Four years ago, fast food chain KFC tweeted from its Canadian account that it would allow bitcoin as a payment method for its chicken "buckets."

The company clarified that the ad campaign was a joke that lasted only an hour and that it has not received a single payment in cryptocurrency since then, but on the internet, articles continue to claim that KFC "accepts" bitcoins.

Other companies, such as Tesla and Dell, have offered to sell their products in bitcoins before quietly backing away from these initiatives.

Bitcoin will probably never be used for everyday purchases, as it is a particularly volatile asset and each transaction is expensive, energy intensive and takes at least half an hour to process.

There are, however, thousands of other cryptocurrencies that are more stable than bitcoin and have shorter turnaround times for payments. According to the specialized site CoinMarketCap, the total value of cryptocurrency assets is over $2 trillion, half of which is bitcoin.

Microsoft is among the major companies that are moving cautiously into the cryptocurrency space. The U.S. tech giant insists that its shareholders will never be exposed to the price fluctuations of digital currencies. PayPal and Apple have made similar promises.

Microsoft has partnered with Bakkt, a service that allows you to convert your cryptocurrency assets into various products like Xbox gift cards or add credit to a Starbucks payment card.

Backed by Microsoft's M12 investment fund, Bakkt went public on the New York Stock Exchange last year and formed a series of partnerships with companies, including Mastercard, which drove its stock higher.

But after announcing large losses, Bakkt saw its stock plummet, raising questions about the viability of its model. The company, which was aiming for 9 million customers by the end of 2021, reported only 1.7 million active accounts at the end of last year.

For its part, PayPal has been offering a system to pay in cryptocurrencies since last year in the United States and the United Kingdom, via which users' cryptoassets are converted directly into dollars or pounds when making purchases.

The popularity of this service and other similar initiatives remains unclear. Market observers believe it is still too early to tell whether these forays into the cryptocurrency world will pay off.

The limits to mass adoption of cryptocurrency payments for everyday consumer products are considerable, if not insurmountable.