For the first time, Monero has surpassed Bitcoin as the leading cryptocurrency for gift card payments.
Monero's (XMR) popularity has been on the rise for some time and has subsequently signaled a change in the crypto landscape.
The data from CoinCards indicates that crypto users are increasingly drawn to platforms beyond the Bitcoin blockchain.
In March 2024, CoinCards data revealed the increasing adoption of Monero (XMR) among cryptocurrency users.
As of March 1st, the data indicated that Bitcoin was leading in gift card payments, capturing an impressive market share of over 41%.
Meanwhile, Monero (XMR) closely followed with a 20.29% share, and USDC secured the third spot with a market share of 14.21%.
However, the tables turned in April when USDC surprised everyone by leaping to the first position from Bitcoin, taking as much as a 38.6% market share.
At that time, Bitcoin was relegated to having 30.07% of the usage volume. On the other hand, Monero payments volume surged to 23.86%.
Here's a breakdown of usage (by $ volume) on Coincards by percentage in June '24: #XMR: 34.4%#BTC (Onchain): 25.96%#USDC: 20.20%#ETH: 9.84%#LTC: 2.49%#Solana: 2.31%#Dogecoin: 2.09%#LightningNetwork: 2.08%#USDT: 0.58%#Dai: 0.04%#Matic: 0.01%#Dash: 0% https://t.co/ia95RNZUIF
— Coincards.com - Buy Gift Cards with Bitcoin! (@CoinCards) July 6, 2024
However, new data for May 2024 indicates that Monero (XMR) made significant strides in usage volume, reaching 27.58%.
Despite this, it maintained the third position, with USDC and Bitcoin holding the first and second positions, respectively. Additionally, their combined share of the total market gift card payment volume decreased to 33.21% and 30.04%.
The mighty leap came for Monero (XMR) in June 2024 after taking the lead from USDC and Bitcoin to become the number one crypto gift card payment blockchain.
Data from CoinCards showed a 34.4% share of the usage volume. Moreover, Bitcoin came second this time with a 25.96% volume, while USDC was relegated to the third position with a 20.20% volume.
Meanwhile, Ethereum has consistently moved between 4th and 8th positions.
Why the Increase in Monero Gift Card Payments?
Back in February 2024, a report by Cointelegraph revealed that the crypto market was heavily impacted by various criminal activities, with darknet markets facilitating billions of dollars in transactions annually.
Cryptocurrencies like Monero were frequently used for conducting payments.
Furthermore, a report titled "2024 Crypto Crime Report" by Chainalysis, released on Feb. 29, emphasized that darknet marketplaces had generated revenue of at least $1.7 billion in 2023.
According to analysts, Monero's becoming a major transaction point for these markets is due to its battle-tested privacy-by-default property.
Besides the security it offers, Monero payments are also characterized by lower transaction fees and faster settlement times.
Conversely, Bitcoin gained notoriety in dark markets like Silk Road and is still being used.
Nevertheless, more details show Monero (XMR) crypto payments are also expanding to Clearnet markets.
Despite the recent report, data from Bitinfocharts indicates that the Bitcoin network still validates more transactions than Monero’s network.
As of July 7th, Bitcoin processed over 670,000 payments while it could only boast around 21,000.
Apparently, the recent increase also affected the native Monero (XMR) token, with the time trading volume increasing by 4% to $45 million.