The Sectors That Adopted Bitcoin First

These are the sectors that accepted bitcoin before everyone else

Although it has been around for more than a decade now, Bitcoin is still very much in the early adoption stages. It was such a revolutionary idea at the time, so it's natural that it has taken a while for it to become part of our everyday experience. More and more people are catching on to the idea of bitcoin as a valid alternative to traditional currency and as is generally the case when the public catches onto something, businesses are too. There are more and more options for places where you can pay for your products or services using bitcoin, but who were the first businesses to offer this service? Here we will explore the sectors that were brave enough to adopt bitcoin as a payment method before everyone else.

The Sectors That Adopted Bitcoin First

The Online Gaming Sector

The online gaming sector was an early adopter of bitcoin, with a handful of sites accepting bitcoin deposits from their customers. They could be used to buy in-game currency, game upgrades, or most often for play-money deposits at online casinos. Nowadays bitcoin casinos are much more commonplace, with this selection from Vegas Slots Online making up only a percentage of the casinos offering the option to deposit in the cryptocurrency. Whilst this selection doesn't cover the whole market, that is because it only includes casinos that have received overwhelmingly positive reviews. The site does this to ensure that any user wanting to deposit in bitcoin not only has a great casino experience but also has their cryptocurrency kept safe and secure at all times. This subsector in particular is the sort of place where bitcoin really comes into its own. For some users anonymity is paramount and bitcoin allows them to ensure this.

The Sectors That Adopted Bitcoin First

Fast Food Franchises

Insert Image Here >Image< Caption: To think that these cost $372 million only eleven years ago is mind-blowing

It's been eleven years since the first-ever bitcoin transaction, which as most people know was bitcoin pizza day. It was on this day that Laszlo Hanyecz reached out on an internet forum to see if anyone would let him purchase two pizzas for 10,000 BTC. He was ignored for a while, but eventually, Papa John’s came through. The value of the pizzas then was about $40, so it wasn't such a surprise it took him a while to find a willing participant. However, today the pizzas would be worth a staggering $372 million. We don't imagine there'd be such a long wait for his pizza this time around!

Although the fast-food industry was essentially the very first sector to allow bitcoin as a currency, no other fast food purchases happened for a while after this. Interestingly though, over the past couple of years, the fast-food industry is dipping its toes back into the water of bitcoin transactions again. Back in 2018 KFC Canada announced the Bitcoin bucket, which customers could pay for in cryptocurrency only, for a total of 0.001147 Bitcoin. We've got to hand it to them, it's a better deal than Papa Johns were offering. Whilst this still seems like a token gesture, it's true that the restaurant and food industry account for a great deal of Bitcoin sales. In the USA 15.6% of all of the Bitcoins spent are spent in the restaurant industry.

The Travel Industry

Although the travel industry were later to the party than the previous two sectors, their reasons for arriving are interesting. The first is obvious, they're generally speaking providing higher ticket items than the previous two sectors, so their portioning of a Bitcoin will be less difficult. However, the second reason is more interesting. The travel industry was a very early adopter of blockchain technology, so they already have a good idea about just how secure this cryptocurrency is. Therefore it was natural that airlines and hotel chains would be one of the first places where you can pay with bitcoin. Some airlines use blockchain technology to log take-off and landing times, as well as organising the sales of tickets. It has made their returns process easier and their scheduling for flight take offs and landings flawless. For many investors, blockchain is the most exciting part about this currency and it seems that the same is true for the industries that accept it too.