Year after year, the world gets closer to becoming a cashless society. There are so many ways to pay for this that don’t include cash that it is far easier to imagine than ever before.
Electronic payments range from credit card payments to using an app on your phone to finally using bitcoin and other cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency has finally become mainstream enough that it is used as a regular form of payment. It has both good and bad sides, of course, but the point is that it is a viable way to make purchases.
In this article, I will go over how you can use cryptocurrency to make purchases just as you would other systems.
Set Up a Digital Wallet
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies exist solely on the blockchain. You can’t put a physical coin in your pocket. For starters, each bitcoin is worth over $20,000 so you really wouldn’t want to anyway. Though, there is a printout of a code that does allow you to keep it in your wallet and scan it when you want to send or receive money. However, the address is still stored on a software version.
You have to store the bitcoin in a digital wallet. More specifically, you are storing the details of the address of the hash where the bitcoins are located on the blockchain. To do this, you need to download the encrypted software to open the wallet. Then, just read up on how to buy bitcoin online and get some coins. Once you have your wallet set up and your bitcoin, then you are ready to start using them to pay for things.
The easiest way to pay for things while out and about is to download a mobile wallet onto your phone and then you can scan your phone to deduct the coins directly from your wallet.
Connect Your Wallet to A Debit Card
A system that allows you to use your bitcoin just like it was any other type of currency is the ability to set up a debit card to your digital wallet. Since the most popular form of cryptocurrency is bitcoin you are most likely to find some debit cards that connect to that cryptocurrency. There are other coins out there but not all of them will have this capability.
Once you do set up the syncing of accounts then you can use it anywhere that bitcoins are accepted. You may end up paying some extra fees doing it this way though so make sure to read the fine print when signing up.
Some will even allow you to use the debit card that pays out local currency from your bitcoin. These typically cost more to use since they have to make a conversion for this to happen but it makes it possible to use anywhere that accepts debit cards.
Online Purchases
The easiest and cheapest way to use bitcoin is to make online purchases. Many ecommerce stores use software to process cryptocurrency. You’ll just need your special keys to your wallet to make the purchase.