user492: Is any data available on the amount of bitcoin used in actual commerce, as opposed to investing in bitcoins, during specified time periods?
(I'm wondering whether the recent increases in dollars-to-bitcoins ration are correlated with amounts used in business via things like BitPay or otherwise.)

user153: That's the thing about a pseudonymous digital currency -- there's little information that can be gleamed from the blockchain data.
There are some metrics reported in aggregate by the payment processors and others.  For instance, last month BitPay shared during a discussion that they had surpassed 10,000 transactions since their launch over a year earlier.  They didn't provide the number of bitcoins as well or give the average amount per-transaction.  They are probably the largest payment processor but even that amount is pretty insignificant.
This data will probably be most accurately obtained through user surveys and from there extrapolate.

492: <p>Is any data available on the amount of bitcoin used in actual commerce, as opposed to investing in bitcoins, during specified time periods?</p>

<p>(I'm wondering whether the recent increases in dollars-to-bitcoins ration are correlated with amounts used in business via things like BitPay or otherwise.)</p>
 153: <p>That's the thing about a pseudonymous digital currency -- there's little information that can be gleamed from the blockchain data.</p>

<p>There are some metrics reported in aggregate by the payment processors and others.  For instance, last month BitPay shared during a discussion that they had surpassed 10,000 transactions since their launch over a year earlier.  They didn't provide the number of bitcoins as well or give the average amount per-transaction.  They are probably the largest payment processor but even that amount is pretty insignificant.</p>

<p>This data will probably be most accurately obtained through user surveys and from there extrapolate.</p>
