BitPay’s marketing director, Bill Zielke, told Cointelegraph that of the thousands of merchants the company works with, Twitch is the first primary global logo to offer a cryptography-based promotion. Zielke added:
“We see more and more online merchants interested in cryptocurrencies as a promotional payment method, which is exciting as the maximum marketing payment features are basically reserved for invoices of choice through PayPal. […] Twitch is the first major merchant to embark on this trend. »
According to Zielke, it’s Twitch that offers the 10% subscription reduction, which is vital to note because some would possibly think the promotional offer comes from BitPay. The fact that Twitch offers the promotion is surprising, as the streaming platform turns out to have a quote of love and hate with crypto.
In March 2019, Twitch got rid of its Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) payment features for subscriptions. A Reddit user reported the change and noted that Twitch suddenly deleted BitPay as a payment processor. Another Reddit user noted that Twitch had canceled all of its cryptography-based subscriptions this period. Three months later, Twitch reactivated cryptographic payment features.
While Zielke may simply not refer to Twitch’s sudden replacement for cryptography in 2019, he said Twitch was transparently seeking to attract more crypto users to the platform. “When a company as giant as Twitch offers a cryptocurrency-based promotion for all its customers, it sends a transparent message that they take it seriously,” he said.
Speculation would also lead some to twitch’s growing interest in cryptography steming from the growing popularity of blockchain-based games and the use of virtual assets in virtual worlds. With this in mind, it is vital to note that Twitch is primarily aimed at the player community. Recent statistics also show that more than 16,000 games were played on Twitch in early July, which turns out to be close to the all-time record for the platform.
Trip Hawkins, a gaming pioneer and independent board member for DMarket — a platform for blockchain-based games — told Cointelegraph that he believes crypto will steadily increase in importance over the coming years, notably as a theme in games featuring virtual goods economies and within other game-related services:
“Games are virtual worlds, and virtual worlds gain advantages from the reliability of more coins and reliable payment methods. They can also take advantage of the ownership and tracking mechanisms that cryptography is known for. Therefore, virtual merchants should offer cryptography as long as it is too volatile (for this reason, we have already noticed it several times).
Hawkins also noted that another trend that many live streaming platforms are adopting is the use of cryptography to get suggestions. In December 2019, mobile payment service MenaPay announced Twitch tips using its stable currency MenaCash. The Brave Decentralized Internet Browser also offers tips on YouTube and Twitch.
DMarket founder and CEO Vlad Panchenko also told Cointelegraph that he devised Twitch building a next-generation interactive platform, not only for players but also for other entertainment sectors such as the sports industry, expanding Twitch’s audience and global engagement: “This is the best example of how gaming companies predict long-term by repositioning and reengineering their offerings with cryptography.
Hawkins additionally pointed out that following the cryptocurrency market crash in March, crypto prices have recovered and even stabilized. As such, using crypto as a form of payment for online subscriptions may now be optimal. Echoing Hawkins, Zielke noted that while the cryptocurrency-based promotion offered by Twitch is a bold move, this demonstrates an even larger trend, with more merchants starting to seek and accept crypto-based payments.
According to Zielke, BitPay commissioned a study by Forrester Consulting to show the benefits merchants can receive when accepting crypto payments. Although the study has not yet been released, Zielke was able to share some findings:
“We found that the acceptance of cryptography gives higher average order values, from 2 to 2.5 times higher. We also found that acceptance of cryptography attracted new visitor segments and reduced payment charges. In addition, it is the case that part of the load of classic cryptography -Accept payment strategies almost eliminates debit releases related to fraud ».
Stephan Widmer, executive director of European e-commerce furniture site Beliani, told Cointelegraph that the company had in the past partnered with BitPay in a crusade in which consumers earned a hundred euros (currently $116) on purchases of 400 euros ($465) or more when paid with crypto. He explained that the purpose of the promotion was to attract new consumers while expanding sales of higher value orders. According to Widmer, the effects of the crusade show that the average values of orders are approximately twice as high as credit card sales.
Related: Largest corporations are skeptical about introducing cryptographic payment
While these effects would possibly imply wonderful progress in the adoption of cryptocurrency in the banknote sector, many demanding situations remain. For example, cryptography remains a strange concept for many retailers, which incites the most to chorus. In addition, cryptography-related volatility can be problematic for traders. Michelle O’Connor, vice president of marketing for the uphold virtual payment platform, told Cointelegraph that more is to be done to keep cryptocurrency bills tracked through the general public. O’Connor said:
“When you look at the cryptography industry and the progress made over the last 6 to 12 months to move from hypothesis to overall adoption, it is promising, but there is still a long way to go and innovations to be made. How to invest in cryptocurrency, there are two fields, hodlers and consumers. Until recently, there were very few simple tactics for consumers to spend their cryptocurrencies, or a reluctance to spend due to speculative nature and market volatility.”
However, O’Connor noted that the reluctance to spend cryptocurrencies was beginning to fade, especially as the United States suffers a dollar devaluation. In addition, the benefits related to cryptocurrency invoices are beginning to be known through primary merchants and credit card providers like Mastercard. “By reducing merchant fees, agreement deadlines, and the threat of late billing, corporations look at their existing accepted payment approach and open up to global cryptography,” O’Connor said.