USE OF CRYPTOCURRENCIES BITCOIN AND ETHEREUM IN THE FIELD OF E-COMMERCE: CASE STUDY OF UKRAINE

. The article examines integration of cryptocurrencies as electronic payment systems in e-commerce enterprises. Practical usage of Ethereum and Bitcoin cryptocurrencies as electronic payment systems, as well as factors that may affect their functionality are studied. Coinbase Commerce and Bitpay, as market leaders in cryptocurrency payment providers, were analyzed to compare integration issues and commission analysis with traditional payment systems LiqPay, PayPal. It is determined that the factors influencing the integration of cryptocurrencies in the enterprise include the field in which this enterprise is operating, instability of the national currency, development of information technology. It has been proven that e-commerce companies specializing on selling consumer goods could use hybrid cryptocurrency payments in Bitcoin in 50% of transactions and Ethereum in 65% of transactions in the studied timeframe to reduce the cost of the transaction compared to the LiqPay system.

Introduction. Electronic payment systems are rapidly evolving to meet the demand for electronic funds transfer and demonstrate a set of development trends, such as: the trend towards inclusive access to electronic payment systems, the trend towards information security of the system and the trend towards digitalization of the system through mobile banking. currencies and the development of the use of the Internet as a global e-commerce network.
General problems overview. Cryptocurrencies, as a subject of research on the integration of new payment instruments into global networks, can be considered as an alternative to existing electronic payment systems and listed the characteristics of cryptocurrencies that are unique in relation to traditional electronic payment systems.
The scientific hypothesis includes the following statement, whether cryptocurrencies can find practical use as parts or substitutes for electronic payment systems. This thesis potentially creates an additional link of research questions and tasks, namely: the existing regulatory framework and foreign experience of cryptocurrency regulation; approaches to the integration of cryptocurrency settlements at businesses and their economic efficiency; the main motivators of the transition from traditional payment systems to cryptocurrency payment systems or hybrid use of both payment systems; types and examples of settlements that can be considered rational to perform in cryptocurrency; types and examples of cryptocurrencies that can be used for settlements, etc.If the company leaves the cryptocurrency at the account when it has the opportunity to sell it or settle with counterparties, then this problem should be considered in studies that examine cryptocurrency as an alternative investment or study the preservation of effective currency balance in the company.
Literature review. Currently, cryptocurrencies are adopted both at e-commerce enterprises and enterprises that operate in the real world. Examples of the use of cryptocurrencies for offline settlements are the recent popularity of cryptocurrencies in Turkey [1], caused by the weakening of the national currency, and the popularity of cryptocurrencies for settlements in Venezuela, caused by hyperinflation of national currency [2]. This indicates the relevance of the use of cryptocurrencies by Ukrainian e-commerce enterprises.
It is worth noting that cryptocurrencies already have some use in electronic payment systems, but this use is not a systemic and stable solution, and mostly resembles the marketing promotions from some companies: promotions from Burger King and Coca Cola with unique gifts for those who use cryptocurrency for settlements.
According to table 1, currently, the world's largest enterprises using cryptocurrency payments in e-commerce, as of February 2021, use the following cryptocurrency payment providers such as BitPay, Coinbase, Flexa, or create their own integrations with cryptocurrency networks [3; 4; 5]. According to the website of Shopify's e-commerce platform [6], currently, Shopify allows online stores to receive payments through cryptocurrency processors Coinbase Commerce, BitPay, GoCoin, CoinPayments.net. There are also smaller players in this market that offer cryptocurrency payment gateways to customers, such as CoinGate, Electroneum, Circle Pay.
Thus, given the choice of market leaders, integration complexity, transaction fees, and other required fixed costs, Coinbase Commerce and BitPay platforms can be considered market leaders in this field [7; 8]. Currently, these players allow online stores to integrate through the connection of a software module to a server application. This operation can be done even by a person without significant technical knowledge. This integration creates a cryptocurrency gateway for the enterprise and allows you to accept cryptocurrency payments in cryptocurrencies Bitcoin, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and USD Coin. According to the official website, BitPay has a 1% fee for transfers, which can be on both the buyer's side and the seller's side. But BitPay does not provide a functionality of a cryptocurrency exchange and doesn't allow converting a cryptocurrency to a fiat equivalent. In order to convert cryptocurrency to fiat equivalent, an online store using BitPay must transfer cryptocurrency to the exchange, which also costs a network fee.
According to the official Coinbase Commerce website [7], transactions in the Coinbase Commerce network have no fees other than cryptocurrency network fees, but Coinbase has other indirect fees when withdrawing funds in fiat equivalent, such as commissions when buying another cryptocurrency for cryptocurrency, or when converting cryptocurrencies in fiat equivalent (0,5%). Thus, the indirect commission in the Coinbase system is 0,5%. This commission does not take into account the cost of the transaction in the cryptocurrency network, which is dynamic. Therefore, it is advisable to consider Coinbase Commerce as the leader in the field of cryptocurrency settlements due to the advantages of the commission, or rather its absence, as well as the integration with the centralized exchange Coinbase, whose commission is smaller than the transaction fee of BitPay.
It is worth noting that the practical benefits of integrating a cryptocurrency payment system at an enterprise can be expressed through a set of characteristics, the value of which can be subjective for the enterprise. Characteristics that affect the practicality of integration are the availability of hybrid payment systems, quality of integration between ERP and BPM systems and cryptocurrency or hybrid payment systems, and other indicators that may affect the practical benefits of integration. However, given the variety of systems and solutions available, these criteria can be considered insignificant because they depend on specific characteristics of the enterprise and technological solutions that are available for the enterprise's personnel. Thus, the only characteristic that can be considered significant is the size of the fee taken by the electronic payment system. Therefore, this study does not consider the comparative characteristics of electronic payment systems that do not affect the financial benefits of the enterprise.
Currently, different electronic payment systems in different countries set their own commission rates for transactions. Among the traditional electronic payment systems that have a significant impact on the current state of e-commerce in Ukraine and other countries, we can highlight [8; 9]: • Liqpay, as the leading Ukrainian Internet acquiring system, • Paypal, as a global electronic money platform system. Considering that the size of the interchange fee may depend on the bank that issued the card and is regulated in the EU and the USA at the legislative level, it is expedient to use the maximum legally permitted level of the commission (table 2). Currently, the average commission in the United States is considered to be a rate of 2% of the transaction value [10]. In the EU, the amount of the commission is determined by law in accordance with EU Regulation 2015/751, for credit cards -0,3%, for debit cards -0,2% [11]. For businesses that use PayPal in the United States to settle with local customers, the commission is 2,9% + 30 cents, when settling with buyers from other countries, the commission is 4,4% + 30 cents [12]. up to $25 on Bitcoin network, 25% of the time -up to $50. For Ethereum this data is even more significant. Half of the time, performing a transaction on Ethereum network was cheaper than through LiqPay. This study proves that intentions of companies such as BMW and Tesla [15; 16] are based on the fact that the use of cryptocurrency payment systems can significantly reduce the online acquiring fee for both these companies and companies whose goods are worth more than a certain maximum amount, at which the commission of the traditional electronic payment system is equal to the commission of the cryptocurrency payment system. On the scale of the Ukrainian car market, using cryptocurrencies to purchase cars could save up to 2% of the market that would be otherwise spent in fees, which is a quite significant saving.
Conclusions. The paper investigates the usage of cryptocurrencies as electronic payment systems at e-commerce businesses. It is proved that cryptocurrencies show certain differences from electronic payment systems, namely: dynamic transaction prices, dynamic demand for cryptocurrencies, high volatility. The study proved that the use of cryptocurrency payment systems creates significant benefits for the e-commerce sectors of Ukraine. According to the results of the analysis of the use of cryptocurrency settlements at the e-commerce enterprise that sells cars, it was proved that the use of cryptocurrency settlements for enterprises selling high-value goods is appropriate and allows to obtain significant savings on electronic payments. The results of the study can be used by e-commerce companies and for e-payment system developers, as they demonstrate trends and practical benefits of using cryptocurrencies as parts or substitutes of e-payment systems with better security, algorithmization, and lower transaction fees.