Twitch Silently Removes Bitcoin Support for Channel Subscriptions
Ensuring the mass adoption of Bitcoin and altcoins becomes a reality is an ongoing struggle. While some effort has been undertaken to make something positive happen, a lot of companies have dropped cryptocurrency support as well over the past few years. The latest company to do so is Twitch, by the look of things. Their BitPay payment option has been removed in the past few days without any prior warning.
Twitch Boots Bitcoin and Altcoin Support
A lot of people were initially pleased to see popular streaming platform Twitch integrate cryptocurrency payments. By allowing users to send tips through Bitcoin and altcoins, an important step toward mass adoption was taken. This sentiment was later reinforced when users could actively pay for Twitch channel subscriptions in Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. That functionality is made possible through BitPay, the world’s leading major cryptocurrency payment processor.
As is always the case when a company integrates support for Bitcoin and altcoins, there is some concern over the popularity of this option. As has been seen across other industries, once the initial hype calms down, Bitcoin and altcoins are used far less frequently. This is one of the main reasons why multiple companies removed Bitcoin payment support in recent years. It now appears Twitch has done the same, without letting their users and customers know this change was coming.
When anyone tries to subscribe to a Twitch streamer, they can choose from many different payment options. The BitPay option has been removed from this list, although no one can pinpoint when this happened exactly. It seems this is not a region-based change either, as Twitch users from different continents have confirmed this payment option is no longer available. A very unfortunate turn of events, especially during these bearish times for all cryptocurrencies.
One possible reason why the BitPay option was removed is due to a lack of overall interest. Although there will always be a core audience which relies on this payment method, cryptocurrencies aren’t necessarily suited for subscription-based services. More specifically, Bitcoin and other currencies do not offer native “recurring payment” support, which is rather annoying when dealing with subscription-based services. This may be one of the reasons why the BitPay integration did not work out for Twitch in the end.
As is to be expected when such a change is introduced without warning users in advance, the community feedback is not too positive by any means. A lot of Reddit users are canceling all Twitch subscriptions or are simply shutting down their own streams because of this unwelcome change. This is a rather normal reaction, although it remains to be seen if this will impact Twitch’s profitability in any significant way. It seems unlikely this will make much of a difference when looking at the bigger picture.
This is another sign of why cryptocurrencies are not ready for mainstream use by any means. Even though Twitch saw merit in experimenting with this new form of money, the “collaboration” didn’t last all that long. Although streamers can still accept Bitcoin through Coinbase – if they set up and link their personal account manually- it seems unlikely Bitcoin and altcoins will make much of an impact on Twitch in the foreseeable future. A very unfortunate development for this fledgling industry, but it was somewhat to be expected.
Disclaimer: This is not trading or investment advice. The above article is for entertainment and education purposes only. Please do your own research before purchasing or investing into any cryptocurrency.
Image(s): Shutterstock.com