I live in the US and saw a BitCoin ATM in a gas station just the other day. I asked the cashier about it and apparently they take BC payments too.
So, at least where I live, you can "buy stuff" with BC.
So, at least where I live, you can "buy stuff" with BC.
Of course the "average" might be more bytes than buying a pack of gum but the argument still holds that the transaction costs are prohibitive for general commerce.
However, there are a number of benefits; for one, average ticket size is about 20% higher for credit transactions vs cash (if I recall correctly) and merchants do not have to hold onto and manage piles of cash. This is a material cost savings.
Further, of that 3%, about 0.1% goes to Visa, the rest goes to the issuing bank and covers the cost of rewards programs and loan origination. Generally speaking between 1 and 2% of that will be rebated to the buyer.
For the remaining 0.9-1.9%, customers get benefits like insurance and the ability to issue chargebacks.
In Europe, debit interchange is capped at 0.2% and credit at 0.3%, and they just don't have insurance or rewards.
As it stands today if you wanted to transact in crypto, not only will you pay the $30 fee, you'll also be paying the mark-up for credit acceptance.
Only bitcoin and ethereum have fees in this range. Other cryptocurrencies do not.
https://bitinfocharts.com/comparison/transactionfees-btc-eth...