On May 22, 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz was hungry for Papa John’s pizza. He bought two pizzas with Bitcoin. The cost to purchase the pies was 10,000 Bitcoin.
Do a quick search to see how much that equates to today. While today’s price of Bitcoin may give you some pause to spend, the point is that it is possible in more ways than you’d suspect to purchase things via crypto.
Making a crypto payment is becoming more and more common. Companies like Overstock, WordPress, Newegg, and Etsy all accept crypto as payment directly. To learn more on what else you can purchase with crypto and why you may want to, read on/.
Benefits of Crypto Over Fiat
Let’s first discuss why you may want to purchase goods or services with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin in the first place. What benefit does crypto have over fiat? Doesn’t this complicate things?
If you value your security and privacy, you will start to see the lightbulb go off in your head. With traditional banking, you are relying on a third party to secure your funds safely. Bitcoin on the other hand offers users much more autonomy, where you are your own bank.
This comes with a lot more responsibility, but valuable lessons as well. Always remember the mantra, not your keys, not your crypto.
Crypto and Bitcoin open the world up to financial options that were previously impossible. Without the need of a middleman, having a smartphone or computer gives you access to owning and operating crypto where you are free to purchase things like goods, services, and bills.
Many people view Bitcoin as a store of value à la gold. This means that while you can spend it, it may not be the best spending option because it will more than likely appreciate in value. Other cryptocurrencies such as Dash make for a wiser choice due to speed and super low transaction fees.
Where to Purchase Crypto
Before you purchase items with crypto, you’ll first have to purchase crypto, right? To do so, sign up for an exchange such as Coinbase, Kraken, or Cash App.
From there, you can buy whichever crypto you’d like. It is highly recommended and encouraged to move your recently purchased crypto off of the exchange to a non-custodial wallet.
Crypto Tools
As we discussed earlier, the security of your crypto matters. Yes, hackers and bad actors are out there and could steal your crypto. We highly suggest you write down your seed phrase and/or private keys and store them in a safety deposit box or safe.
Before you make a payment, how should you store it? Along with your seed phrase and/or private keys, an air-gapped hardware wallet is your best bet. Since an air-gapped hardware wallet isn’t connected to a network or online, you don’t expose your precious crypto.
When you wish to spend your crypto, you can easily connect your hardware wallet to transfer the funds.
When you’re out and about you won’t have the luxury of your hardware wallet necessarily. This is where a crypto credit card or debit card would come in handy. The way it works is by topping up your crypto and exchanging it to fiat before or at the point of sale.
For example, you could purchase motorcycle insurance via Bitcoin.
Where Can You Spend Crypto?
You may be surprised to know that you can purchase a lot of the same items as you normally would with crypto. How you do it may take some getting used to and practice, but the feeling is unmatched.
There is a definite cool factor when you purchase your things with crypto. Services like Bitrefill and Coincards allow you to purchase gift cards with crypto from thousands of products such as Walmart, Uber Eats, and CVS. Extensions such as Lolli allow for you to easily earn Bitcoin back on your purchases too!
Living on crypto provides a convenient means for digital nomads also.
Buy Into Crypto
Buying into crypto opens your world up in more ways than one. You’ll learn plenty of lovely lessons along the way.
You don’t have to spend a ton to get started either. Purchase a small amount of crypto to get your feet wet.
For much more news, information, and guides on crypto, read our blog today.
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