin merchant mapping data, reports.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!According to recent data from BTC Map, the tally of restaurants, bars, shops, and services that were registered to accept the digital asset reached 6,126 by the end of 2023, a significant increase from the initial 2,207 merchants at the beginning of the year.
There was a modest decrease from the peak of 6,590 merchants recorded in late September.
Utilizing open-source mapping data from OpenStreetMap, BTC Map allows businesses and users to mark locations where Bitcoin payments are accepted. As a result, the observed growth might be influenced by users actively contributing businesses to the database.
The map displays higher concentrations of merchants accepting BTC in Central and South America, while fewer such businesses are marked in Africa and Asia. The United States and Europe also exhibit increased numbers of merchants accepting cryptocurrency.
Within Southeast Asia, the Philippines led with the highest number of merchants, while the map indicated a notable absence of such merchants in China, India, and Russia.
Reports in November revealed that numerous merchants accepting cryptocurrency opt to sell these digital assets back to the markets shortly after receiving them.
