Bitcoin as a Preferred Payment Method in Lieu of Cash: A Case Study

Alfrancis D. Basa¹, Ohara Joyce Bernardo¹, Jilmer R. David¹, Jaymee Dela Pena¹, Elaiza B. Jimenez¹,
Jonah Janssen C. Pamintuan¹, Antonieta P. Tungcab2, and Lovell M. Abello3

¹BS in Accounting Technology IV Students-Institute of Business and Management, City College of

Angeles, Angeles City, Philippines
2Thesis Adviser; Faculty Member-Institute of Business and Management, City College of Angeles,
Angeles City, Philippines
3Editor; Chair-Accountancy Program, City College of Angeles, Angeles City, Philippines

Bitcoin is one of the most popular virtual currency in the Philippines. It is widely known as
investments but this study aims to evaluate the claims of Bitcoin being a payment method
especially when using it in remittances. This particular study was conducted because there has
been an existing problem with cash as a payment method that is why users tend to find another
payment method. Among the payment methods were cash, credit cards, debit cards, prepaid cards,
bank transfer and the like, and now, a variation of virtual payment system was introduced, known
as a cryptocurrency, where bitcoin is the best known out of all the cryptocurrencies and regularly
reported in the news. The participants of the study were Filipino individuals who use bitcoin for
different transactions especially as a payment method and were mostly selected from certain
groups or community of Bitcoin users in Facebook. A descriptive research design was used in the
study and SPSS was used to calculate and analysed data. One sample median Wilcoxon signed
rank sum test is employed to examine the research hypothesis. The findings revealed that despite
the different factors like risk and volatility, market Instability, security and reliability issues that
need to be considered, bitcoin can still an effective payment method.

Keywords: Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, payment method, traditional money, decentralize,

medium of exchange, volatility
Introduction

Humans, by nature, have great desire to satisfy their unlimited wants and needs. However,
the resources available are limited (“Economics: Economics and Limited Resources Essay,” n.d.).
People possess different resources which may vary than that of the other. One may lack something
that another one has, and sometimes in excess. Humans now, thought of ways on how to make the
best use of limited resources and at the same time to satisfy their wants and needs, and came up
with the barter system. An old method of making a direct exchange of services and goods for other
services and goods return (“Barter System History: The Past and Present,” 2014). This has been
widely known and is used by many territories, However, it slowly began to fail in the 700 B.C.
due to lack of double coincidence of wants, in which must be present to conduct barter (Bellis,
n.d.). The failure of barter led to the creation of money. Money is being widely used and accepted
as a medium of exchange. This has been then becoming a medium to facilitate trade.

Over the years, money evolved, from gold coins to paper money. Along with the
development of money is also the development and advancement of technology, which led to new
creations and inventions. Consumers are now looking for more convenient and easier transactions
to cope up with the trend. Consumers are now smarter when it comes to their finances and they
want to find a solution to their problem with money. The first problem with paper money is its
security issues, a person who is carrying a huge amount of money is vulnerable to theft. Another
problem is there is no proper accountability of your wealth, it is very easy to get lost
track of your expenses. Transaction errors are also a problem, some merchants or stores may
decline your payment because of the look of your paper money. And of course, people now want
cashless transactions. Technology has been able to develop the transactions between a buyer and
a seller. With the intervention of technology and of course with the clever mind of humans, money
became not the only medium of exchange. A wide variety of mode of payment was invented such
as credit and debit cards, electronic cash and cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies were invented
back in the ‘80s, a form of digital money that is designed to be secure and, in many cases,
anonymous. A currency that uses cryptography, the process of converting legible information into
an uncrackable code, to track purchases and transfers. The most famous cryptocurrency is Bitcoin.
Bitcoin is the first decentralized peer-to-peer cryptocurrency with finite monetary supply, an
electronic cash system which can be used for different online transactions such as transferring
money, purchasing of goods and services, or online payments without the need of any financial
institutions, government or any third party interventions. It was first introduced in the white paper
that was published by an anonymous person (or group) that uses the pseudonym of “Satoshi
Nakamoto” in 2008. Before, electronic payments rely mostly on financial institutions which
sometimes suffer from the underlying weakness of the trust based model. Nakamoto came up to
develop an electronic payment system which solved the problem of the trust model, replacing it
with cryptographic proof which allows parties to transact directly with each other without the need
of an intermediary. (Nakamoto, 2008). Since bitcoin is decentralized and it is not controlled by
any authority, the
transactions are controlled by the network itself, by the so-called “miners” (Niblaeus and Nylund,
2014).

Bitcoin mining is the process of verifying all the transactions and adding it to the blockchain,
a public ledger or record of all bitcoin transactions to prevent double spending, and also the means
to released new bitcoins. A bitcoin miner will compile the transactions into blocks and will solve
a computationally difficult puzzle which will create rewards – bitcoins (Kelleher, 2018). Since its
inception in 2009, bitcoin gained so much popularity, reaching over 25 million users all around
the globe as of this writing (“Number of Blockchain wallet users worldwide,” n.d.). In fact,
countries like Australia, Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Germany and other parts of
Europe, already welcomed and start accepting bitcoin and now, working on certain regulations.
Some of these countries allow users to trade, mine, buy bitcoins and use it as a medium of exchange
or payment method (Grinberg, 2012).

Bitcoin is now being used as a sort of mode of payment where there is an increasing amount
of companies start accepting BTC as a payment such as Microsoft, Shopify, Intuit and many more
(Chokun, 2018). In the Philippines, bitcoin is widely known as an investment opportunity.
Although the Philippine market is starting to build its virtual community through the establishment
of companies such as the Satoshi Citadel Industries (SCI) and bitcoin exchanges, including
Coins.ph, BuyBitcoin.ph and rebit.ph. The Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) released Circular No.
944 last October 2017 regarding the usage of these virtual currency exchanges.

The BSP did not illegalize the usage of these virtual currencies such as bitcoin nor endorsing
it, rather do the BSP aim to regulate virtual currencies when used for delivery of financial services,
particularly for payments and remittances, which have a material impact on anti-money laundering
(AML) and combatting the financing of terrorism. (ABS-CBN Website, 2018). According to BSP,
an estimated of 300 Million pesos monthly of the remittances to the Philippines are coming via
cryptocurrency like Bitcoin.

In this paper, the framework is relied on to evaluate the claims of Bitcoin being a payment method
especially when using it in remittances, and the reasons why user prefer it than using traditional money.

Review of Related Literature

There are several literatures and researches that were conducted to analyze:

Bitcoin as a payment method:

Vyshnavi (2016) analyzed the problems and challenges of Bitcoin as a payment system as
well as the acceptance of Bitcoin as a mode of transaction. The study listed the advantages of
Bitcoin, one is it is very possible to send and get money anywhere in the world, less worry about
crossing borders, bank holidays. Bitcoin also provides control and security, in the sense that
merchants can’t charge extra fees without being noticed, avoids identity theft, and ensures the
safety of money. It helps merchants to earn in the process of converting Bitcoins into fiat currency
where it generally has lower fees compared to credit cards and Paypal. Moreover, the information
is transparent because the public ledger is known as the blockchain wherein anyone at any time
can verify transactions. According to Vyshnavi, disadvantages are the lack of awareness and
understanding, that many people are still unaware of virtual currencies like bitcoin, people still
need to be educated so that they can apply it to their lives. Moreover, its risk and volatility is the
biggest disadvantage that can be seen. However, it is expected that the volatility will decrease as
more time goes on, and as more businesses and trading centers begin to accept bitcoin, its price
will eventually settle down. Vyshnavi explained that Bitcoin is still developing and needs to work
out, just like how any currency in the beginning stage would need to. The researcher concluded
that there is a very high and positive chance of bitcoin being a powerful monetary transaction in
the years to come.

According to Cermak (2017) the biggest reason that motivates the merchants to accept
bitcoin is the avoidance of expensive such as 2-3% credit card fees for each transaction. Therefore,
bitcoin has a smaller transaction cost compared to credit cards. Also, bitcoin can be used for
remittances because of its low fees when sending bitcoin across different countries. However, due
to its volatility and block size limit issue makes the trading ineffective and risky.

Karame, Androulaki, Capkun (2012) analyzed the security of using bitcoin for a fast
payment transaction. Bitcoin is increasingly used in a number of fast payment. Scenarios such as
vending machine payment and fast food payment which relies on proof of work payment system
to verify payment, although the bitcoin payment verification scheme is designed to prevent double-
spending the results showed that the system requires ten minutes to verify a transaction and it,
therefore, contradicts fast payment. Bitcoin developers for the use of bitcoin in fast payment are
not always effective in detecting double-spending unless appropriate detection techniques are
integrated into the current bitcoin implementation, double-spending attacks on fast payment will
still be possible.

Anshu Premchand and Anurag Choudhry (2015) studied about the future of ePayments as
well as the challenges and recommendation for the ePayment system of tomorrow. One player of
the said innovation is the use of Bitcoin. According to them, approximately 80000 businesses
worldwide are now accepting bitcoin. They vision that soon, people would be able to see vending
machines that accept bitcoin, also ATMs that dispense bitcoins, in fact, there is already 250 bitcoin
ATM worldwide. Premchand and Choudhry provides some recommendations to improve
ePayments, one is to improve stability and availability of systems to reduce downtime and dropped
transactions, creating a common user interface to manage worldwide payment middleware to
provide a worldwide infrastructure for managing payments, ensuring faster UI response times for
seamless transactions, and improved experience, and many more.
 Tetsuya Saito (2013) investigates whether Bitcoin can stably stay in the market as a payment
method. In order to fully analyze the potential sustainability of Bitcoin, Saito uses a dual-currency
money-search model, where two currencies (Traditional money and bitcoin) are classified by
storage cost and the probability that sellers accept particular money for payments. The study found
out that Bitcoin may be vulnerable to a decrease inflation rate of a major currency and decrease in
the credibility of Bitcoin. However, if the issues in inflation rate and credibility were cleared,
Bitcoin can coexist with traditional money. If the market will consider Bitcoin as a new method of
payment, Bitcoin should reduce transaction cost and control the system against any illicit activities
such as money laundering, tax evasion, counterfeiting and the like.

Danielle Drainville (2012) analyzed Bitcoin construction and as a form of electronic cash
scheme. The study compared paper cash, electronic cash and Bitcoin. Bitcoin satisfies all the
security features such as recognizability, portability, transferability, divisibility, unforgeability.
However, the only intractability is impossible to achieve due to its public nature. Therefore, it can
be seen that bitcoin is a form of electronic cash that best resembles paper cash.

Given this related literature and studies, it is important to conduct a study about bitcoin which
will analyze how it will serve as a mode of payment. Considering all the speculations, its rapid
growth, popularity and useful functions open a wide range of opportunity to the current money
system.

Research Objective

The primary objective of this study is to identify and analyze the characteristics of bitcoin in which
it can solve consumers’ problems in paying with traditional money. The researchers aim to identify
the factors that suffice bitcoin as a payment method. The overall target is to identify and explain
if bitcoin can be an effective mode of payment.

From the research objective identified, the hypothesis is:

H0. Bitcoin cannot be used as a payment method in lieu of cash

Paradigm of the Study

In the research paradigm, the following are the advantages of using bitcoin, low transaction fees,
no third-party interruptions, control and security, transparency, and convenience were scrutinized
to determine customer satisfaction in which engages buyers to use Bitcoin as a mode of payment.

Low Transaction Fees

No Third-party
Interruptions Bitcoin as a
Customer
mode of
Control and Security Satisfaction
payment
Transparency

Convenience

Figure 1. Paradigm of the Study

The research can provide useful insights and information to the concerned parties (buyer and
seller) who use bitcoin as their payment method. It will help, as well to understand the reason why
buyers want a sudden shift in payment method from traditional money.

Methodology

A descriptive research design was used in this study to measure the satisfaction of users in
bitcoin-related transactions which will evaluate its effectiveness of being a mode of payment.
Descriptive research is used to describe the characteristics of a population or phenomenon being
studied. It attempts to gather quantifiable information that can be used statistically analyzed a
target audience or a particular subject.

Participants of the Study

The participants of the study were Filipino individuals who use bitcoin for different
transactions, especially as a payment method. The participants ran through a convenience sampling
and were mostly selected from certain groups or community of Bitcoin users in Facebook. A total
of 389 responses from the samples were gathered. Those survey questionnaires with incomplete
responses were removed from the sample size.

Research Instrument

The research instrument used in the study is an online survey questionnaire which was
uploaded in google form, consisting of 18 questions. It is composed of four parts. The first part is
the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of sex and age. The second part of the survey
consists of questions regarding users’ intentions behind in acquiring bitcoin and using it as a mode
of payment. The third section asked respondents regarding their worries and inconveniences in
using bitcoin. Fourth part consists of questions regarding users’ preference, advantages of bitcoin
and problems with traditional money. The items for the questionnaire in this study were adapted
from the study of Egor Zmaznev entitled “BITCOIN AND ETHEREUM EVOLUTION”. The
survey is done through nominal and ordinal scale.

Measure

In order to measure and analyze the data, Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS ver. 25)
was used to calculate frequency distribution, to describe the demographic profile of the
respondents as well as the other questionnaire items. One sample median Wilcoxon signed rank
sum test was used to test the hypothesis.

Results and Discussion

Survey Results

The first part of the survey questions consists of the demographic profile of bitcoin users such as their age
and gender. Majority of the respondents – 32.9% - belong to age group of 18-25. It was followed by the
age group of 26-30 and 31-40 with the percentage of 22.6% and 17.5% respectively. The least
number of respondents belong to the age group of 40 and above with a percentage of only
6.2%.mThe survey participants answered 100% that they will recommend bitcoin to their friends and
relatives.
Table 1. Results of frequency distribution of respondents’ answers on how long
they have been using bitcoin

Age: Frequency Percentage

18-25 Less than 2 months 128 61.2
Approximately 2-12 50 23.9
months
1-2 years 25 12.0
Others 6 2.9
Total 209 100.0
26-30 Less than 2 months 10 11.4
Approximately 2-12 37 42.0
months
1-2 years 39 44.3
Others 2 2.3
Total 88 100.0
31-40 Less than 2 months 1 1.5
Approximately 2-12 13 19.1
months
1-2 years 49 72.1
Others 5 7.4
Total 68 100.0
40 and Less than 2 months 1 4.2
above Approximately 2-12 3 12.5
months
1-2 years 16 66.7
Others 4 16.7
Total 24 100.0

Table 1 shows the distribution of the survey participants according to their use of bitcoin.
According to the survey results, it showed that out of the 209 respondents, which consists of 121 males
and 88 females have answered less than 2 months the most, comprising 32.90% of
the total respondents. On the other hand, respondent years 31- 40 and 40 & above old specifically who
used bitcoin for less than 2 months got the least number of response having only one who answered.
Table 2. Results of frequency distribution of respondents’ reason for buying
bitcoin

Responses Percent
N Percent of Cases
What is your reason for Trading/Short-term 273 46.0% 70.2%

buying bitcoin Long-term investment 156 26.3% 40.1%

Buying goods and 156 26.3% 40.1%

services

Others 9 1.5% 2.3%

Total 594 100.0% 152.7%

The second part of the survey consists of questions regarding users’ ntentions behind in acquiring
bitcoin and using it as a mode of payment. Table 2 shows the result of this question. Under this question,
respondents were asked to select multiple answers with respect to their reasons or intentions for purchasing
bitcoin. As this was multiple response questions it is only natural to get a number more than the total
number of respondents amounting to 594 thus, leaving a percentage of 152.7%. The most percentages of
cases were recorded by trading/short-term investment with 70.2% and 46% with respect to the number of
responses. Long-term investment and buying goods and services get the same percentage of 40.1%.

Table 3. Results of frequency distribution of respondents’ answers on what transactions they

usually do with bitcoin

Responses Percent of
N Percent Cases
What Payment of bills 152 28.6% 40.9%
transactions do Remittance 104 19.5% 28.0%
you do with Purchasing goods 193 36.3% 51.9%
bitcoin online
Others 83 15.6% 22.3%
Total 532 100.0% 143.0%

In line with this, respondents were asked what kind of transactions they usually do with bitcoin, physical
and online stores or shops that they spend bitcoin on and etc.

Table 3 shows the transaction type that the respondents do with their own bitcoin. This question
may also ask for multiple answers as the respondent may wish to select. Responses in this
question can also exceed the total respondents and as the results showed that
51.9%, which is the majority, answered that the transaction they do with bitcoin is that they
purchase goods online. Followed by payment of bills and remittance with a percentage of 40.9% and 28%
respectively.

Table 4. Results of frequency distribution of respondents’ answers on whatwebsite they use

bitcoin as a mode of payment

Responses Percent of
N Percent Cases
What website do Coins.ph 20 3.6% 5.5%
you use BTC as Metrodeal 138 24.6% 38.2%
payment
Import Valley 87 15.5% 24.1%
Shopify 96 17.1% 26.6%
Dragonpay 73 13.0% 20.2%
True Property 31 5.5% 8.6%
Zynga 30 5.3% 8.3%
M Lhuillier 27 4.8% 7.5%
Others 60 10.7% 16.6%
Total 562 100.0% 155.7%

Table 4 shows what website they use bitcoin as payment, this question may also ask for multiple
answers as the respondent may wish to select. Responses in this question can also exceed the total
respondents and as the results showed that 24.6%, which is the majority, answered that they actually use
bitcoin in paying at Metrodeal. Shopify with 17.1 %, Dragonpay – 13%.

In section three respondents answered the questions regarding their worries about bitcoin, its
volatility factors, the reason for cashing out their bitcoin assets and any other inconveniences that they
might experience for using bitcoin as a mode of payment.

Table 5. Results of frequency distribution of respondents’ answers on what makes them worried
about bitcoin.

Frequency Percent
Market instability 205 52.7
Security and reliability issues 78 20.1
Growing transaction time and fees 78 20.1
Unregulated transactions 28 7.2
Total 389 100.0

Other tables of the section shows that bitcoin users sometimes consider the volatility of
bitcoin which clearly shows in Table 5 that 52.7% of bitcoin users are worried to the market
instability of bitcoin. As well as its security and reliability issues and growing transaction time and
fees, with 20.1% and 7.2% of the populations are saying that they are nervous because it is
unregulated. Moreover, because the majority are worried about market instability, Table 6 below
shows that 37.3% of the bitcoin users are most likely to cash out because of price fall of bitcoin.
Table 6. Results of frequency distribution of respondents’ answers on what makes them cash out their
asset bitcoin

Frequency Percent
Financial Needs 120 30.8

Price growth 86 22.1

Price Fall 145 37.3

News regarding the future of digital 30 7.7

money (taxation, company agreements,
etc.)
Others 8 2.1
Total 389 100.0

Section four is oriented to understand why users prefer bitcoin than traditional money. Questions
related regarding their satisfaction with bitcoin as a mode of payment as well as the problems they
encountered with traditional money. 56% of the respondents prefer the use of bitcoin than the traditional
money. Table 7 shows the advantages of bitcoin. Users prefer it because of its low transaction fees,
which is the answer of the 42.6% of the respondents. Another good thing with bitcoin is its convenience
and control and security, transparency, with the percentage of 38.3%, 35.5%, 33.6% respectively. Lastly
with 28.7% is that there are no third-party interruptions.

Table 7. Results of frequency distribution of respondents’ answers why they

prefer using bitcoin

Responses Percent of
N Percent Cases
Why do you Low transaction fees 156 23.5% 42.6%
prefer bitcoin No Third-party 105 15.8% 28.7%
Interruptions
Control and Security 130 19.5% 35.5%
Transparency 123 18.5% 33.6%
Convenience 140 21.1% 38.3%
Others 11 1.7% 3.0%
Total 665 100.0% 181.7%
 Respondents were also asked for the problems they experienced with traditional money which
leads them to look for another payment method. Table 8 below shows that 56% of the respondents’
problem is the risk of theft. Following the slow transaction process - 47.8%, no accountability and third
party interference, with a percentage of 36.2% and 32.4% respectively.

The Wilcoxon signed rank sum test is another example of a non-parametric or distribution free test.
As for the sign test, the Wilcoxon signed rank sum test is used is used to test the null hypothesis that the
median of a distribution is equal to some value. It can be used a) in place of a one-sample t-test b) in place
of a paired t-test or c) for ordered categorical data where a numerical scale is inappropriate but where it is
possible to rank the observations. (Shier, 2004). The main variable that the researchers used in testing the
hypothesis is the satisfaction level of bitcoin user in using bitcoin as their means to pay because this will
serve as the main question that will answer the objective of this study.

Figure 1. One Sample Wilcoxon Signed‐Rank Test

Due to its ordinal scale as its nature, the researchers applied one-sample Wilcoxon signed rank test.
The null hypothesis was tested and was assumed to be the value of 2 or the equivalent rate of an unsatisfied
user of bitcoin as a payment method which the result clearly stated that the researchers should reject the
hypothesis and should instead settle to the alternative hypothesis.

The present study confirmed that Bitcoin can be used as a payment method in lieu of cash based on
the conducted hypothesis testing. The result clearly states that the bitcoin users are still satisfied with the
use of bitcoin as a mode of payment, which is the reason why the hypothesis was rejected because the
effectiveness and the satisfaction of the users have a direct relationship. Despite the fact that there is a
certain factor that needs to be considered when using bitcoin as a mode of payment.

The findings indicated that the age has a direct relationship with how long they are using bitcoin.
The older the users, the longer they are using bitcoin. Second part of the survey shows that the majority
of the user's known bitcoin for trading/short-term investment because they don’t have enough knowledge
about it being a mode of payment and given that there are just a few stores which is offering bitcoin as
their payment method. However, 40.1% of the population is already using it as a payment method. In line
with this, are the transactions that the users usually do with bitcoin, among of these, is the purchasing of
goods and services which can facilitate by e-commerce site such as Metrodeal which is a well-known
marketplace on the internet.

Given the problem of traditional money, the risk of theft was the most bothering issue. Along with
it were the slow transaction process and accountability concerns. Hence, the respondents were enticed to
the advantages of bitcoin. To name a few is its low transaction fees. Being borne by the market verifiers,
and also with the users’ choice of preference, these can put the bitcoin at the edge against the other mode
of payment. In addition, it is also convenient for it allows users to send and get money anywhere in the
world at any given time without crossing borders or any bank since there is no central authority governing
it, thus. Also, it is also quicker to make transactions especially when making the payment due to its fast
confirmation. Unlike the traditional money, bitcoin provides control and security that users need not to
worry about identity theft. It can back up and encrypt to make sure the safety of your money. Merchants
cannot also charge extra fees without being noticed. Information is also transparent because anyone at any
time can verify the transaction in the blockchain.

Conclusion and Recommendation

The underlying problem of consumers with traditional money led to the creation ofa different
alternative mode of payment. Thus, bitcoin creators’ intention was to develop a decentralized cash-like
electronic payment system. This study sought to analyze and investigate if bitcoin can be an effective
payment method. The characteristics and advantages of bitcoin such as low transaction fees, convenience,
control and security, no third party interference showed that it increases customer satisfaction in which it
engages consumers to use bitcoin as a mode of payment. Despite its volatility and other unstable factors,
consumers still foresee bitcoin to be successful in the future.

Although there are still some factor that needs to be considered like the risk and volatility through
time if people will be aware, understand and be educated about the advantages of using bitcoin as a
payment and not just an investment. The findings conclude that there is a greater chance that the volatility
will decrease as time goes on, and as more businesses and trading centers begin to accept bitcoin, its price
will eventually settle down. Bitcoin is still new and still a developing currency and just like any other
currency in the beginning stage, we do not know what will happen in the future.

Taking everything into account, the aforementioned finding presented the development of the
cryptocurrencies in the market especially with bitcoin that is in the process of rapid growth. With its
advantages and huge potential; however, unstable issues should be addressed and eliminated. Bitcoin can
be a successful and effective payment method in the near future.
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