Number of stores accepting Bitcoin in Italy 2019, by sector

As of November 2019, over 350 companies in retail or food service accepted Bitcoin in Italy in 2019, a number significantly higher than in other business sectors in the country. In particular, there were 270 retailers and 214 service companies where it was possible to pay with the cryptocurrency. Furthermore, as of September 2019, the number of ATMs in Italy accounted for roughly 0.8 percent of the global number of Bitcoin ATMs.

Using Bitcoin offline

The Italian city with the largest number of Bitcoin-enabled ATMs was Lombardy’s capital Milan, followed by Bologna. Lombardy was the region with the highest number of stores where it was possible to pay by Bitcoin. Per capita, however, most stores that accepted the cryptocurrency were found in the region of Trentino-South Tyrol.

Online payments

In 2019, Bitcoin was the third most popular payment method for online purchases in Italy. Used on average 216 thousand times a month, it was however still lagging behind other online payment services. PayPal, for example, was used on average 1.4 million times a month. Like in most countries around the world, Bitcoins were far from being mainstream: according to a 2018 survey, only eight percent of Italians owned cryptocurrencies.