Using Bitcoin In The Real World

pepeg

Contributor
One issue that I think is not being discussed enough in crypto communities is where you can actually use Bitcoin. Instead of thinking about Bitcoin just as an investment, it's time to think about it as an actual currency (which was its purpose to begin with).

Featured: Where to Use Bitcoin in the Real World

If cryptocurrency has any future, more retailers and small businesses need to enable crypto payments so people would actually have a real purpose of having Bitcoin and could conduct business with it.
 

Orakale

Contributor
Waiting for more stores in my country to start accepting btc, till then I mainly will use it as a speculative investment and for trading to different exchanges like Kucoin, Primexbt (leverage up to 100x), Binance etc..
 

alexwilson

Contributor
One issue that I think is not being discussed enough in crypto communities is where you can actually use Bitcoin. Instead of thinking about Bitcoin just as an investment, it's time to think about it as an actual currency (which was its purpose to begin with).

Featured: Where to Use Bitcoin in the Real World | AllStocks Network

If cryptocurrency has any future, more retailers and small businesses need to enable crypto payments so people would actually have a real purpose of having Bitcoin and could conduct business with it.
Of course, cryptocurrency has a secure future. A cryptocurrency is a digital asset designed to centralized authority, unlike government-issued currencies. Cryptocurrencies have huge potentials and understanding the right kind of cryptocurrency to invest will be a good one for us. We can start with whatever we can afford and hope for it to rise as much as we have projected it to happen. Visit: Cryptolinks - The World's Best Cryptocurrency Sites List!
 

kodymars

Contributor
With how much progress has been made within the last year, I feel confident that Bitcoin and possibly a few other major cryptos will be soon be incorporated into new POS machines along with new debit cards within the next year or two by some of the world's leading retailers. They are under development now, once this happens I feel there will be a huge boom in crypto's adoption.

I will openly admit though, this could be too optimistic. It all depends on what the governments will realistically allow and encourage...but the infrastructure and opportunity is there, well within our grasp.
 

The CC Forums

Admin
Staff member
With how much progress has been made within the last year, I feel confident that Bitcoin and possibly a few other major cryptos will be soon be incorporated into new POS machines along with new debit cards within the next year or two by some of the world's leading retailers. They are under development now, once this happens I feel there will be a huge boom in crypto's adoption.

I will openly admit though, this could be too optimistic. It all depends on what the governments will realistically allow and encourage...but the infrastructure and opportunity is there, well within our grasp.

A couple of points though:

1. It will only be a few surviving cryptos that gain use.

2. It will have to be stable cryptos. No buyer wants to use a crypto to buy food and then have it jump 30% in price next week.

3. See #2. No vendor will want to accept crypto and then watch the value drop 20% before they’ve had a chance to pay their bills, employees, suppliers, etc.

4. Regarding #’s 2 and 3, if we have to keep the fiat step in there, then crypto doesn’t offer the advantages that it could. Why go fiat to bitcoin to payment to fiat? Right now that’s still how it works. It’s great for buying from other countries, but not great for paying at your local grocer or gas station.

We have a ways to go before an entire crypto ecosystem develops.
 

kodymars

Contributor
A couple of points though:

1. It will only be a few surviving cryptos that gain use.

2. It will have to be stable cryptos. No buyer wants to use a crypto to buy food and then have it jump 30% in price next week.

3. See #2. No vendor will want to accept crypto and then watch the value drop 20% before they’ve had a chance to pay their bills, employees, suppliers, etc.

4. Regarding #’s 2 and 3, if we have to keep the fiat step in there, then crypto doesn’t offer the advantages that it could. Why go fiat to bitcoin to payment to fiat? Right now that’s still how it works. It’s great for buying from other countries, but not great for paying at your local grocer or gas station.

We have a ways to go before an entire crypto ecosystem develops.

Addressing point #3 - one of the POS solutions I've heard of makes the payment to the vendor in fiat via visa, but the funds are pulled directly from the buyer's digital wallet. The exchange occurs within the wallet...so the risk of change in value is only encountered by the crypto holder. The company is called 'Change' - I think they're launching the product soon in EU initially.

For sure though only a few cryptos will be stable enough to support this...and I also agree there is a way to go before it is adopted widely. Some countries barely use accept card payments yet. Some countries will advance well before others.
 

The CC Forums

Admin
Staff member
Addressing point #3 - one of the POS solutions I've heard of makes the payment to the vendor in fiat via visa, but the funds are pulled directly from the buyer's digital wallet. The exchange occurs within the wallet...so the risk of change in value is only encountered by the crypto holder. The company is called 'Change' - I think they're launching the product soon in EU initially.

For sure though only a few cryptos will be stable enough to support this...and I also agree there is a way to go before it is adopted widely. Some countries barely use accept card payments yet. Some countries will advance well before others.

If the transaction can happen fast enough from fiat to crypto and back to fiat, then the volatility risk is minimized. But that seems to ignore the main purpose of crypto, which is to eliminate the need for fiat. It’s a circular problem. We can’t do it till the entire system is built on a cryptocurrency. But no one wants build out an entire ecosystem until people show an interest and start using cryptocurrency.

But rapid low cost worldwide payments between different fiat currencies through cryptocurrencies is a good step towards that ultimate goal.

Vendors can use Coinbase to receive payments in crypto and then convert to fiat, but those fees are higher than most of the other options. So there’s not much incentive to switch from the fiat payment systems to Coinbase.

We’ll get there, it will just be a slow process.
 

CryptoTC

Crypto Fat Cat
No, not my prediction, they already exist...for instance: Change, Wirex, Uquid, BitPay, and CryptoPay all have cards that exist today. I know Change (getchange.com) can be used on any machine that accepts VISA.


Yes. The market for these payment systems is just now forming. It will likely go through many transitions very quickly in the next 2-3 years.

What used to take 5-10 years to get up and running now takes 1-2 years in development stages before being deployed to the end users.

Watching all this play out is mind-boggling if you’re trying to allocate a few investment dollars betting on who captures the customer base. And some of them are private and you can’t invest in them anyway.

Some of them will make investors very wealthy though. Just need to pick the right horse. Or play the trifecta.
 

Old Man Crypto

Expert chainblocker
Yes. The market for these payment systems is just now forming. It will likely go through many transitions very quickly in the next 2-3 years.

What used to take 5-10 years to get up and running now takes 1-2 years in development stages before being deployed to the end users.

Watching all this play out is mind-boggling if you’re trying to allocate a few investment dollars betting on who captures the customer base. And some of them are private and you can’t invest in them anyway.

Some of them will make investors very wealthy though. Just need to pick the right horse. Or play the trifecta.

Or wait until a few emerge as leaders before investing in them. There's always plenty of growth ahead for companies that get well-established. You don't need to be the first to invest, you just need to stay in your winners long-term and dump your losers quickly.

Impatience and get rich quick took crypto down hard in 2018. Take your time now. Learn those lessons. Study the companies, watch their moves, then invest when they've already shown some adoption and growth.

There's a saying in autoracing, you can't win the race in the first corner, but you can lose it there. It's a long race, be at the front at the end and don't worry about being first into turn 1.
 

CryptoTC

Crypto Fat Cat
Or wait until a few emerge as leaders before investing in them. There's always plenty of growth ahead for companies that get well-established. You don't need to be the first to invest, you just need to stay in your winners long-term and dump your losers quickly.

Impatience and get rich quick took crypto down hard in 2018. Take your time now. Learn those lessons. Study the companies, watch their moves, then invest when they've already shown some adoption and growth.

There's a saying in autoracing, you can't win the race in the first corner, but you can lose it there. It's a long race, be at the front at the end and don't worry about being first into turn 1.

So we’ve worked horse racing and car racing metaphors into this thread.

Can we get an NBA 7th game metaphor out of it? It doesn’t matter who leads the first quarter of game 1, just pick the winner of game 7. Is that what you’re saying?

;)
 

Litvi_Me

Contributor
No, not my prediction, they already exist...for instance: Change, Wirex, Uquid, BitPay, and CryptoPay all have cards that exist today. I know Change (getchange.com) can be used on any machine that accepts VISA.
I see. Thanks for your example
 
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