How Blockchain and Cryptocurrency is Affecting Online Shopping

Sep 05, 2018

As more and more of us take to online buying, the high street is being transformed. The last ten years has seen the collapse of Woolworths, Blockbusters, BHS and Toys ‘R’ Us, and Mothercare, House of Fraser and M&S are clearly in trouble. But as technology has altered the way we do our bricks-and-mortar shopping, the experience of buying via the Internet is also starting to change. One of the more significant changes is the emergence of cryptocurrencies and the blockchain, the electronic system that typically backs them up. The following looks at how these are affecting how we make online purchases and what savings are there to be made.

What Are Cryptocurrency And Blockchain?

Cryptocurrency (the most well known being Bitcoin) is money that exists only in digital form that is made secure by cryptography and is not under the control of any banks or governments. The blockchain is a digitized, decentralized, public ledger of cryptocurrency transactions that is shared with all those who have joined the network and can be viewed by anyone.

How They Are Changing Online Shopping

More buying direct from the seller

So many of the purchases we make online are done via a third party. But the blockchain and cryptocurrencies make it easier to buy direct from those who have things for sale, which leads to savings by simply cutting out the middlemen, such as Amazon or eBay, and avoiding the fees that they charge.

Quick, easy and cheaper payments

Making payments using cryptocurrency is simple, can nearly always be done in a matter of seconds, and doesn’t require a bank or other intermediaries like PayPal, or for you to enter your credit/debit card details. All you need is your own electronic wallet of cryptocurrency and the address of the electronic wallet of the person or enterprise you want to pay. This allows you to steer clear of the charges imposed by banks and other financial institutions.

Traceability

Blockchain technology can track a product’s entire lifecycle, from its initial manufacture to who has sold it to whom, so you can be sure it is what it says it is. In addition, you can track who made the item, and even where the materials used to make it came from. As the entire record is there for you to see, you, therefore, don’t need to rely on reassurances about its provenance from the seller, making you more certain that you are getting what you paid for.

Security

The blockchain also promises to ease a lot of the safety worries for online shoppers. Because the data constantly updates as new blocks of encrypted information are created, and because it’s shared across the entire network and not sited in one single place, it is extremely difficult, some say impossible, to hack.

It’s early days yet with both cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, and nobody can be entirely certain where it’s going, but this could be the start of an online shopping revolution.