Bitcoin Forum

Today I was so glad because I was stressed free all because of Bitcoin.
To cut long story short, I went to pay the hospital bills of my younger brother who has been in the hospital for about 1 week now and I have to pay the sum of 500.000.00 naira based on no cash in my country ( Nigeria ) you will have money in your bank account but you can't withdraw from any Fiat bank. So there's scarcity of money in the country for now. So based on that I asked the  doctor if I can pay the hospital bills with Bitcoin and he said yes. So I was surprised based on my first experience paying bills with Bitcoin. To cut long story short letter That's day I paid 0.046591 BTC
I will say Bitcoin is going so far it's hitting it's target.
If people starts using Bitcoin as form of payment in there businesses it's will reduce stress.
Why do I say it will reduce stress?
Because you won't be counting fisical cash anymore and you don't have to carry any money to the bank.
So please you guy should try and stork Bitcoin because very soon it will be used as form of payment in all businesses.

Bitcoin has always been an alternative to a financial economical hectic situations, especially when dealing with making payments nowadays that the traditional fiat system is slow and having network barriers, bitcoin is a good alternative.


Please correct the figures after your decimal, i believed five thousand naira should be in this format (5,000.00) if that's the said amount intended amount you mean.


There's cash in the banks but the financial institutions were working base on the central banks directives to offer lower denomination to the customers while the higher denominations be collected through the ATMs, but it does not work because of the numbers of people on ground to receive cash payment, the mistake they did was to instill hardships on the innocent citizens through this means in a bid to curb the corrupt politicians at the citizens expense, which is wrong, what are the EFCC, ICPC doing that they can't probe their financial means.


They are rather holding the currency and not that it's scarce, bitcoin in this regard has served many with an alternative means to go through this period, this and the likes are things liable to be experienced when dealing with fiat under central authorities, the more reasons why bitcoin is the preferred alternative to present world financial economy because it is a decentralized currency that gives you right and control over your finance.

No wonder why Nigeria placed top 1 for searching "how to buy bitcoin"

https://i.imgur.com/E6RkjmRl.png

From what I understand, the Nigerian government is replacing or redesigning their "old" banknotes, rendering them unusable for physical exchange; essentially, making old banknotes worthless while making the exchange process much more difficult – so people are opting for cashless transactions.

Isn't this an old trick used by the government to subject people with large sums of money to taxation?

Yes That's what the federal government wants to do
But I think that will not stop most citizen from hidden money
Just think about this how can a politician carry all his old naira note to the bank to exchange all the new money in the bank? And this happened in the CBN just because of the coming election..
I think this why there is exactly of money in the country.

That's a great point about bitcoin vs fiat, but I'm curious, your country only accepts cash payment and no other payment options like online banking or e-payment wallet like Payeer, Paypal, or WebMoney...? In my country, for the large amount, we don't use cash, but bank transfer, and there are many options. In this case, if you already have an internet connection, you have more options than bitcoin.

Congratulations, you have experienced how to use bitcoin as a payment option when you can not use all the methods you usually use. You are lucky to be able to pay using bitcoin. You can spread the news to many places, especially those treated at the hospital. And when they do not have enough money but carry the money in a bitcoin wallet, they can pay through their bitcoin wallet. And the presence of bitcoin in society can significantly change them.

This is how bitcoin supposed to be used by people but unfortunately some government entities in the world doesn't allow this to happen since maybe they cannot get benefits by accepting this. If global leaders could just recognize the usefulness of bitcoin and blockchain it can make our life more easier and as well we can get additional investment option so that we can grow individually in terms on financial aspects. For now its good to accumulate but remember that you still consider how you need bitcoins since if you need money to use then don't regret to use it at in any time.

You could have easily used your debit card to pay the bills. You actually paid more(0.046591 = $1094.98 at today’s price), the exchange rate in Nigeria is 750/$ meaning you paid N821,235 instead of N500,000. It’s a bad transaction in my opinion, you lost over 200k in this single transaction. I doubt the legitimacy of this story because either parties should have been aware of this error when calculating the amount. OP is known for his tall tales and evading ban.

500,000 is for hospital bill and the rest for for some other stuffs like drugs and foods.
If you ready carefully you will see bills and not bill.
Thank you

I think that is a mistake as the amount that you have paid in Bitcoin could have given you a significant amount of return in the long term. There are multiple ways to make a payment, for example, you could have used a debit card, issued a cheque to the hospital, or could have got a banker's draft from your bank.


Yes, in many countries where Bitcoin is accepted as a mode of payment people have started using it as a mode of payment in restaurants or stores. The amount is not that much so the payments are done using the LN.

If the fiat banks failed to provide liquidity, crypto will do its best to help those who are willing to accept it as much as possible.
Its good that your hospital bills was paid using your Bitcoin, that means they are slowly adopting any options just to give more access to every patient. The government should be more ashamed by not providing any security with your fiat currency, and the banks should not allow this to happen because in many country fiat are still the reliable money when it comes to an emergency like this. Bitcoin total adoption is still far from reality.

Did you pay directly to the doctor or you have to pay it on their cashier? I'm just curious though since you've mentioned hospital bills, it's possible that it's the entire package including the doctor's fee.

Well, regardless of it, it's way to go and bitcoin really is being used of what it should be used aside just from being an investment.

Good thing in your country, the adoption is spreading and we might see more good stories such as yours on how they've paid a service or goods with bitcoin.

Isn't Bitcoin helping you perfectly, and it is very interested for Bitcoin users.

Most people want this to happen, Bitcoin users can pay their bills via Bitcoin as an alternative, and it seems like what we do when paying bills using Fiat money either through a debit card or asking for help with bank transfers, isn't this similar. but this can't happen yet, because some countries still prohibit it / haven't given access to permits for Bitcoin, but one of the alternatives we can take can only pay bills with Bitcoin by exchanging it to fiat first.

Bitcoin is very reliable and is a very fast alternative for the needs of its users, it can make it easier for everyone from various aspects, especially payments and bills, here I think paying with Bitcoin is faster compared to bank transfers which sometimes always have network interruptions, we were a bit bogged down with bank transfers when we were in a rush.

It could have even been easier to do an electronic transfer using mobile apps or bank codes. But I think OP was just excited that the hospital has an option for Bitcoin payment and the bank charges for transfers might be high. But it is quite interesting to hear how Bitcoin is helping people during emergencies. We have been hearing and experiencing great news about Bitcoin in some parts of the world where the currency is gaining more attention and experiencing massive adoption. The most amazing part of it is that Bitcoin transactions are restricted in some of these countries. I hope your brother recovers very soon.  

One of the reasons why bitcoin is created is to help people in their time of need when fiat fails. I know how relieved and happy you are when the doctor says that he also accepts bitcoin as means of payment.

How I wish the media will get to know about this(how you use bitcoin is settling your younger brother's hospital bills). As bad as the media and the government are up against bitcoin, I don't think they can spread this  testimony of yours on how bitcoin saved you in a time of need when the Nigeria currency is scarce for its citizens

Yeah i feel same too because after thorough calculations the figures doesn't add then i thought maybe he paid into the hospitals account so maybe he also added some additional fees since the OP stated it was for bill(s). Even at that its still a positive view seeing the rate of how bitcoin has spread like wildfire all over africa especially Nigeria.

Plus research Nigeria's citizens opinions in their country's Central Bank "e-Naira" CBDC. Their people's trust in their own legacy financial system is so low, that they prefer using Bitcoin. 8)


Because of the soaring distrust in their financial system, the Nigerian people will find a way to get paid in a more reliable form of money. Inflation in Nigeria is more than 20%. Although Bitcoin's price is volatile, it might be more stable to HODL Bitcoin than Naira.

Your story is a sweet one. I did not know that hospitals are now beginning yo accept bitcoin, maybe it is a private hospital? Nigeria doctors with their arrogance are now beginning to realise that there is something good in bitcoin? Can we know the name of that hospital and its location so that we can check it out when we are sick or refer other bitcoin fans to it for patronage.

You are quite lucky you encounter a doctor that accepts BTC, let alone the hospital.   As far as I know, you cannot pay the doctor directly, you have to go through the hospital cashier and pay with your money.  So this is saying the hospital is accepting BTC as a mode of payment?

Anyway, Bitcoin, as stated, is always been an alternative payment to those services that accept cryptocurrency.  It is really a convenience since I also have a first hand experience where I pay my online transaction through Bitcoin payment options.

If you can attach the receipt as proof, that is even better because I don't believe your story either, stories like this are for the purpose of seeking merit, not for sharing about experiences with bitcoin. I also agree with SatoPrincess, you can use debit card or other payment methods without the help of bitcoins.

You have had an interesting experience, I am glad for you that you found a way out of the situation and you managed to make a payment in bitcoin.In my city, it has recently become possible to pay for an online order at a pharmacy using cryptocurrencies, which is also very convenient.Although there are no problems at the moment with both cash and non-cash payment methods.

There are countries wherein cryptocurrencies are not prohibited but are not also promoted to be used especially on a daily basis. It would depend solely with the merchant or business owner whether to accept such kind or mode of payment or not. In my country, I saw small businesses who started accepting this technology as one of the payment options. Unfortunately, they have shut their business eventually. My assumptions are lack of sustainability with the business itself and profit. On sales industry, a company or business will need to revolve the fund in order to generate profit. So how come such thing would happen if owner hesitates to convert or sell crypto holdings considering market price behavior. So maybe to those who are planning, gauge the risks.

You guys do understand that OP is nothing but a ban evading bullshitter who makes up stories in order to scoop a couple of merit? Judging by all that praise and serious answers you obviously don't, or maybe you don't even care.
He is reported so hopefully his accounts get nuked and all posts deleted, liked it happened with the previous one.

At least its greatly been used in your country. People are still skeptical about bitcoin thats why we cant generalize all countries that uses it. Some utilize it and some just olain simple fiat. Though we all knew that bitcoin usage will keep increasing in the future, its value will appreciate as all countries that arent joining the wagon will soon realize its convenience.

I don’t want anyone doxxing themselves on the internet over a petty argument. Whatever his intentions were, it doesn’t matter. OP is a ban evader and would soon be banned anyways. In my experience as a business accepting bitcoin payment in Nigeria is that people don’t want to spend their bitcoins on commodities or services, they prefer to hodl it as an investment or store value against the naira inflation.

There was a similar story a couple weeks ago about someone who paid his medical bill in bitcoin. I don't remember who made it. Was that you?


Are you sure about that? Op claims to be a newbie ;)


You make all this effort and the next guy below you comes and posts praises like nothing happened. I'm a troll at heart so I have so much in here every single day when I see those brainless posts when someone doesn't care what the guy above him wrote, he just reads the thread title and maybe the first sentence of OP and it's typing time.

Then I check his last posts and literally in the post before the one in this thread he gives advice to someone else
You just can't make this up.

Also, If you haven't noticed, OP is on his way to becoming a millionaire. He chose the best strategy in finances.

Mate Its not how much he pays when the price of BTC is under 20k$ but use it as a medium of payment and its acceptance ,
As you said bitcoin is started using as payment method, but we know that asset is highly volatile therefore we need to focus on value at that time of payment ,
In my opinion using bitcoin for only transfer of funds then transfer it to stable fiat is an option if you not want highly volatile because of uncertainty of price/value .
What are your thoughts .

Since you are from Nigeria, how plausible is OP story that he managed to pay hospital bill directly using Bitcoin? I mean I know that crypto payments are popular in your country, but isn't government kinda still against it, meaning why would they allow (public) hospitals to accept bitcoin as payment? I wish its true, but to me it seems way too far fetched.

Its one thing for hospital to work with 3rd party service in order to accept bitcoin and they end up getting fiat, like its the case with 99% of the businesses that accept bitcoin and entirely different to accept bitcoin directly p2p.

Well he didn’t say it was a public or private hospital. Public hospitals here wouldn’t dare accept bitcoin payments, private hospitals on the other hand may be flexible especially in these times. Personally I have tried promoting bitcoin adoption through my business and most of the people I talk to and have introduced to bitcoin are very optimistic about bitcoin and end up buying bitcoins for themselves, but never have any paid for my services using their bitcoins. They feel spending bitcoins is a bad investment choice.

One shouldn't put a sad or happy story to "justify" pay or use bitcoin, I think they were the "cool" stories of yesteryear.

Today, you should, at least on this board, have a discussion like the one mentioned in the quote below, regarding, did you take advantage of the currency exchange, and add discussion on points like; the doctor or the institution have a specific address, how did you get the address? , by Qr, by message by some App, a "write it there"...etc.

Bitcoin hitting it's target: this seems like a cheap promotion to booster idea that he was able to pay, in the classic style of TDC, he really was able to pay because he had the money/BTC. Bitcoin intrinsically has its idea of a means of payment, it did not break elementary barriers, well yes, but!, they are "burned" stories from yesteryear.

Imagine the same situation, but, a person "A" has the cash but does not like bitcoin, wants to help him, but does not accept bitcoin,well! this person consults with another person close to him, person B, does not live there in Nigeria, person B He tells him, Tell the user OP, to send me the bitcoin to this address, this person sends person A a Qr image, and him adds, " give OP the cash, but before You must wait for me to confirm the reception of BTC," so,  they confirm Txs, The person A deliver the cash, later on person B will be making the transfer to person A account.

That is only one of the elementary barriers that can be jumped with bitcoin, in just a few minutes. Those things are incredible, exciting after so many years and although depending on the country (people)  they resultthey trivial.



Thank you for that additional information, that should guide the discussion of the topic.

It seems that at the moment Nigeria is one of those who are very interested in bitcoin because there is indeed a lot of news or even many who have started something there with bitcoin.
Btw back to the topic above I think bitcoin has become a viable alternative indeed but with the current conditions don't forget about regulations in your country, as long as it's not a problem then do it but if it violates regulations then it's better to return to normal because this is also related with the image of bitcoin itself.

Yup.

At the view of it, overall it's a good thing that there's a hospital or a doctor that has accepted payment in bitcoin. It's certainly a big sigh of relief because OP was able to pay with the use of bitcoin.

I've experienced that but it didn't do well in terms of payment because the hospital where we got admitted don't accept bitcoin and they don't even believe that it's an actual thing that has monetary value as well.

Nigeria is one of the nations that firmly believes that bitcoin has a bright future, but the nation's rules make it such that its inhabitants may only access it through alternate channels that have been developed. Some nations have strict laws against bitcoin because it is seen to be the end of fiat money. It's vital to begin doubting the initiative while others are utilizing it to benefit easily and as legal cash in some nations, like as El Salvador. Bitcoin is expanding more quickly than anyone could have predicted, and with its help, carefully planned budgets have been smashed.

Your idea is very good for people to try and stork bitcoin,it's good to motivate one another, normally some countries and people's use bitcoin in exchange with their needs or when facing problems, due to the scarcity of the new currency in your country that's what makes you know that without having cash in you, you can pay your debts or financial problems with bitcoin, bitcoin is an investment and very important to those who understand its value.

Wow, I didn't know there is no cash in Nigeria. And I was even more surprised that you can pay with Bitcoin at a hospital. What about taxes? Can you pay taxes in Bitcoin? Is Bitcoin taxable? I really hope Nigeria is the next country to accept Bitcoin as legal tender.

Oh good the hear that the hospital allowed you to pay in bitcoin, is it P2P though or you have to used a 3rd party to be able to pay in BTC? I'm just curious because here in our country, bitcoin is not yet readily accepted but you can pay certain services thru a 3rd party in between (which defeated the purpose though of using BTC).

Hopefully as more countries accepting Bitcoin maybe we can see other services, not just hospital to accept Bitcoin. And kudos to Nigeria as well, they seems to be in forefront as far as adoption is in Africa.

Congratulations to your city having added cryptocurrencies as a payment for Pharmaceutical  purchases ?

yes this is a big update as in my city? still there are no such offer till now, I am having my  maintenance purchasing in online pharmacy and waiting for bitcoin and other crypto to be accepted.

Nigerian are truly adopting crypto mate though their government is still not in the main line yet their people are not having many action for crypto and yes this OP's story is something we must love to hear.
because if this will be happening in my country as my Doctor will offer me to accept bitcoin ? then surely I will completely use my Bitcoin to pay them each time.

There are many positive stories about bitcoin adoption in Nigeria but I don't know if they are true stories or just made for merit fishing. I don't know what the purpose is, but most importantly bitcoin is suitable for any payment as long as both parties are willing to accept bitcoin as means of payment. Then how can doctors accept payments in bitcoin while they are only workers under hospital management? OP should have paid for the doctor's services at the hospital through management where the cashier is the place to pay for it, I'm really confused as to how this could be right.

I tend to be able to pay the baker directly in bitcoin instead of asking if the doctor will accept payment in bitcoin at the hospital even if the doctor is bitcoin user. I mean doctors only receive fiat as their salary at the hospital, while it is management that processes all payments and bills from customers.

This is only one of the benefits of using Bitcoin. Bitcoin use as payment is great because it will make things easier. Just like what you've said that you've paid the bill using Bitcoin. I believe that sooner Bitcoin will be use as payment worldwide, that's why it's good to put some Bitcoin in our bag because it will continue to rise and we can really benefit it. If I have a business, I will accept Bitcoin as payment.

You are lucky to be able to use bitcoin as an alternative payment at the hospital to pay off the payment immediately. In this case, bitcoin has helped you overcome financial problems that cannot be solved by fiat currency due to the limited circulation of local currency.

Your government should consider this and implement alternative payment options other than using local currency or cash payments. If bitcoin can be used as an alternative option to pay for every business, it can help your country's economy. Still, it depends on your government's attitude toward the presence of bitcoin.

Apart from fighting inflation, people won't be willing to spend their bitcoin because they know its returns will be huge in the future. That's why I believe bitcoin is hard to become a payment method even if it is widely accepted. While bitcoin's original goal was created as a peer-to-peer payment method, but today because of its value, people just want to see it as an investment.

The major thing is that most people use Bitcoin as an investment while some can also use it a payment methods too.
Most betting sites also uses Bitcoin as payment methods.

So thing here is that not everyone will use Bitcoin for payment.

Not all users use bitcoin as means of payment, of course that can be justified.
You are never forced to use bitcoin as a payment method, it must be of your own free will. But anyone can use bitcoin as means of payment even though regulation basically could prevent more cases of its use as legal currency.

About your experience using bitcoin as means of payment, it's clearly good because on the one hand you have really proven that bitcoin has real use cases that are accepted in various circles. But was your experience great? Of course not because several other users have also bought cars with bitcoin, houses or so on.

Just curious, you said you couldn't withdraw fiat cash, but then why not pay with your card or make a bank transfer? Anyway, at least bitcoin saved you and they were kind enough to accept bitcoin as a form of payment.

But now lets say you need to make another huge payment. How would you do it? Since you can't buy bitcoin with fiat money (because like you said, the government won't let you withdraw fiat currencies), aren't you stuck here?

And by hitting target, if you mean it is close to become the "regular" currency that everyone is going to use, then no. It is no where near close, but it is moving towards the target.

It's good to see you were able to pay your hospital bills informally using Bitcoin. I say "informally" because you would need to find an alternative if the doctor refused to take Bitcoin payment. It is disappointing that you cannot always pay with Bitcoin whenever you want. because takers are not obligated to accept it and it is not an official form of payment. You followed our long-standing practice, as we have done. Where required, pay those who accept Bitcoin. Without a doubt, Bitcoin has achieved its goals.

There is a scarcity of physical money but not in digital form? But all digital money should also match to the supply of physical money right? For it to call it real; anyway, I am glad that Bitcoin help you with your problem and I hope your brother is doing fine now.

This is one of the things that I am also worrying about and that is if one of my family members are going to suffer from an illness because I don't have any savings right now to pay for their hospital bills in case they will get hospitalize. For now, many businesses don't officially accept BTC as a payment method but we can always ask their in charge if it's okay to pay using a BTC for some reasons. I've seen a lot of successful stories about it.

You got to be lucky as well OP that it was accepted in your place because even still a lot of companies are not yet offering this kind of service.

This is what we called adoption and many countries are giving their support for this technology bringing the chance and comfort for those who are in crypto. 
I see that there is always room for crypto adoption improvement and we are getting to it becoming fully adopted to digitalization making Bitcoin an alternative to fiat money.

Wow, half a million is a huge amount. You’re lucky the hospital accepts bitcoin, the past week has been hard in Nigeria, we are facing scarcity of cash and failure of the banks to manage the situation. I hope we can gain something from this negative experience and see that bitcoin is a more easier payment option in these times.
Nigeria is on top of the rankings when it comes to amount of bitcoin transactions but I doubt we are going to see that kind of adoption across small and medium scale businesses unless the government makes bitcoin a legal tender.

The limited fiat cash supply in Nigeria have indeed caused many to begin to look for alternative means of making payments for their day to day purchases, the Central bank of Nigeria has long been pushing for a cashless society but it seems the people of Nigeria have gotten so used to spending physical cash that the idea of a cashless society meant nothing to them.

The current happening in Nigeria is actually a good things since through it, many have discovered that that can actually spend bitcoin for payment for goods and services just same way we spend our cash, after all, this is why bitcoin exist in the first place.