The most popular crypto-currency is increasingly gaining acceptance as a payment method.
But will Australia's biggest retailers join the growing list of businesses trading Bitcoin for goods?
The Reserve Bank's 2016 Consumer Payments Survey, its latest such survey, showed that "Australian consumers are increasingly using their debit or credit cards instead of paying in cash or writing cheques".
The survey showed, predictably, that cash payments had been declining with participants making 37 per cent of their payments in cash, compared with 47 per cent in 2013 and 69 per cent in 2007.
However, it is perhaps more interesting to note the methods of payment of which the survey looked at.
These included: cash, debit and credit cards, BPAY, internet/phone banking, PayPal, cheque and others.
What is perhaps more interesting is the much talked about currency the survey neglected to study – Bitcoin.
But the way things are going, this is an omission such future studies cannot afford to neglect.
The legitimacy of Bitcoin is increasing as more and more businesses begin to embrace it.
From taxi drivers in London to camera makers in Japan, the world in opening up to Bitcoin.
So what is its future as a legitimate form of currency in Australia?
Forsyth Real Estate, a business located in Sydney's North Shore, popular with international investors, was thought to be Australia's first real estate agency to accept Bitcoin when it went into partnership with Bitcoin payments provider CoinJar in 2014.
Forsyth Managing Director James Snodgrass said his company was a supporter of the Bitcoin economy as it allowed overseas transactions with less fees and exchange rate fluctuations.
"Prior to launching, we had discussions with our financial division who outlined the risks and opportunities of Bitcoin and we were happy with our findings," Mr Snodgrass said.
Earth & Sky Organics, based in Melbourne, is another business that has adopted Bitcoin, and according to CoinJar, this marked a significant shift for Bitcoin in Australia.
"I read somewhere that Bitcoin wouldn't be a real currency until people could purchase food with it," Earth & Sky Organics General Manager Chris McLoghlin said.
"We sell food, so we sell food with Bitcoin."
As such, it is clearly not just online businesses that are willing to embrace Bitcoin.
To this we can add the ideas that cash payments are decreasing, the e-grocery market is booming and Australia's major retailers need to lift their games if they want to remain relevant in a digital world.
All this leads to a greater possibility that companies such as Woolworths Limited (ASX: WOW), Coles owned by Wesfarmers Limited (ASX: WES), and JB Hi Fi Limited (ASX: JBH) will need to take crypto-currencies seriously, especially amid threats such as Amazon.
But Bitcoin is not without its risks and big companies responsible to shareholders may do well to avoid it.
Uncertainties linger around Bitcoin and it does not look like the domain of a serious investor.
That being said, many speculators have gambled on Bitcoin and filled their pockets in the process.
