Stoners and gamers have turned to Bitcoin during the coronavirus lockdown, as web-based sales of both essentials increased during the pandemic.<\/p>\n
Revenue for video game and cannabis sales using bitcoin saw a 50% increase among the 100 e-commerce merchants surveyed by Blockonomics. The research states:<\/p>\n
Cannabis orders are up: people are buying more weed than ever, with revenue up over 50%. I mean, what else are you going to do at home? <\/p>\n
Likewise, the lockdown has also turned people towards video games as a means of distraction. The data do not specify whether the people buying cannabis were the same people buying video gamesbut experience suggests there might be a slight overlap.<\/p>\n
Two other business sectors also saw an increase in bitcoin-based sales web-hosting, and nutritional supplements. The Blockonomics article states:<\/p>\n
Nutritional supplements also saw an increase of revenue of up to 50%, as people continue to look for alternative ways to stay healthy (possibly in response to empty food shelves at the grocery store).<\/p>\n
While web-hosting services saw a marked increase in revenue, the same cannot be said for all digital products. In fact, 75% of respondents said they witnessed a decrease in bitcoin-based revenue during the lockdown.<\/p>\n
No website that offered digital products saw an increase in revenue, 25% of respondents reported no change in revenue, while the remaining 75% saw decreases.<\/p>\n
So even though everyone is staying home, that has not manifested in a transparent boost to typical digital products. As the article speculates, this can likely be explained by people putting a greater focus on buying essential physical goods, which are at threat of being lost in a potential supply-chain slowdown.<\/p>\n
Almost half of the store owners surveyed revealed they were holding on to any bitcoin they received, while over 10% said they were continuing to buy even more. The article states:<\/p>\n
Our e-commerce store owners continue to be major believers of Bitcoin: 44.9% of the respondents have decided to hold on to 100% of their Bitcoin during this time, with 10.2% additionally buying Bitcoin.<\/p>\n
So, as gamers and cannabis users continue to part with their BTC, store owners are only too happy to hold on to it. That might have something to do with bitcoins 102% increase in value over the past month and a half.<\/p>\n
This article was edited by Sam Bourgi.<\/p>\n
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