According to a recent report by marketing analysis firm SEMRush, Bitcoin has become one of the most popular methods for online payments in Italy.
The cryptocurrency only comes third, behind payment processor PayPal and Italian prepaid cash card provider PostePay.
On average, Bitcoin is used more than 215,800 times per month. On the other hand, American Express is only used 189,000 times.
Other credit cards such as Visa and MasterCard are reportedly only used for direct payments, 33,950 times each month.
As for PayPal that came first, Italians use this well-known payment provider, on average, of about 1,383,000 times each month. While PostePay at second place, is used 1,175,000 each month.
According to an Italian news agency La Stampa in its post:
"Therefore, the days when our country was wary of virtual payments are far away, preferring to pay cash on delivery of the package, or make their own expenses in physical stores."
To come up with those numbers, SEMRush carried out a survey between October 2018 and September 2019.
While what the Italians buy with Bitcoins weren't mentioned on SEMRush's finding, there are indeed many websites and e-commerce platforms that accept cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin as payment.
And here, Italy has recorded significant growth in its e-commerce industry over the last few years, and Bitcoin here has become part of the economy.
Bitcoin being the third-most preferred payment of choice for online purchases is a big feat, given the fact that the general uses of Bitcoin is still significantly low, despite increased awareness.
And SEMRush's study finds that the use of Bitcoin for e-commerce has increased significantly over the last year.
According to data from Coinmap suggests that 15.3% of all Bitcoin-accepting stores around the globe are found in Italy. The country is already having its own cryptocurrency ATMs where users can directly convert their Bitcoin to fiat.
Italy also ranks fourth in terms of countries with the most Bitcoin use.
Another reason behind increased Bitcoin use in the country can be attributed to the fact that cryptocurrencies are considered legal in the country.
However, it should be noted that in its study, SEMRush included payments made using Visa debit or MasterCards through PayPal, as PayPal payments. If these weren’t included under PayPal, it’s possible that Bitcoin wouldn’t make the top five.
