The blockchain-based cryptocurrency Bitcoin, often abbreviated as BTC, has been around for more than a decade. It continues to grow in popularity, capitalization, and usefulness. Just a few years ago, however, you’d be hard put to find many real world uses for the world’s most prevalent cyber money. Now, in the 2020s, there are plenty of ways that holders of BTC can use it to transact various kinds of business, invest, and more.
Investing
Bitcoin trading for the purposes of investment and speculation is one of the main ways that consumers use the crypto money in today’s market. The primary reason for taking part in Bitcoin trading is price volatility. If you watch the daily value changes for the coin you get some idea of why so many people seek out this form of capital. Unlike most other forms of traditional investments, like stocks and bonds, the short-term prices of BTC can rise and fall rapidly.
Getting Retail Discounts
Plenty of online retailers offer discounts to buyers who use cryptocurrency. The number of sellers offering this type of deal is growing constantly, and consumers are starting to take advantage of the situation by spending their cyber coins on goods and services. Typically, large website-based businesses offer discounts of as much as 20 percent for anyone who pays with crypto money. One of the drawbacks of using BTC in order to get a discount is because prices of cryptocurrencies are so volatile, it’s possible that the funds you spent to obtain a small discount could have been held as an investment.
Making Donations
Charitable organizations were among the first to realize that needing to take in more donations depends on the ease for people to give. One of those ways is allowing anyone to donate with cryptocurrency. Charities were also trail-blazers in accepting debit cards, credit cards, and even gift certificates. As long as a donor has something of value that can benefit the organization, a charity’s philosophy is to make the process as seamless as possible. Nowadays, many of the world’s major charitable entities accept both traditional and crypto forms of money.
Gambling
If you’ve been to a casino lately, you probably already know how crypto-friendly they are. Some larger gaming establishments allow players to exchange crypto funds for tokens or credit vouchers at their windows. For online gaming sites, crypto is widely accepted as a form of payment, setting up an account, or purchasing goods. Whether online or not, the world of gaming and gambling has been one of the early adopters of Bitcoin.
Paying for Fast Food and Restaurant Bills
Individual fast food locations and formal, sit-down restaurants are among the newest wave of businesses that are beginning to take Bitcoin along with multiple other forms of payment. Perhaps owners are discovering that, in a challenging economic era, it’s smart to expand rather than contract the ways their customers can pay. The restaurant acceptance phase is something all major credit and debit cards went through on their road to universal acceptance. For example, global restaurant chains like KFC Canada and worldwide Subway outlets already accept BTC at all their franchise locations. Additionally, increasing numbers of European and Asian dining establishments accept the cyber currency for meal charges and tips.