Are you looking to spend your Bitcoin in place of fiat currencies? The surge in demand for cryptocurrency as 2021 rolled in surprised many traditional investors and financiers. However, some companies have already been ahead of the curve, accepting crypto as a valid fiat even before its lavish bull run.
With its decentralised system, anyone can participate in the trade and involve themselves in this global network. It’s not difficult to get started; you can buy Bitcoin in Australia with just the touch of your fingertips.
These are the places where you can spend Bitcoin this year.
Twitch
A global streaming platform for gamers and content creators, Twitch first allowed cryptocurrency payment for its services in 2014. It discontinued this shortly in 2019, but brought it back in June 2020, even giving a 10% discount on people who pay using Bitcoin and other cryptos. Broadcasters and streamers receive donations with the cryptocurrency payment processor BitPay.
Travala
Travala is a travel booking platform that combines the best parts of the latest booking website functionality with decentralised technologies and tokenised structures. Now, it lists over 560,000 properties in 210 countries — with a destination count of over 82,000.
As a Next-Gen Online Travel Agency (NOTA), they offer a competitive range of tourist services, using both leading digital currency and traditional currencies as options to transact. With an innovative UX design and blockchain-verified reviews, Travala is a tech-driven booking platform that’s primed to change how we travel.
Etsy
Ecommerce site Etsy is a popular business platform that allows users to buy and sell handmade and artisan products. From vintage crafts to custom goods, many small business owners (or vendors) use this platform to market their products. Although Etsy doesn’t have an automated system that accepts cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin just yet, vendors can easily opt into the cryptocurrency.
Vendors just have to advertise that they accept Bitcoin, choose “Others” in the financing methods in the Etsy Shop Manager, and agree with their customers to conduct the transaction with Bitcoin as payment. That easy!
Yum Brands
Have you ever heard of Yum Brands? They’re a leading restaurant chain that has many famous restaurant brands you can recognize, notably KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut. In collaboration with Bitcoin service provider BitPay, people can use Bitcoin to buy food and beverages in these establishments. Aside from BitPay, Yum Brands has also collaborated with Cryptobuyer as a payment provider in countries like Venezuela.
Starbucks
The leading coffee chain amassed a decent following of brand loyalists with over 30,000 stores spread across 80 countries as of 2020. They’ve been testing the crypto waters with the crypto app Bakkt. They also told customers that they now can pay for coffee and other products through the Bakkt app just recently.
While, like Etsy, they don’t have their own automated system to process Bitcoin, they still have the means to transact with cryptocurrencies. The digital wallet Bakkt allows users to convert to Bitcoin (and other forms of currency or reward points) into dollars, making Bitcoin payments more accessible.
Microsoft
Microsoft transacted with Bitcoin back in 2014 but brought it to a halt shortly thereafter. Just recently though, they revived the crypto payment method once more and integrated it into their services. Now, Bitcoin can be used to buy Microsoft software such as games, apps, and other digital mediums in the Microsoft store. This further extends to the Xbox and Windows Phone series.
CS.money
CS.money is an online game trading bot that allows you to exchange your unwanted Counter-Strike: Global Offensive skins for better skins, knives, and keys in-game. They are a safe, secure, and fast-growing digital gaming platform that also allows payments and top-ups to be made using cryptocurrency. One common way CS.money uses crypto when trading is by following through with a QR code scan. Digital goods for digital money!
Wikipedia
The world’s largest open source medium Wikipedia proudly announced its acceptance of Bitcoin as a method of payment back in 2014. With the online encyclopedia runs primarily through donations, the team widened their payment processing options to cast a wider net. They’ve implemented the processing of cryptocurrency in collaboration with BitPay, allowing donations of the following digital currencies:
— Bitcoin
— Bitcoin Cash
— Ether
For their refund options, it will be based on the US dollar amount received at the time the exchange took place, using the payment processor’s sell rate.
