Bitcoin has processed 62% more transactions in terms of Dollar value than PayPal in 2021, according to a Blockdata report, comparing the world’s largest cryptocurrency with Mastercard and Visa.

The report predominantly focused on whether Bitcoin could compete with the two payment giants, with the findings showing it could, but that it would take time. This year, the Bitcoin network processed around $489 billion per quarter, whilst PayPal processed $302 billion per quarter. Mastercard and Visa were in the lead at $1.8 trillion and $3.2 trillion per quarter respectively.

The Blockdata report compared Bitcoin to Mastercard and Visa, viewing them as technologies with different use cases, referring to the payment networks as “spending technologies” while the Bitcoin network is a “saving technology.”

The report states that the number of transactions, average amount of Bitcoin per transaction and the price of the digital currency could help bring BTC to the processing levels of the two payment giants. Yet the most important factor is whether the Bitcoin network can handle such large transaction volumes.

Bitcoin’s capability of handling more transactions will be reliant on the implementation and improvement of scaling solutions, says a Be In Crypto report. The Lightning Network reached a record capacity at the end of September this year. This network – designed to resolve scalability issues of the world’s largest cryptocurrency - has reported massive growth since the start of the year.

According to findings by Arcane Research, their State of Lightning report forecasts the Lightning Network would increase to 800 million users by 2030. Streaming, gaming and remittances were cited as principal use cases to bolster the adoption of the scaling solution.