Ethereum has become one of the most popular and valuable cryptocurrencies to date. One thing that always seemed a bit unclear is whether or not the token will have any real life use cases. AlphaBay, one of the world’s largest darknet markets, announced they will integrate ETH payments as of May 1st. An intriguing development, that much is certain.
Albeit some people will argue darknet markets are not necessarily the best use case for Ethereum, this news is still quite significant. After reintegrating Monero for more anonymity, AlphaBay is now looking at Ethereum as an additional payment option next to bitcoin and XMR. It remains unclear how many vendors will accept ETH payments, though, but this a positive development for the Ethereum ecosystem as a whole.
Bringing additional real-life use cases to Ethereum will elevate this alternative cryptocurrency to become a worthy bitcoin rival in the long run.Then again, there is also Monero to keep an eye on, as that currency offers a lot more anonymity and privacy than Ethereum does in its current form. It will be difficult to dethrone bitcoin as the most commonly used darknet currency, though.
According to a statement made on Reddit, AlphaBay plans to enable Ethereum payments by May 1st, 2017. The popularity of this alternative cryptocurrency has not gone by unnoticed. Moreover, since ETH gained a lot of value over the past week, it is only normal service providers want to be a part of this ecosystem. Right now, the AlphaBay team is working on setting up ETH payment functionality, with withdrawals and deposits being enabled on May 1st.
Sellers on the AlphaBay platform will have to enable ETH payments manually, though. In their account settings, there will an option to accept ETH payments. This means it is rather unclear how many people will actively accept Ethereum payments, although it is well worth considering. Additional anonymity features are coming to Ethereum as part of the Metropolis hard fork. Unfortunately, that hard fork has no official ETA yet.
Some darknet users are not too happy with the AlphaBay decision to add Ethereum as a payment option, though. One user mentioned how ETH is not a currency per se and how using a token on top of a censored chain can bring more problems than benefits to darknet marketplaces. Then again, comments like these are to be expected at any given time. Since no one knows for sure how the addition of Ethereum will play out, it is too early to tell what will happen.
Given the current sentiment among darknet users, it is doubtful any other marketplace will add ETH payments anytime soon. Most operators will wait and see how things play out for AlphaBay. Adding Ethereum is an interesting decision, although it will always be considered rather controversial. From a privacy point of view, there is no reason for sellers to accept ETH anytime soon. However, one never knows how this decision will play out in the long run.
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