The founder of the Ethereum blockchain shared anecdotes about his cryptocurrency payments, predicting the future of transactions.
Despite the democratization of means of payment in cryptocurrencies, there is still a long way to go. Indeed, apart from offerings offered by private companies, from Binance to Lyzi, you need to understand how blockchains work to understand that this type of payment remains difficult.
For example, a bitcoin payment on the bitcoin blockchain will always be slower and more expensive than an alternative payment method, as bitcoin maximalist Kevin Loeck explained to us. Indeed, it can take up to an hour to verify a transaction. Similarly, fees on this blockchain can be high.
“Personal experience”
The operation is no easier on the side of Ethereum, the rival Bitcoin blockchain, which, despite its The Merge update, is often criticized for so-called “gas” fees (i.e. fees for executing a transaction in Ethereum), which are very often too high, because so far blockchain does not scale.
In this regard, the founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, published a new article on his blog called “Some personal impressions of the user.”
He explained how he repeatedly tried to pay some crypto traders (and sometimes failed). In 2013, for example, Vitalik Buterin visited a sushi restaurant in the US that accepted payment in bitcoin.
“When it came time to pay the bill, I asked for payment in bitcoin. I scanned the QR code and hit submit. To my surprise, the transaction did not go through, it looks like it was sent, but the restaurant did not receive it. I tried again, still unsuccessful,” he explained.
Realizing that the problem is with his internet connection, he will have to find a new connection outside of the restaurant in order to complete the transaction. He will come to the conclusion that the use of the Internet, although necessary for payment in cryptocurrency, is not always reliable. And that the ecosystem should also explore offline payment solutions such as NFC chips.
Three more times
In the same way, for the past two years, the latter has tried to pay for tea with ether. The first experience in Argentina was in a cafe where an account holder on a cryptocurrency exchange… accepted a minimum deposit of 0.01 Ether.
“Unfortunately, my first 0.003 Ether transaction was not accepted, probably because it was less than the exchange’s minimum deposit of 0.01 Ether. I sent another 0.007 ether. Both transactions went through quickly. paid three times as much, considering it a “tip”.
Similarly, last year Vitalik Buterin ran into gas fees on the Ethereum blockchain. An obvious tea lover, he found himself in a situation where the public address where he wanted to send his ethers to pay for his tea “required additional costs.”
“I was afraid there was a problem”
Also, transactions may take longer than expected.
“Several times there was a surprisingly long delay between when my transaction was accepted on the blockchain and when the service recognized the transaction as even “unconfirmed”. In some cases, I was afraid that the problem with the payment system was on their side,” even admits the latter.
In addition, if several persons carry out a transaction at the same time, this can lead to financial difficulties. “If you send a transaction with many others at the same time and the base fee increases, you run the risk that the base fee will be too high and your transaction will not be accepted.”
After all, Vitalik Buterin acknowledges that the adoption of crypto payments is still a long way off.
“User experience is a key reason why many Ethereum users, especially in the Global South, often choose centralized solutions over decentralized blockchain alternatives that keep power in the hands of the consumer, the user and their friends, family or local community. “, he concludes.