Betway: McDonald's odds-on to accept Bitcoin by end of 2018

Bookmaker Betway expects people in the UK to be buying Big Macs with cryptocurrency before end of next year, and also that Bitcoin, which has just passed $10,000 per coin, will be worth $20,000 before the end of 2018.

Bitcoin at 11/8 to break $20,000 before end of 2018 is interesting. People may bet on the future value of Bitcoin whether or not the likes of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange offers trading in Bitcoin futures contracts - a factor driving the recent bull run.

"Priced at just 11/8 to smash through a $20,000 valuation before the end of next year, the leading online bookmaker can't see Bitcoin's bubble bursting anytime soon," said a Betway statement.

Regarding the Big Macs prediction, it said, "Bitcoin's soaring popularity has left Betway pricing up a list of possible acceptors with McDonald's a warm order at 1/2."

This is slightly puzzling. Nobody buys pizzas anymore with Bitcoin, or cups of coffee or hamburgers for that matter. It is widely accepted that - at least for the time being - Bitcoin is primarily a store of value which people buy and hold onto because it's going up in value.

In any case, here are the rest of Betway's odds on crypto-occurrences:

"US giant Walmart looks nailed on to accept Bitcoin by the end of next year at 1/5, as does British Airways at 1/3 according to the leading online bookmaker.

Retail favourite Argos is also short in the betting at 4/5 to allow cryptocurrency transactions by the end of 2018, while Amazon, 6/4, and Easyjet, 7/4, could both follow suit.

Apple is a 5/2 chance to deal in Bitcoin before the end of next year, a deal that could see the currency's value continue to climb.

"It's 13/8 for Bitcoin to peak at between $15,000 and $20,000 before 2019 and bigger at 9/4 that the cryptocurrency fails to nudge past the $15,000 mark."

Betway's Alan Alger, added: "We're seeing fresh gains for Bitcoin on a daily basis at the moment, leading us to believe that Bitcoin could easily sail past $20,000 before the end of next year.

"With the steep increase in the number of people getting their hands on Bitcoin, we think it's highly likely at odds of 1/2 that the likes of McDonald's will begin to accept it. I'm not sure how many fractions of a Bitcoin it would take to buy a Big Mac but it looks like we'll start finding out sooner rather than later!"

Peak value before end of 2018:

To accept Bitcoin before end of 2018:

First UK Sports Ground to install a Bitcoin ATM:

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