As cryptocurrencies weather one of their worst bear markets in recent history, Sydney technology worker Ben Kennedy is using ethereum to pay for his lunch.
“If you look at the crypto market versus rising interest rates and inflation, I would rather take the risk even if the market tanks. I don’t have a whole lot to lose,” he said. Compounding this are fees and transaction time issues, which has severely hampered most efforts to turn crypto into a viable cash alternative. For example, one transaction on the ethereum network costs about 15¢ and takes 13 seconds to complete. On the bitcoin network, fees are about $2 and transactions can take up to an hour.
In the past three months, the majority of Grech’s customers have been spending their bitcoin and ethereum on groceries and restaurants, with fitness and online retail not far behind. This is different to last year – when the market was stronger – when bigger, discretionary spends were more common, he says.
Instead of buying a whole sandwich, theyll be buying half a sandwich.