Italians reportedly love bitcoin so much that the cryptocurrency is the third-most used method of payment online in Italy, behind only PayPal and PostePay.
The website Decrypto.co said that means bitcoin is more widely used for e-commerce in Italy than even Visa, Mastercard, and American Express, according to SEMRush, as reported by Italian news site La Stampa. Postepay is a prepaid card service that is co-branded with Visa or Mastercard and is operated by "Poste Italiane" in Italy.
On average, bitcoin is used more than 215,800 times a month in Italy for online purchases, according to data obtained by La Stampa. American Express is used just 189,000 times per month, on average, while other credit cards, such as Visa and Mastercard, are used only 33,950 times every month.
Data from SEMRush indicate that bitcoin transaction activity peaked in Italy this year in June, with roughly 368,000 transactions that month.
Meanwhile, China’s president Xi Jinping said the world’s second biggest economy should accelerate the development of blockchain technology.
Blockchain, a digital ledger that forms the backbone of many cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, should be the core for innovation in China, Xi said last week, Reuters reported.
Bitcoin surged 24% between Friday and Saturday after Xi's comments, touching $10,350 in its biggest two-day jump since the height of its retail-driven bubble in December 2017. Other major cryptocurrencies including ethereum and Ripple's also soared.
Cryptocurrency exchanges are banned in China, though trading is popular on over-the-counter venues, and Chinese buyers account for major volumes on platforms elsewhere, market players say.
Bitcoin has slumped in recent months as politicians and regulators across the world have criticized Facebook’s planned Libra cryptocurrency. It had lost a third since it touched its highest this year in June on hopes that Libra would hasten the mainstream acceptance of virtual coins.
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