A report published by Blockdata has suggested that Bitcoin has moved past PayPal on the value transferred, with the network processing more volume by dollar value, with projections indicating that the world’s largest cryptocurrency could outpace Mastercard by 2026.  Bitcoin has seen significant growth since its inception and has logged an impressive uptime of 99.987%.  Some Data From The Report  The marketing report from Blockdata, titled, “When might the Bitcoin network process volumes like Mastercard and Visa?” shows that the Bitcoin network had, on average, processed around $489 billion per quarter in 2021. In comparison, and to add some perspective, PayPal averaged around $302 billion per quarter in the same period.  During the same time period, Mastercard’s network has processed an average of $1.8 trillion per quarter, while the Visa network processed an average of $3.2 trillion per quarter. As the data shows, Bitcoin already processes around 27% of what Mastercard processes per quarter and around 15% of what Visa processes.  Factors That Could Play A Role In Bitcoin’s Ascendency   According to the Blockdata report, three factors could play a crucial role in enabling Bitcoin to process volumes equal to Mastercard and Visa. These factors are  An increase in the number of transactions  An increase in the average amount of Bitcoin sent per transaction An increase in the price of Bitcoin.  The report states that the first of the three factors is the most variable. If Bitcoin increases the number of transactions processed by 260%, it would be processing volumes equal to Mastercard on a daily basis.  The report also stated that currently, data does not indicate an upswing in the average amount of Bitcoin sent in a transaction. However, it noted that this could change in the future. A price rise that would see BTC push to $245,000 at current volumes would also put Bitcoin at par with Mastercard at current volumes.  Bitcoin Could Outpace Mastercard As Early As 2026  The Blockdata report concluded that the Bitcoin price is unlikely to rise to an appropriate level to match Mastercard’s levels. If the average yearly price of Bitcoin is taken into consideration, then Bitcoin could take until 2060. However, taking the current growth rate as a metric, Bitcoin could match Mastercard as early as 2026. For a relatively young network, the Bitcoin network has managed to achieve fairly high volumes when compared to the two credit card giants.  “It’s impressive how Bitcoin, as a 12-year-old decentralized network, is 27% of the way in terms of volume processed compared to Mastercard, a company founded in 1966.” Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.