Spiral warns Bitcoin faces competition from stablecoins in payments

Spiral, a Bitcoin development group backed by Block, has issued a warning that Bitcoin is struggling to gain traction as a medium for everyday payments despite seven years of technical improvements. In its report, ‘The Long Road to Bitcoin Payments’, the group notes that while over one million U.S. merchants can accept Bitcoin through Square and the Lightning Network has become easier to integrate, consumer spending remains limited.

The group identifies weak demand, price volatility, and U.S. tax regulations as primary obstacles to adoption. Spiral highlighted that stablecoins are increasingly dominating emerging AI-agent payment systems and online commerce, as seen with providers like Stripe and Shopify incorporating dollar-backed tokens.

To address these challenges, Spiral is calling for ‘moonshot’ ideas and ambitious proposals that could significantly shift Bitcoin’s adoption trajectory within a five-year window. This request follows the group’s existing grants program, which has funded hundreds of contributors globally to support open-source Bitcoin development and AI infrastructure integration.