Morgan Stanley Suggests Crypto Could be More Widely Used as Currency

As it stands people do not use cryptocurrency for everyday goods and payments because the transaction fees are too high, but that is changing according to a Morgan Stanley research report covered by Coindesk. 

The New York-based investment bank also noted that payments company Strike partnered with point-of-sales supplier NCR and Blackhawk Network, meaning Bitcoin will soon be more widely accepted in U.S. stores and restaurants. The key to this is Strike’s planned payment system uses the Lightning Network. 

It is a “layer 2” payment protocol layered on a pre-existing blockchain, designed to enable fast transactions among participating nodes. In addition, the fee to send Bitcoin using the Lighting Network is close to 0, making it even more practical for small transactions. 

Morgan Stanley noted that partnerships with physical stores remain essential for the mass adoption and acceptance of Bitcoin, as over 85% of sales in the U.S. still occur in person rather than online. 

The bank suggested that the historical volatility of Bitcoin has prevented mainstream adoption as a payment method for goods and services, yet sticking with the process might actually solve that problem on its own. In other words, with more adoption perhaps Bitcoin will be less volatile. 

Cryptocurrency is already widely accepted in the digital world, with Ethereum being the dominant cryptocurrency to buy non-fungible tokens (NFTs), with others being Polygon, Solana, Klaytn, etc. The report posited that if more brands enter the metaverse and the digital world, they could accept more payment options including crypto. 

Author: Tyler Irvin

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