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The first verified purchase ever made with bitcoin was a pizza from a Papa John’s for 10,000 BTC back in May 2010. At the time, this was worth around $80 USD. Today, those same bitcoins would be worth well over a quarter of a billion dollars!
Due to its volatility, purchases with crypto have not quite taken off in the mainstream. One of the reasons for this can be seen in Tesla’s recent attempt to sell its cars for bitcoin. The sticker price of the car would be in US dollars, and the bitcoin price would be constantly updated to match it in a side window.
Still, there are some good reasons to buy products with crypto directly rather than just converting it to cash and making your purchases that way. Mainly, the cost to trade one’s crypto for fiat currency on an exchange and then withdraw it is usually a decent amount in fees, depending on the exchange. Therefore, you’ll save money by buying direct.
Things to Purchase with Crypto Today
Gift Cards
Gift cards might just be the most important thing you can buy with cryptocurrencies today. With them, you can make purchases at tons of your favorite stores and restaurants while saving money on withdrawal fees.
You can use bitcoin to purchase a gift card from services like Bitrefill, eGifter, or Gyft. Some of the gift cards these sites have available include Apple, Walmart, Amazon, and Target. With so many brand-name companies, this strategy is really helpful if you are trying to convert your bitcoin into everyday purchases.
Most retailers have not yet caught on to using crypto as a method of payment. This workaround lets you purchase what you want using crypto with minimal extra effort.
Food
Some fast-food restaurants have begun accepting crypto as payment. For example, some global Subway, KFC, Burger King, and Pizza Hut locations have already started to accept bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Even Starbucks has a partnership with Bakkt (pronounced Backed) that allows you to use their app to buy Starbucks drinks and snacks using crypto.
Furniture
The owner of Overstock.com is a big advocate of the cryptocurrency market. The company has accepted payment using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on the site since 2014. They were one of the first large companies to do so, making them a great company to support.
Other online furniture retailers like Warfair.com have gift cards available for purchase that you can then use to buy their furniture online.
If you have some DIY projects around the home, Home Depot has also begun accepting bitcoin payments for their online store.
Event Tickets
Some sports tickets are now available for purchase for cryptocurrency.
The Oakland As were the first major league baseball team to sell a suite of six box seats for 1 BTC for season tickets to the 2021 season to Voyager Digital Ltd., a crypto-asset platform.
As for concert tickets, you can purchase a gift card for Ticketmaster and buy concert tickets from there, showing the power of gift cards for crypto purchases yet again.
Plane Tickets
Both Expedia and CheapAir allow the use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to purchase plane tickets. It is currently more expensive than booking with cash, but it’s a step in the right direction that the option is available.
You can also book your hotel room on these sites using bitcoin, meaning you can book your whole vacation using crypto!
Art
There’s already been a lot of buzz around the ability to purchase art, especially NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) using cryptocurrencies. We don’t have to get into the world of NFTs here, but because they also use blockchain technology, whole marketplaces have sprung up, allowing you to trade your cryptocurrencies for them.
Christie’s, the famous auction house, has also recently made history when it accepted Ether as payment for some digital art they brought to auction.
For those of us on a smaller budget, the ability to purchase art for crypto from local artists is made possible by Verisart. Verisart allows local artists to use the blockchain to generate secure certificates of authenticity for their artworks, making payment and authenticity of their artworks more secure for everyone.
Support Small Businesses
Finally, you can simply support small businesses along with local artists by looking up local online stores that allow you to buy their products using cryptocurrencies.
Shopify allows online stores built using their platform to integrate cryptocurrency purchases as an option when you go to checkout.
Unfortunately, Etsy has not yet followed suit, but workarounds are possible by contacting sellers directly and working out a way to purchase their goods using crypto.
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