At this year’s Bitcoin Conference in Miami, Florida, it was announced that Shopify will facilitate digital payments across the Bitcoin Lightning Network. Going forward, merchants who use Shopify’s global network will be able to send and receive payments using the Bitcoin Lightning Network. Shopify merchants must “opt-in” to do so.

The news caused some initial excitement among SHOP shareholders and investors. However, the announcement that Shopify will integrate Bitcoin payments into its merchant network raises more questions than it answers, and the move is unlikely to help the Ottawa, Canada-based company in the near-term as its struggles with lagging sales and slowing growth coming out of the pandemic.

While Shopify currently has an estimated 1.75 million merchants worldwide who use its services to run their websites and facilitate online sales, it is not clear how many of them will opt-in to transact in Bitcoin rather than cash. The addition of cryptocurrencies is completely optional and, right now, most businesses still prefer payment the old fashioned way — in legal tender.

Also, the Bitcoin payment scheme is already raising potential legal issues for Shopify, with several industry analysts and lawyers saying the move could draw the ire of regulators, notably the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is threatening to regulate the entire cryptocurrency sector. Regulators in Europe and Asia may also scrutinize Shopify’s plans to facilitate Bitcoin transactions and the potential tax implications of doing so.

More immediately, the Bitcoin payment scheme is unlikely to solve Shopify’s urgent need to bolster its declining sales and stalled growth. SHOP stock has fallen 65% from its peak last November to now trades around $610 per share. The stock took a nosedive following the company’s fourth-quarter earnings release this past February, when management forecast a revenue slowdown this year.

For the fourth quarter of 2021, Shopify posted revenue of $1.38 billion, which beat Wall Street estimates of $1.34 billion. Earnings-per-share (EPS) came in at $1.36, beating analyst expectations of $1.27 a share. However, Shopify warned that revenue growth this year would be slower than the 57% achieved in 2021 due to the removal of government stimulus measures and concerns that consumer spending is slowing as inflation remains elevated.

While Shopify and its shareholders benefitted greatly during the pandemic when businesses had their brick-and-mortar stores shuttered and were forced online, that trend is now reversing and SHOP stock has been falling as a result. While the addition of Bitcoin transactions is interesting, it is unlikely to reverse the downward trajectory in Shopify’s business model or its share price. Investors should stay away.