During the last five years, the popularity of Bitcoin (BTC) increased significantly. It is a cryptocurrency that allows transferring money all around the world securely and by paying minimum commissions. It is an easy way to make payments. Also, the gaining price of bitcoin makes it very attractive for investors.
If you’re one of those who invested in bitcoin a few years ago and want to spend some of your earnings, you may experience some issues. Any amount of money in BTC can be easily converted into cash by using online exchanging platforms. However, in this case, you compromise on the privacy granted by bitcoin.
The main drawback of bitcoin is that a transaction can take a few hours to get completed. In cases of an overloaded network, a transaction may take half of a day. It erases the ability to make instant payments in offline stores. Fortunately, there are a lot of ways to spend your bitcoins using the Internet.
Online Purchase
Even though major retailers don’t accept payments in bitcoins in their offline stores, they foresee the opportunity to spend them online. For instance, Microsoft foresees the opportunity to exchange BTC on Xbox store credits. Having no time for playing video games due to assignments, you can type a request, “who can write an essay for me?” and pay for timely homework help using cryptocurrency.
Overstock is one of the market-leading platforms that allows users to purchase any item by using bitcoin. All that you will need to do is to choose items online, add them to the cart, and go to checkout.
Then, you will be required to choose BTC and complete your transaction in a few clicks. They also have detailed instructions on how to pay using bitcoin in their help center.
However, there are a lot of small online stores that accept BTC. You can find some listings of online shops that accept bitcoin on the Internet. SpendABit is the most popular one. It is a search system that helps find products that can be purchased online using BTC.
Gift Cards
Unfortunately, only a low number of major retail stores accept bitcoin directly on their sites. The majority of chain stores prefer using gift cards or third-party applications to allow consumers to make BTC payments.
For instance, Home Depot accepts gift cards that can be purchased using BTC online. Many sites offer the ability to trade bitcoin on Home Depot gift cards hassle-free. Using this system, you can buy an item from any store.
A lot of online services trade BTC for gift cards that can be used in Amazon, Apple, Walmart, Macy’s, H&M, etc. Using gift cards, you can make purchases in major retail stores without compromising your privacy. However, you will be required to pay an extra commission.
As an alternative, you can use third-party applications that foresee the option to make purchases in different stores and pay for your goods using bitcoin. For instance, you can install the Spend mobile app, deposit your account using BTC, and pay in different stores like Whole Foods using the application.
Travel and Meals
Having some bitcoins on your account, you can spend them on your vacation. Using BTC, you can easily book hotels and buy tickets. For instance, AirBaltic already accepts bitcoins. Therefore, you can buy a plane ticket with no hassle. Norwegian Air is planning to start accepting cryptocurrency in the near future.
Booking a hotel using BTC is not a problem as well. You can buy a gift card and book a room or rent a house using Airbnb. However, if you don’t want to hassle with gift cards, you can find a lot of hotels that accept BTC all around the world.
Using your cryptocurrency savings, you can also order a pizza in a few clicks. For instance, Domino’s Pizza accepts Bitcoin. On May 22, 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz traded 10,000 bitcoins for two large pizzas. These days, they are the most expensive pizzas in the world.
Online Services, Bills, and Donations
A lot of different online platforms accept bitcoin, so you won’t have any problems paying your bills, making donations online, or getting outside assistance using BTC. You can easily top-up your At&T balance by using bitcoins.
Also, you can hire people and pay them using cryptocurrency. You can surf freelance platforms that accept bitcoin or make transactions directly. Twitch, an online streaming service, along with other platforms, accepts donations in BTC.
The Future of Bitcoin Payments
Unfortunately, it’s hard to predict the future of Bitcoin as its price constantly changes. However, the number of businesses accepting BTC is constantly evolving. For instance, Tesla is planning to start accepting bitcoin in the future.
Consequently, you will be able to purchase an electric car by using your savings in cryptocurrency. Moreover, having some BTC on your crypto wallet, you will be able to buy property easily soon.
Unfortunately, there are poor chances that people will pay for products and items in offline stores due to bitcoin transaction completion time.