- Numbers of merchants add cryptocurrencies as an alternative payment method.
- Industries like gift card resellers, online retail, video games, online gambling, real estate, food, and travel especially favorable for crypto payments.
The ability to buy cryptocurrencies with a debit card is perhaps the biggest breakthrough into the massive adoption of virtual currencies. However, the reverse direction of transfers – spending Bitcoins on purchases – is already not a big deal. With more and more companies accepting crypto payments, have a look at what you can buy with Bitcoin.
Here is the list of the most popular products and services you can buy with Bitcoin:
- Gift cards (eGifter, Bitrefill, or Gyft)
- Online retail (Overstock, Nordstrom, Microsoft)
- Video games (Zynga, Xbox, PlayStation Network)
- Online gambling ( Satoshidice, Cloudbet, BitStarz)
- Real estate (Spendabit)
- Food (Burger King, Starbucks, Whole Foods Market)
- Travel (Bitcoin.travel, Destinia, CheapAir)
The crypto industry is constantly making movements towards the broader usage of virtual currencies. Since numbers of merchants add digital currencies as the alternative to their traditional fiat payment methods, buying with Bitcoin becomes easier accessible around the internet and thus – around the globe.
Although the top-rated cryptocurrency is mostly used as the long-term investment, numbers of merchants turn to it as purchasing with Bitcoin is different in 2020 than it was a few years ago.
The decentralized nature of Bitcoin made it more the high-value payments layer instead of the payment network, however, the usage of Bitcoin Lightning Network changed things. Fast transactions and better scalability made Bitcoin available for cheaper and much quicker micropayments.
How to start buying with Bitcoin?
In order to start using Bitcoins as a form of payment, you will first need to set up a Bitcoin wallet, where you can store Bitcoins, receive them, and make payments as well. The wallet works as an equivalent of the bank account.
In the next step – create a public Bitcoin address. There are various cryptocurrency wallets, which allow replacing long and complicated blockchain wallet addresses to human-readable names.
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Then add some Bitcoins into your wallet. There are lots of options on how to do that – mint Bitcoins, buy them on a cryptocurrency exchange, or transfer from another account. The last step left – find a merchant, from whom can you buy with Bitcoins.
Merchants that accept Bitcoin payments
There are tons of various kinds of businesses accepting Bitcoin payments throughout the world. Moreover, surveys show that at least one-third of small and medium companies based in the United States alone accept crypto payments. Since there are thousands of possibilities of what you can buy with Bitcoin, there are certain industries especially favorable for crypto payments.
Gift cards
One of the most popular ways to make a purchase with Bitcoin is to buy a gift card. Since the vast majority of companies – both major and small ones – worldwide accept them, the options of available goods are almost limitless.
The popular gift card hubs like eGifter, Bitrefill, or Gyft allow shopping from hundreds of gift cards with Bitcoin. The gift card merchants support numbers of gift cards from famous brands, like Apple Store, Amazon, Playstation, Uber, or Macy’s.
Most of the gift card sellers do not charge any fees when shopping with Bitcoin. Since sellers offer supported services in more than 100 countries worldwide, purchasing gift cards with Bitcoin is one of the easiest ways to buy products both online and offline.
Online retail
The online commerce platforms like Magento, Bigcommerce, OpenCart or e-commerce platform for WordPress WooCommerce also support Bitcoin payments. Handmade goods or craft lovers may spend their cryptos on Etsy, as more than 900 sellers accept Bitcoin payments at the time of publishing.
Apart from the biggest world-known online retailers, there are dozens of small or medium-sized companies across various countries, where payments in cryptocurrencies are possible. The best way to find them is to use an online retailer catalogues like Coinmap, Spendabit, or useBitcoins to name a few.
Video games
There are various options online to buy video games for PC or console with Bitcoin. The list of video game sellers that accept world’s top-rated digital currency as well as other crypto coins is growing all the time.
Various gaming brands like Zynga, Xbox, PlayStation Network or Big Fish Games offer the option for customers to acquire games, subscriptions, and other add-ons by paying in Bitcoins.
STEAM video game lovers may spend their Bitcoins on buying keys for PC games on the DailyIndieGame website. Meanwhile, they should visit Skinbay to find items for Counter-Strike: GO, DOTA 2, Team Fortress, Rust, and Z1 Battle Royal games.
Online gambling
Gamblers like using cryptocurrencies as anonymity of payments remain the biggest advantage for Bitcoin users. Moreover, crypto casinos – like Satoshidice, Cloudbet, BitCasino or BitStarz – became more popular in recent years as payments in cryptocurrencies help operators to avoid the complex regulations.
Although there are online casinos that accept only Bitcoin transactions, most of them usually offer various payment methods, including fiat and cryptocurrency options. Bitcoin holders are allowed to use a range of options to bet on: casino games, gambling games, sports-based betting, online lotteries, spread betting.
Various online casinos where you can pay in Bitcoins can be found on online casino hubs, like BitcoinPlay or CasinoListings.
Real estate
The tokenized real estate sector has emerged as a market, where Bitcoin can also be used to purchase a property. The tokenization of real estate removes the brokers from the process and makes it cheaper to buy a property.
Since younger investors turn to look for alternative payment methods, various real estate sellers advertised on Spledabit allow their buyers to pay in Bitcoin.
Food
Burger King was one of the first global fast-food merchants that started accepting Bitcoins next to the traditional fiat payments method. Meanwhile, KFC Canada has accepted Bitcoins since 2018 when the fast-food company introduced “Bitcoin bucket”, a bucket of fried chicken. Several Subway branches accept Bitcoin as payment for their sandwiches.
Bitcoin holders can also spend their coins for coffee at Starbucks or any kind of snack at Whole Foods Market.
In order to buy various food products with Bitcoin, there are platforms like Bitrefill, that allow purchasing vouchers from food chains like Cheesecake Factory, Chipotle or Dunkin Donuts.
Travel
Although travel opportunities might be undermined because of the global COVID-19 pandemic, let’s hope that travel companies will apply the same payment conditions after the quarantine.
In summary, there are millions of different options of what you can buy with Bitcoin. Online game, movie subscription, holiday flight or even a new property – there are various possibilities to spend cryptocurrencies. And with the upcoming mainstream adoption of digital currencies, the chances are – there will be many more places around the planet to spend your Bitcoins.
There are various travel platforms that accept Bitcoins for booking flights, hotels, cars or other equipment needed for the vacation. Travel sites accepting cryptocurrencies include one of the best-known platforms Bitcoin.travel, the largest Spanish online travel agency Destinia, California’s online booking site CheapAir, that offers cheap flights, hotels, and car bookings or Expedia, where you can book hotels by using Bitcoins.
Moreover, Bitcoins can be used to rent an apartment at Airbnb, since the website accepts crypto payments via Fold App. However, for now, the option is only available for users in the United States, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Mexico and the United Kingdom.
If you want to buy flight tickets directly, there are several airlines that accept bitcoins directly. One of them is Norwegian Air – Europe’s third-largest budget airline, which offers cheap flights worldwide. Latvian national airlines AirBaltic also accepts Bitcoin. The company was the first in the aviation industry to offer crypto payments for tickets.if you are looking to book a VIP flight – American company Star Jets International accepts Bitcoins for renting a private jet. Meanwhile, Virgin Galactic may exchange your Bitcoins for space travel.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I spend my Bictoins?
There are lots of places where you can spend Bitcoins. Many online merchants accept them, meanwhile there are several industries that tend to support Bitcoin payments more often than others. These industries include online retail, gift card resellers, real estate, video games, online gambling, food and travel sectors.
Does Amazon accept Bitcoin?
Amazon does not accept Bitcoins itself. However, it accepts gift cards, which you can purchase with cryptocurrencies at various gift card selling websites like eGifter, Gyft or RewardsPay.
Can Bitcoin be converted to cash?
The simple way to convert Bitcoin to cash is by selling it on cryptocurrency exchange and withdrawing cash to your bank account.
How much does it cost to buy Bitcoin?
Cryptocurrency exchanges do ask for some sort of transaction fee. The exact amount, however, depends on what exchange you use and what quantity of Bitcoins you want to buy.
In summary
There are millions of different options of what you can buy with Bitcoin. Online game, movie subscription, holiday flight or even a new property – there are various possibilities to spend cryptocurrencies. And with the upcoming mainstream adoption of digital currencies, the chances are – there will be many more places around the planet to spend your Bitcoins.
