Cryptocurrency is most often thought of as a means of investment, but it is used as a transfer of value. Users can send it to and from one another and, although options are more limited than spending fiat currency, or traditional currency, it is possible to pay for goods and services. The number of businesses that accept Bitcoin and other cryptos as payment continues to increase.
Big names like Microsoft and NewEgg take cryptocurrency payments already and as long as people continue to spend it, it is likely that more organizations will join the fray.
Although cryptocurrency is still considered to be in its infancy, and the market is described as being an immature investment market, Bitcoin has existed since 2009 and, since then, thousands of new coins and tokens have launched. Some of those new coins have made early investors large sums of money, although they are extremely volatile and do carry a high degree of risk.
To compensate early investors for this risk, presale tokens offer incentives to buyers. Some of the best crypto presale initiatives yield additional coins, while airdrops mean that randomly selected buyers receive Bitcoin or other currencies as bonuses. Crypto writer Kane Pepi points to NEO as a shining example of the potential upside offered to early investors – at presale, it was available for $0.032 before going on to hit a peak price of nearly $200. Hitting both the low and the high would have netted investors a return of over 600,000% in three years.
If you want to invest in cryptocurrency but don’t know where to start, exchange-traded funds have been launched this year, which allow investors to buy without even having to have a crypto wallet or an exchange account. The SEC gave the green light to Bitcoin funds in January and, having given the same go-ahead to Ethereum funds in May, the first ETH ETFs are also now available for purchase.
For those who prefer something a little lighter, blockchain gaming has become popular, and it doesn’t have geographic boundaries, so it is a viable option for Vermonters. Some games, known as play-to-earn even reward the player for leveling up or playing the game by giving them cryptocurrency. As well as RPG and even Tamagotchi-style games, a lot of online casinos now also accept the likes of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin. Deposits and withdrawals are anonymous, and some offshore casinos do not require ID verification for players using cryptocurrency.
Some big companies have started accepting Bitcoin. Microsoft enables users to pay with Bitcoin in its various online stores. You can also buy goods on sites like New Egg, and there are various specialist sites set up specifically for cryptocurrency users. You can now also buy from Tesla’s online store using Dogecoin, although you can only buy merchandise and not an actual Tesla car, just yet.
Another increasingly popular option is the use of Bitpay. Bitpay is a payment gateway. It comes with a Mastercard, but rather than being funded using traditional fiat currency, the Bitpay card allows holders to spend their Bitcoin. Rather than scrabbling around to try and find companies that accept Bitcoin as a native payment option, Bitpay holders can pay using crypto at any location that accepts Mastercard payments.
That means holders can drink in bars, eat at restaurants, buy local goods, and pay for local services or attend local events. The gateway itself converts money before the recipient receives it, which means merchants don’t even know when a customer pays with Bitcoin over Dollars.
Bitcoin is still an emerging technology but it is gaining greater acceptance. It is reported that some 15,000 companies around the world accept Bitcoin payments and that number continues to grow.
Services like Bitpay enable existing crypto holders to spend their coins while some businesses are realising the benefits of crypto payments. Merchants face lower fees and shorter transaction times compared to accepting traditional card payments, so while it does take some extra effort to set up as a cryptocurrency merchant, it really can be worth it in the long run.
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