Spending Bitcoin in the Real World for the First Time
Investing in Bitcoin has become a relatively straightforward process in the past few years. BTC has gained prominence across the investing world and beyond. And many sites have been established that make it easy for investors to hold and trade BTC. What has generally been more difficult, however, is spending Bitcoin in regular shops, bars, and other venues. This is because these venues need to invest in new technology in order to accept Bitcoin transactions.
While the cost of accepting a Bitcoin transaction is generally much lower than a traditional cash or credit card transaction, the cost of setting up the required infrastructure has tended to put off a lot of businesses. There is also the question of fluctuations in the value of BTC which has previously made it difficult for businesses to accept BTC as payment.
Fortunately, fluctuations in the value of BTC have lessened in recent months and new entrants to the market have made it easier for businesses to accept Bitcoin as payment than ever before. In addition, several startups have made it possible to cut out the middleman completely by launching debit cards that allow users to spend their Bitcoin holdings at any retailer. Nevertheless, spending BTC in the real world for the first time can still be a little bit tricky. This guide will take you through the process.
Spending with a Debit Card
By far the easiest way to spend cryptocurrency in the real world is to get a cryptocurrency backed debit card. These work by dynamically converting your Bitcoin holdings into the currency accepted by the retailer at the point of purchase. This means that shoppers don’t need to seek out shops that have decided to accept BTC for payment. All that the user needs to do in order to spend money is pop their debit card into the payment terminal and complete the transaction as normal. This means that a user’s first-ever Bitcoin transaction can be as easy as any other payment.
Other Ways of Using BTC to Pay
There are a number of websites and brick and mortar retailers that have decided to accept Bitcoin. For instance, a major US landlord now allows its tenants to make rent payments using BTC. It’s also generally possible to use BTC to make payments at a large number of online casinos.
Finally, there are a number of brick-and-mortar stores that have decided to accept Bitcoin directly as a means of payment. At present, making payments at one of these stores can be a tad complicated and it’s generally recommended that newcomers stick to using a Bitcoin backed debit card for the time being. Nevertheless, there are a number of websites that index BTC accepting retailers. These might be worth checking out before a trip.
Do you own Bitcoin yet?
Spending Bitcoin is now easier than ever and the rise of BTC-backed debit cards has made the process significantly easier for newcomers. All that’s left is to fill up a BTC wallet and start spending!