Yes, you can!
In fact, Bitcoin is not just a currency, a commodity or a get-rich-quick scheme.
Bitcoin has the potential to revolutionize the way we do business, the way we transact and the way we live.
Whether you hate it or love it, believe that Bitcoin is going to achieve mainstream adoption or likely to be a bust, one thing we can’t deny is that right NOW everyone can buy and sell Bitcoin as well as spend it, anywhere in the world without any middleman and paying exorbitant fees.
As more people are getting interested in bitcoins, I’m glad to see more merchants start to embrace it by accepting cryptocurrency as a means of payment.
Fun fact: The first real-world bitcoin transaction was used to buy two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins back in 2010. At that time, 10,000 bitcoins were worth about $41. Today, 10,000bitcoins were worth a whopping $118 million!
So why would you want to spend Bitcoin (which is probably going to appreciate in value) instead of using fiat money?
No, you don’t have to.
If you truly understand the technology behind it, you’d HOLD Bitcoin to the moon!
With that said, it’s always good to know the many different ways where you can spend your Bitcoin if desired. Not only that, you can now be a seller and start earning Bitcoin by selling products on websites like OpenBazaar.
In this article, I’ve compiled 7 creative ways to spend your Bitcoin as easily as your credit card, along with the products you can purchase.
How to Get Started with Bitcoin
First of all, you’ll need to own some bitcoins before you can shop online with Bitcoin.
The easiest way to get hold of Bitcoin is buying bitcoins with your fiat money on cryptocurrency exchanges.
- How to buy Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies
- 10 Best Cryptocurrency Exchanges to Buy and Trade Bitcoin
If you aren’t ready to invest in Bitcoin with your hard-earned money, you can earn tiny fractions of bitcoins during your spare time doing microtasks, trading, mining etc.
- 10 Legit Ways to Earn Free Bitcoin (#3 is My Favorite)
- How to Earn Free Bitcoin in Less Than 1 Minute
Next, set up a crypto wallet where you can store your bitcoins and altcoins.
- Cold wallet vs Hot wallet
- Crypto Hardware Wallet: How to Setup a Ledger Nano S
- 3 Best Bitcoin Hardware Wallets
- 10 Best Bitcoin Wallets You Should Use to Protect Your Crypto Investment
Best Places to Spend Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies Online
1. Purse
Purse is an online platform that connects shoppers with Amazon gift cardholders. It’s the place to go to get the best deals on the Internet!
As a shopper, you can save 5%- 33% if you pay in Bitcoin or Bitcoin cash on Purse.
There are two main ways to get maximum discounts on Amazon with the help of Purse.
- Install Purse Chrome extension: Once you install the Purse extension, you can shop like usual on Amazon, click the Purse button and add items to your cart. Finalize your order and an Earner will purchase your order on Amazon.
- Import Amazon Wish List: without Purse Chrome extension, you can still take advantage of the discounted price by creating a wishlist Amazon and then copy the link to Purse.
Also, Purse has this unique feature “Name your own discount” that allows you to set your own discount if you’re looking for greater discounts.
Do note that, it will take more time to fulfill orders with higher discounts. If you select the lowest discount 5%, Purse will automatically process your order, and you can expect to receive your purchase within 2-6 days.
If you have unused Amazon Gift Card, you can sell it here and earn some bitcoins.
Related: 28 Proven Ways to earn Amazon Gift Cards every month (#19 Is my Favorite)
2. Bitrefill
Bittrefill makes it super easy and possible to spend Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies even if the retailer sites don’t directly accept cryptocurrency as payment.
All you need to do is purchase gift cards using your bitcoin and altcoins from 750+ supported services or top up your prepaid phones from 900+ phone carriers with Bitrefill. And then shop with your gift cards on those retailer websites.
Let’s take a closer look at how it works:
- Simply select a product or gift card that you want, enter the amount and choose a cryptocurrency you’d like to pay with.
- Make your payment. Bitrefill accepts several cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, Litecoin and Dash.
- Once your payment is confirmed, you’ll get your gift card code. You can then use it to redeem on a selected website or refill your phone.
You can use gift cards across the world in over 170+ countries in few main categories like:
- Ecommerce
- Gaming
- Travel
- Food
- Entertainment
On top of that, Bitrefill also leads the Lightning Network adoption for instant payment wherein you can pay with Lightning directly from within the app.
With Thor, their Lightning Network channel, sellers can now install a fresh wallet, open an account on their node, order an incoming channel and start receiving payments at lightning speeds.
3. Lolli
Lolli is a Chrome extension that allows you to spend and earn Bitcoin at the same time when you shop online!
You can earn up to 30% cashback in bitcoins when you make a purchase with one of the 500+ top brands such as Walmart, Priceline, Groupon, Hotels.com, Hilton, GoDaddy, Barnes&Noble, Casper, Noble, Vrbo, Sephora, Overstock, lululemon, Old Navy and lots more…
Here’s how it works:
- Install Lolli extension on your chrome browser.
- Shop the web, Lolli will pop up to notify you on the percentage of Bitcoin you can earn-back.
- Buy whatever you’re planning to buy as normal.
- Earn free Bitcoin when you checkout using Lolli.
4. Hostinger
Are you looking to make money blogging, establish a personal brand or run an eCommerce site?
Then, you might consider purchasing a cheap hosting plan + a domain name with your Bitcoin.
There’s no better way to spend your bitcoins than starting a blog.
Hostinger is one of the top companies in the hosting space that have hopped on the crypto bandwagon and started accepting Bitcoin as payment for their services.
With the aim of empowering millions around the world by providing cheap web hosting solutions to young web developers, talents and the unbanked, Hostinger stands firm on their decision to accept Bitcoin, despite continued price volatility and regulatory uncertainty.
You can also pay for any Hostinger services with other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Dash, Dogecoin, Ethereum, Komodo, MaidSafeCoin, PotCoi, Qtum and USD Tether.
Related:
- 7 Best Web Hosting Services that Accept Bitcoin and Altcoins
- 6 Best Bitcoin-Friendly Domain Registrars
5. OpenBazaar
You can buy anything from music, games, videos from around the world, to art, clothes, local food and beverages and rare & hard to find items.
Not only can you shop, chat and send crypto privately, you can also set up and run an online store that accepts bitcoins.
To help you avoid frauds or scams, OpenBazaar has this unique “Multisignature escrow” feature that offers dispute resolution.
What makes OpenBazaar different from multi-vendor stores such as Amazon, eBay and Shopify?
OpenBazaar is a free, decentralized, peer-to-peer application that doesn’t require middlemen.
Essentially, OpenBazaar is NOT a company. It’s NOT owned or controlled by anyone. It’s free open-source software that simply provides a platform that connects buyers with sellers.
Unlike conventional e-commerce website like Amazon, OpenBazaar won’t charge you any fee for selling things on its platform.
There’s no platform fees, no rules, no restrictions. Anyone can create a store and sell absolutely anything to anybody on the free online marketplace.
For each sale made, you can choose to receive payments in Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash or Zcash.
Equally important, OpenBazaar does not collect your personal information, credit card or bank details. In fact, you don’t need to reveal your private data in order to use it.
Say goodbye to centralized e-Commerce like Amazon who monitors, learns and manipulates your spending habit.
How does it work?
Since it’s open-source software, you’ll need to download it to your computer before you can start using it.
It’s completely free to download and use.
- Download and install OpenBazaar on your computer.
- Once installed, launch it and you can start browsing products from the search engine within the software. Filter by shipping location, listing type, rating, condition & much more!
- You can have a live chat with the seller if you have any question before you buy..
- Place an order and send bitcoins to an escrow account.
- That’s it. Wait for your product to arrive.
If you prefer to shop using a mobile device, you can check out their app called Haven. It’s available both on App Store and Google Play.
As you can see, this can bring more freedom and privacy for both sellers and buyers, but also a great responsibility for all your transactions and data.
Related: 10 Awesome Decentralized Apps that you should use today!
6. TravelbyBit
While some travel websites like Expedia has quietly stopped accepting Bitcoin, crypto startup such as TravelbyBit seized the opportunity to fill this market gap by accepting crypto as payment for booking hotels, flights and travel experiences.
Recently, Binance , the world’s biggest crypto exchange invested in TravelbyBit, to help the Australian startup to expand its crypto point-of-sale (POS) payment system in airports worldwide.
The travel booking platform is very easy to use. Enter your destination, select your date of traveling, number of passengers and click search. TravelbyBit will automatically show you all the relevant results. You can browse through the list, filter by price range and rating. Once confirmed, you can proceed to enter your billing address and choose your payment method.
At present, they accept Bitcoin, Binance coin, Ethereum and Litecoin for all the booking.
7. Moon
Although Amazon doesn’t support Bitcoin as a payment method, you can now spend your cryptocurrency directly on Amazon by using Moon.
Moon is basically a browser extension that allows you to shop online with cryptocurrencies.
- Install Moon extension on your browser. It’s available on Chrome, Opera and Brave Browser.
- Then, Moon will ask you to create an account. You either sign up using an email address or with your Facebook/ Google account.
- You can now shop on Amazon as usual. (Only Amazon is supported at the moment, it’s on Moon’s plan to add more major e-commerce website like eBay, Ali Express and Targe to their services. Stay tuned)
- During the checkout process, simply click “Pay with Moon”. You’ll see the total amount of bitcoins you need to pay.
- Make your payment instantly via Lightning Network or from your Coinbase account with Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ether and Bitcoin Cash.
- That’s all. Receive your items from Amazon.
The best part?
It’s 100% free to use.
Conclusion
This list is by no means complete. But it will give you enough information on where you might want to spend your Bitcoin and altcoins.
- Purse– Pay with Bitcoin and get 5–33% off everything from Amazon
- Bitrefill- Buy Gift Cards or Mobile Refills with Bitcoin
- Lolli– Earn free bitcoins when you shop online
- Hostinger– Start a blog or website with Bitcoin
- TravelbyBit – Book flights and hotels with crypto
- OpenBazaar – peer-to-peer eCommerce platform to buy/sell products and service
- Moon – browser extension to shop with Bitcoin on Amazon
Where do you spend your bitcoins? Share your tips or experience in the comment section down below.
And lastly, if you liked this post, don’t forget to share it on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.
I’ve handpicked a few guides for you to read next:
- How to Turn Bitcoin into Cash
- Crypto 101: The Ultimate List of Cryptocurrency Resource
- Bitcoin Debit Card: What is it? How to use it?
- How to use a Bitcoin ATM
- 10+ Easy Ways to make money with Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency
I live and breath making an income online.
I’ll be sharing more of ideas and guides soon. Stay tuned.
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