Bitcoin Payments Aren't Dead, They've Just Gone Niche

In September 2017 - a period of surging cryptocurrency prices and publicity - the Lynx Art Collection began offering crypto-themed artworks with litecoin, monero, ether, and bitcoin payment options.

The McKeevers' gallery is just one example of how merchant adoption of bitcoin payments can still be viable for niche businesses that actively engage with the community.

According to the bitcoin payment processor BitPay, the average value of the cryptocurrency payments it processed in 2018 was $678.77 - nearly double its $338.53 average retail payment value in 2017.

Although both BitPay and Purse CEO Andrew Lee, head of a peer-to-peer marketplace that matches Amazon shoppers with bitcoin spenders, declined to specify the overall volume facilitated in 2018, internal data showed Purse traction exceeded previous records since mid-2017 and remained stable throughout most of 2018, regardless of price fluctuations.

According to Lee, there needs to be an incentive that inspires people to spend bitcoin instead of fiat currencies like dollars.

Such is the case with Scottish painter Trevor Jones, one of the artists selling prints for bitcoin through Lynx Art Collection.

As a veteran crypto entrepreneur, Purse's Lee noticed what many niche newcomers are just now discovering: "If you're paid in bitcoin you are more likely to save a lot of it," as he put it.

McKeever said his retailer pays the artists for crypto-themed prints directly in cryptocurrency, and holds roughly a quarter of the gallery's profits from those sales in either bitcoin or ether - and that's in spite of the broader market downturn seen in recent months.

Highlighting this point, in 2018 most buyers who contacted Jones directly also paid for crypto-themed paintings with bitcoin, ether, or monero, which Jones saved in bitcoin as a long-term investment.

Beyond the novelty of adding products based on audience interests, managing their own bitcoin wallets offers the Mckeevers a convenient way to pay European artists like Jones.