Technology has changed our lives radically over the last century or so. But what exactly is technology? Well, Wikipedia defines it as follows: “Technology is the result of all accumulated knowledge and its application in all techniques, skills, methods, and processes that are used in any and all industrial production or scientific research.”

This harnessing of scientific knowledge in practical applications has brought us things like online shopping and digital payments, satellite navigation and social media. And a host of other applications and functions that make our lives very easy. We can thank technology for the internet, smartphones, robot vacuum cleaners and more. And it doesn’t stop there.

Technological development has also seen the invention of cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies are digital assets that are created using blockchain technology. Bitcoin (BTC) was the first of these currencies, invented by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009. They had no real monetary value until May 2010 when a person bought two pizzas for 10,000 BTC.

As BTC grew in value, more and more cryptocurrencies were created. Today there are an estimated 18,000. Not all of these digital currencies have been created to carry a monetary value, though. Many have been created for a specific purpose such as representing a tangible asset or as a tradable token with embedded digital artwork. Cryptocurrencies have yet to gain acceptance as mainstream currency, but they are steadily gaining traction as a medium of exchange.  

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The rise of crypto payments

The original purpose behind the cryptocurrency concept was to have a peer-to-peer payment mechanism that was not under the control of any government or regulatory authority. In other words, a medium of exchange that had no boundaries or rules other than those set by the network of users.

From its invention, it was well over a year before the first commercial transaction took place using BTC as payment. It would be fair, however, to say that this was really a peer-to-peer deal. The transaction was set up on a forum hosted by Bitcointalk.com. It was, however, instrumental in making the point that BTC was viable as a payment method.

Retailers started entering the fray towards the end of 2014. Overstock, PayPal, Microsoft and Zynga are notable amongst these early adopters. As with other aspects of cryptocurrency history, there wasn’t any avalanche of acceptance by retailers at that time. 

Things ticked over quietly until around 2019. Since then, the adoption rate has swelled steadily as airlines, coffee shop chains and e-commerce platforms, amongst others, got in on the act. Exchanges have mushroomed and cryptocurrencies are now widely accepted and traded. This acceptance has also led to the development of the cryptocurrency point of sale system.     

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The most popular cryptocurrencies?

Mention cryptocurrency and most people would immediately think of Bitcoin. It was, after all, the pioneer in this space. The second blockchain, Ethereum, was developed in 2015 and launched the cryptocurrency Ether. The floodgates opened after this and pretty soon cryptocurrencies numbered in the thousands.

Bitcoin is by far the most popular, followed by Ether. We take a look at five of the best known and most popular cryptocurrencies.

• Bitcoin. Market capitalization just short of $900 billion. 
• Ether. Market capitalization exceeds $400 billion.
• Tether. US Dollar backed and pegged. Market cap $80 billion.
• BNB. The Binance Coin has a market cap of $75 billion.
• USD Coin. Market cap just over $50 billion.

Most of the large and medium-sized exchanges list well over a thousand digital assets and currencies that are actively traded. Many of these, however, are relatively unknown, with negligible trading volumes and market capitalization of just a few thousand dollars. 

Which cryptocurrencies are being used for payments and where?

Owing to its history and popularity, BTC is the cryptocurrency most widely accepted around the world. Alongside BTC is Bitcoin Cash (BCH). This currency was spun off the main BTC blockchain as a faster and cheaper way to transfer smaller amounts. At the time BTC fees were uneconomical except in larger transactions. 

As expected, Ethereum is right up near the top of this list as well. Other currencies that are finding favor with retailers are:

• Litecoin. An open-source currency with very fast processing time and ultra-low transaction costs. 
• GoCrypto Token. This token is issued on several blockchains and is listed on a number of different platforms and exchanges. This makes it extremely versatile and highly tradable.
• XRP. Previously known as Ripple, XRP is another very flexible open-source digital asset with high trading volumes. It is therefore very liquid and widely accepted by any cryptocurrency point of sale system worldwide. 
• USD Coin. This is a stablecoin which is a type of cryptocurrency that has a fixed value. In this case the currency is pegged at par to the US Dollar.

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What is a cryptocurrency point of sale system?

In a nutshell, this is a system that processes payments primarily through cryptocurrency gateways. They operate in the same way as any other POS system, the only difference being that the monetary value is represented by a digital currency.

Typically, the transaction would be processed through a cryptocurrency exchange. The exchange purchases the cryptocurrency from the merchant at the prevailing market rate and then credits the merchant account with local currency. This transaction is totally seamless and almost instant. The merchant therefore carries no price volatility risk.   

Meet Elly! The future of crypto payments

Elly.com, founded in 2017, is one of the established players in the crypto space. Their state-of-the-art cryptocurrency point-of-sale system features a multitude of payment methods on one single device. Apart from cryptocurrencies, customers are free to choose from any of the other existing mainstream payment methods. The system comes with the free Elly POS analytics software that provides a wealth of management data.

With near field communication technology, payment is contactless and dynamic encryption ensures that the transaction is securely processed. The handheld terminal can be easily and seamlessly integrated with existing cash registers. With one of the lowest fee structures in the industry, Elly offers businesses the perfect solution in the highly competitive world of retail.