Looking back, 2019 may have been a bit of a transitional year for Bitcoin. It lacked the hype and excitement of 2017, but and it also did not have the same sickening lows of 2018. Last year, Bitcoin bounced back from its lows but also stagnated somewhat below the $10,000 mark. It did, however, overtake PayPal’s transaction volume once or twice, even if for a very brief period.

Bitcoin has undoubtedly cemented itself as an investable asset that sometimes masquerades as a currency. No doubt, some parts of the community will feel this is blasphemous, but it is the designation of the cryptocurrency as it stands. But still, there is enough transactional value for people to be excited about for its potential as a usable currency.

A useful video has tracked the movements of Bitcoin and PayPal transactional volumes – along with other top proof-of-work coins and Venmo – outlining the growth of Bitcoin’s volume through the year. Bitcoin began hot on PayPal’s heels in early 2019 but fell substantially before mounting an impressive comeback where it came close to outdoing the traditional payments processor on a few occasions.

Setting a Foundation

As the year began, PayPal sprung into the lead with regards to cumulative transaction volumes. The first month of the year saw the traditional payments processor boasting $54 billion traded in the 31 days while Bitcoin saw just over half that volume with $30.6 billion.

This was still part of the 2018 bear market, which ran over into Q1 of 2019. At this time, Bitcoin was trading at a lowly $3,400.

However, in early April, when Bitcoin’s price spiked $1,000 in just over a day, things started to shift in the transactional volume race. PayPal was up to 178 billion transacted, but Bitcoin was closing in having transacted $107 billion itself.

The cryptocurrency spring that emanated from here had a significant effect on the growth of Bitcoin’s transactions, while PayPal’s grew at a relatively constant level. As the year wore on, Bitcoin raced along with its transactional volume, briefly even passing up PayPal at the end of September, if only for a few days.

On October 2, with the price of the coin at over $8,000, the cryptocurrency was just $1 billion less than PayPal.

A Big Year Ahead for Bitcoin

PayPal has, on more than one occasion, been lined up as a rival to Bitcoin. But, for some more forward-thinking payment processors like Circle and Square, it is actually being considered a complementary alternative.

2020 is a big year for Bitcoin for several reasons, but if it can overtake PayPal in regards to transactional volume, it will help announce itself as a real future of money. The world’s first cryptocurrency may still be primarily used as a store of value, but there is a movement to get it back towards serving people as a currency as well.