Web3 in eCommerce panel – stablecoins, crypto payments and account abstractions

The panel started with a short overview of the current crypto payments trends and we all agreed that the numbers are objectively tiny. Especially compared with Michal company – VISA:

• eCommerce is at the time of writing around 20% of the whole retail
• percentage of citizens that hold (or have exposure to) some kind of crypto is around 10%
• bank payments and card payments hold around 85% of eCommerce payments each
• Nikola (Electrocoin) spoke how his company web3 payments solution (Paycek) is implemented on around 10% of Croatian merchants and how they process around 1% of those merchants orders
• so if you take a simple calculator you’ll notice that we’re still early

Second part of the panel focused more on the inside dynamics of Web3 scene where we talked about stablecoins, account abstractions or sponsoring merchant fees. And here’s an interesting thing – all speakers had a unique and angled view on the payments landscape. Couple of examples:

• Michal (VISA) talked how banks and TradFi institutions are embracing crypto; while I on the other hand talked how crypto is embracing TradFi ways of thinking – custodial wallets, centralized services and oracles
• We also talked about custodial VS non-custodial eCommerce web3 solutions. I noted that merchants basically don’t care about decentralization topics and that only want to see lower payment fees and increasing User eXperience.
• Nikola (Electrcoin) talked about buying cars with Bitcoin; while I talked how native L1 tokens will not be used for eCommerce payments in the future 🤷 What’s the reasoning behind this – you might ask?

The current supply of the stablecoin market is approximately $150 billion and they are currently proving to be the primary medium of exchange (MOE). Bitcoin and Ether are, on the other hand, becoming digital gold and digital oil – which can all be observed in real-time through various spot ETF approvals across the globe – Hong Kong, London and New York stock exchanges.

Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) dominate Web3 payments market, holding shares of 75% and 22%, respectively. With one huge caveat. Bot payments and large traders are making 90% of all stablecoin transactions. Despite the difference between the total transfer volume and the bot-adjusted transfer volume, latest analysis revealed a steady increase in monthly active stablecoin users, reaching 27.5 million across all chains.

Usage of Layer2 tech is growing fast & steady. BASE is a great example of tying Web3 + eCommerce where Coinbase promotes USDC payments – and completely without fees – which is a move that has led to some massive adoption rates…

I just wanted to posit that the organizers produced an amazing event, full of energy and joy; but that the panel format and time span where a little to tight to cover all the goodness that Web3 can bring to the eCommerce table – token-gating, merchant-customer-direct-connections, micro payments, money streaming and extremely low fees.

But don’t take my word for it – Neuralab video crew recorded the whole thing; under the watchful eye of our video & content producer Bruno. Enjoy …

• YouTube stream – Day 1 > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJMVxXNMmWA
• YouTube stream – Day 2 > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf8IkDMRywE
• Flickr photo-gallery > https://www.flickr.com/photos/blocksplit/albums/