People are so concerned about what bitcoin could be—an investment, a stock to trade, a technology that will shape the future of entire industries—that they may forget it is also a form of currency. It was designed to enhance government money and become one of the world’s main currencies. The blockchain is an important technology, but bitcoin was also supposed to help you pay for things without banks getting involved.
Bitcoin is gaining more and more importance in the world. If bitcoin continues to survive and manages to reach an even higher peak, we might see websites and retailers start to consider expansion and allow you to use bitcoin for purchases, as some already do.
How to use bitcoin online?
Bitcoin, being a digital currency accessible online, is naturally more suited for use via websites than through brick-and-mortar stores. Indeed, there are many more possibilities to spend your bitcoins online. Some large companies have established a blockchain sale chain and are thus ready to buy bitcoins on their sites. Others remain skeptical, with reviews on eToro ensuring the use of bitcoin in the stock market.
Even if bitcoin has become a long-term investment, it has become much easier than before for bitcoin owners to purchase goods online, with some sites specially designed for bitcoin. There are sites entirely dedicated to buying pizzas with bitcoins!
The market has also grown to the point where you can give gift cards with bitcoins. The most popular gift card sites now offer the ability to create and pay for gift cards with bitcoins.
Whether it’s purchasing something or using bitcoins to add funds to an online account, the process is quite similar in all cases. Click “Pay with bitcoin,” provide the site with your wallet information (often a QR code, especially if you’re doing this on your mobile phone), confirm your information, and place the order. This can be done through companies.
How to use bitcoins in stores?
Bitcoin hasn’t yet reached the point where it becomes a common means of payment in the average retail business. We don’t know if and when it will reach a truly stable level of ubiquity. But for one reason or another, or because owners truly believe it’s the wave of the future, there are places where you can physically go and pay with bitcoins.
Even though it’s not very widespread, there are several ways for stores to accept bitcoin. Thanks to computer software and mobile applications allowing scanning of QR codes and wallet keys, initiating payments is much quicker than before, even if transaction times on the blockchain can be a bit slow.
Subway is a popular chain that has conducted a limited trial of Bitcoin—although, in this case, the decision wasn’t made by the company’s top executives but by the franchise owners. As early as 2013, some Subway sandwich shops willingly accepted bitcoin as currency, particularly in Altoona, Pennsylvania. This is just one example among many, as there are numerous businesses that accept bitcoins worldwide.
