Bitcoin plummeted about 15% last week. Despite the price appreciation this year (more than 60%) and the enthusiasm for bitcoin trading, its acceptance as payment for transactions is still relatively low. This is not likely to change in 2021 – at least not in the Etsy online market.
“I don’t think it is ready to bid yet,” Etsy CEO Josh Silverman said in an interview with Yahoo Finance Live. “You need a lot of people holding it before it is really useful as a form of contest. Never say never, but I don’t think 2021 is a year where we would prioritize it.”
Cryptocurrency users have recently exceeded 100 million, according to a recent report. This includes currencies other than bitcoin. Of course, “users” in this case does not mean that people are buying something with encryption and, in the vast majority of cases, they are just exchanging or keeping.
For Etsy sellers to be paid in cryptocurrencies, they need to get buyers to connect with them off the platform. Etsy facilitates payment methods like Apple Pay and PayPal, as well as credit cards.
Silverman is also not interested in adding bitcoin to Etsy’s balance sheet, a move that companies like Tesla, MicroStrategy and Square have made. (Tesla also said it would consider accepting bitcoin as a payment, but has not yet implemented that option).
“I don’t think it’s our job to speculate with our shareholders’ cash. The cash that Etsy has on its balance sheet remains in very safe bonds,” said Silverman. The company held $ 1.7 billion in cash and cash equivalents at the end of 2020.
This view remains the predominant one among executives, who do not want to be confronted with an asset that depreciates or appreciates quickly if they need money to buy equipment, for example, or to make an acquisition.
That said, Silverman personally owns bitcoin for six to seven years. “In the United States, we are blessed to have a banking system that we trust and a currency that we trust. Many people in many parts of the world do not have this and therefore I think that cryptocurrency can be a potentially interesting solution for that.”
For now, Etsy buyers will have to settle for commemorative gold-plated bitcoins or a bitcoin piggy bank birthday card. And when sellers accept bitcoin, perhaps this “bitcoin accepted here” LED sign can help spread the word.
Julie Hyman is the co-anchor for Yahoo Finance Live, business days 9 am – 11 am (Eastern Time).
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