CoinCorner's CEO told CoinMarketCap that rising interest rates, mortgage payments and energy bills mean that there are distractions from crypto adoption in the U.K.
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The cost-of-living crisis has had an impact on Bitcoin adoption in the U.K., the CEO of CoinCorner has told CoinMarketCap.
Danny Scott said many Britons currently have "bigger problems to deal with" — and are distracted as interest rates, mortgage payments and energy bills rise.
While sign ups at the British crypto exchange have slowed down as a result of the bear market, Scott believes that they may have already bottomed out — and will start to increase again.
"Sometimes even in a bear period, regardless of what's happening in the real world, we could shout and scream with the biggest news in the world, it doesn't really significantly increase signups."
The interview came as CoinCorner announced that it was expanding its Bitcoin and Lightning services to El Salvador — meaning consumers there will be able to start using the company's Bolt Card.
This product has been positioned as the world's first contactless card that's powered by near-field communication and Bitcoin's Lightning Network — meaning you can tap to pay with digital assets.
Amid claims of low adoption in El Salvador since BTC was made legal tender, Scott said in the announcement:
"We've seen reports of a poor Bitcoin user experience in El Salvador which we hope The Bolt Card will improve — it's a cheap, easy-to-use, offline solution for Bitcoin Lightning payments."
When asked about poor uptake among Salvadoran businesses and consumers during the interview on the CoinMarketRecap podcast, Scott said education — rather than forcing people to use Bitcoin — is crucial.
And he warned that, given how BTC has only been legal tender there for a year, greater levels of adoption will take time — and it'll end up being more popular in some countries than others.
"When cars first became a thing, it wasn't one year in and everybody's driving a car. It takes time for people to get used to them and how it works. Contactless payments have been a thing since about 2007. We're now 15, 16 years later and it's used in most places — but some places still don't accept it. The U.K. is very forward-thinking as about 92% of in-person payments are contactless these days, which is massive. However, if you go to the U.S. — which you think is a very technologically advanced country — they are very far, they are so far behind in the contactless side."
Danny concluded by saying that the quest for mass adoption needs to be viewed over a much longer timeframe — of five to ten years — before there are meaningful results.
