In a surprising event, Monero (XMR) dethroned Bitcoin (BTC) as the most used cryptocurrency in Europe’s biggest Bitcoin store. According to ShopinBit‘s monthly report, three in every four users paid with XMR in June.
Notably, the e-commerce shared this data in an X post on July 12, highlighting 74.54% of all payments made with Monero and 23.64% with Bitcoin. 1.73% of the payments used Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, while 0.08% used fiat currencies.
In this context, ShopinBit launched a challenge and will focus more on XMR if this trend continues.
“If Monero transactions surpass Bitcoin transactions in volume for the next 2 months, we’ll update our bio from “Europe’s biggest Bitcoin Store” to “Europe’s biggest Bitcoin and Monero Store.”
ShopinBit
Monero slowly surpasses Bitcoin for payments
The trend is not exclusive to ShopinBit, and other services have recently shared a similar experience. In particular, Finbold reported Monero standing up and leading payments preferences in CoinCards in June.
Beyond clearnet markets like Europe’s biggest Bitcoin store and gift card providers, the darknet markets have shown a similar pattern. In August 2021, Dr. Rolf van Wegberg gave an interview to MoneroTalk, addressing this phenomenon in dark markets.
Over time, multiple reports have highlighted some popular darknet markets stopping support for Bitcoin payments while recommending using Monero due to its superior privacy experience.
Monero price analysis and the impacts of a growing demand
Interestingly, Bitcoin’s popularity surged as it became more used in these dark markets, like Ross Ulbricht’s Silk Road. This use validated the demand for BTC as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system, as envisioned in the whitepaper.
Therefore, as the trend shifts, Monero could benefit from a similar network effect, growing its presence as the demand increases. A growing demand superior to the inflated supply through tail emission could positively impact XMR’s long-term price performance.
As of this writing, Monero trades at $160.90, relatively stable against the dollar in the last 12 months. XMR is up 52% since the bottom after Binance’s delisting in February, showing strong resilience and momentum.
Monero (XMR) year-over-year price chart. Source: Finbold
Interestingly, the leading privacy-by-default cryptocurrency often trades with a premium in decentralized exchanges, creating arbitrage opportunities. Investors, traders, and users now follow further developments and economic data, looking to where this payment trend will lead Monero next.
Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.
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