The amount of volume by dollar value processed by the Bitcoin network has reportedly exceeded that of payment giant Paypal and is closing in on the next target Mastercard – expected to surpass by 2026. 

Specifically, as revealed via a report – dubbed “When might the Bitcoin network process volumes like Mastercard and Visa?” generated by market intelligence platform Blockdata – the most famous crypto network throughout the globe have finalized the process of $489 billion per quarter this year – exceeding the $302 billion from Paypal. 

After 12 years following its official introduction, Bitcoin reportedly completed the processing of approximately 27% of Mastercard’s $1.8 trillion per quarter, and 15% of Visa’s $3.2 trillion.

There are reportedly three driving forces that fueled the climb to the level of the two credit cards heavyweights, regarding the overall volume processed – the average amount of Bitcoin sent every transaction, as well as the rise of the price of Bitcoin (BTC).

The first factor – the overall number of transactions – relies most heavily on variables theoretically, “if Bitcoin were to increase its value transferred per transaction today by ~260%, it would be processing an equivalent volume to Mastercard on a daily basis.”

Nonetheless, the report failed to gather existing data supporting the claim that the average amount of Bitcoin sent per transaction is on an upswing.  

The trend could bring change in the future, but an uplift in price to $245,000 at the current volume would also bring Bitcoin to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Mastercard. This price action is potentially more likely than an uptick in volume, according to some analysts.

The ultimate conclusion Blockdata generated was that the likelihood of Bitcoin price to rise to the appropriate level to match Mastercard is not high. If taking into account the average annual Bitcoin price, it may take as long as 2060 to achieve that. On the other hand, “taking the current growth rate in 2021 as a metric, it could happen as soon as 2026.”