Marinelle Adams
While Bitcoin and the crypto industry continue to make front-page news, the majority of journalists tend to focus on its price. Sure, choosing to buy Bitcoin as a long-term investment is great, but is that its only use case? Satoshi Nakamoto didn’t think so. According to him, Bitcoin is meant to serve as an alternative financial system, based on decentralized and permissionless protocols.
So yes, bitcoin is actually a form of money. But can it be used practically today? In this article, we will find out how you can use Bitcoin in your day-to-day life, from making purchases all the way to gambling. Our friends at Paybis has created an interesting article. Let’s delve in.
Purchase goods and services
As of December 2024, there are more than 15.000 businesses around the globe that accept direct Bitcoin payments for their services. These include businesses in the industries of hospitality, electronics, web-based services, and SaaS products.
To find a brick-and-mortar business that accepts Bitcoin is also very simple. Simply offer to pay using Bitcoin. With more than 10% of all Americans having at least some form of cryptocurrency, you will certainly find merchants that are willing to receive your crypto payment.
Send to friends and family
Now that the price of Bitcoin is still relatively low (compared to its upside potential), it is a good moment to donate a small amount of Bitcoin to your closest friends and family members. By being incentivized to learn about Bitcoin, they will naturally start learning more about the popular cryptocurrency. By embarking on this journey they will not just be very thankful to you, but they will manage to protect their wealth in case of an economic collapse.
Note that you can always set up their Bitcoin wallet using your affiliate/referral codes, and make the money back as soon as they start exploring crypto-related financial products.
Donate it
Nowadays, many non-profit organizations turn to Bitcoin holders for help. Ever since Wikileaks started receiving BTC donations in 2011, the mainstream acceptance of crypto donations has increased massively. We now see companies like Coinbase and Binance building their own charities to support important causes, and donations in crypto are increasing on a year to year basis.
Exchange it for other cryptocurrencies
This is probably the most common, practical use for Bitcoin. As soon as an individual chooses to purchase bitcoin, the next step is to explore other cryptocurrencies. Soon enough, FOMO kicks in, and trading starts.
A little known fact is that many investors choose to embark on trading in order to increase their Bitcoin holdings before mainstream adoption leads to a supply shock of the latest. While we are currently able to buy Bitcoin off exchanges, it will soon become harder since institutions choose to buy BTC, and taking it off exchanges.
For trading platforms, we recommend checking out Binance, Avatrade, Bitfinex, Bittrex, as well as decentralized platforms, like Uniswap or Binance DEX.
Use it for gambling
While crypto trading could be classified as gambling, there are also many literal gambling platforms that accept deposits in cryptocurrencies.
Online casinos are the most popular of the kind. There are casinos that can convert your crypto deposit into dollars, or crypto-native platforms that simply enable you to gamble using Bitcoin. In both cases, it is an entertaining way to pass your time, if you choose to do so responsibly.
Get a crypto debit card
One of the most interesting developments over the past year is the introduction of cryptocurrency debit cards. In short, these cards are similar to your traditional debit cards but are linked with exchange platforms to allow users the spending on crypto in every store that has a POS machine.
While cards are still being rolled out around several regions of the world, it is becoming clear that very soon every store in the world will accept crypto payments by having exchanges cash out crypto during the point of purchase. This way, the merchant still receives FIAT currency, while the buyer doesn’t have to go through complex procedures to get his sale confirmed and transferred to a bank account.
Wrapping up – Bitcoin is going global
While the practical use cases are still limited in some regions, it is becoming apparent that many large players are actively building a crypto-fueled economy. Very soon, users will be able to take a wide range of actions using their Bitcoin, including tax payments, salaries, insurance payments, and even loan collaterals.
The exact time that we can expect such progress to take place is still unknown, but we can make a good estimation by looking at the progress that has been made over the past three years. With institutions adopting Bitcoin as a reserve asset, we expect to see explosive growth over the next 12-24 months. Will you be part of it as well?