CURRENT ADOPTION STATE OF CRYPTOCURRENCIES AS AN ELECTRONIC PAYMENT METHOD

The original intention behind Bitcoin, the first decentralized cryptocurrency, was to serve as an electronic payment system allowing peer-to-peer transactions without the need for a trusted third party. Since its introduction in 2009, Bitcoin faced high volatility, performance issues, increased energy consumption, legality issues, criticism and ultimately slow adoption. Additionally, many new cryptocurrency projects arose to utilize the blockchain technology that enables transparent, trusted, fast, efficient, and secure transactions. All new cryptocurrencies, some complementing - some competing Bitcoin, face the same challenges, especially the slow adoption and therefore lag behind the current payment means in e-commerce as digital wallets, banking cards, bank transfers and even cash on delivery. In this paper we examine the current state of adoption of Bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies as means of online payment. The main purpose of our research was to set a starting point for an additional research addressing the main issues for adoption of this promising technology.