Availability of basic needs such as energy and food via Bitcoins

[jorijnsmit]

Looking at the list of Bitcoin merchants (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Trade), I can't help but wonder why the more basic human needs such as energy and food aren't available yet via Bitcoins.

Bitspend (https://bitspend.net/) is making a nice effort making all products available for sale on Internet also available via Bitcoins. Are there any similar initiatives for bills and groceries, especially in Europe? Would an intermediate such as Bitspend be favoured over merchants accepting it directly?

[herzmeister]

not even sure if Bitcoin is made for these things.

makes sense for a local economy and local currencies to build upon food and basic needs first.

Bitcoin is an internet currency. So you may say it'll start with the basic needs of the internet.

Then eventually it will trickle into the real world. 

[Larynth]

TBH there is a serious vacuum in the bitcoin marketplace for as you say basic necessity. I'm sure that when the market cap breaks 5 billion US you will see someone, most likely a financial institution looking to get in early, start offering automatic bill pay using bitcoins. They will offer some exchange rate based on the most reliable exchange, probably coinsetter by that time. There's a real opportunity here for a few visionary people to start developing a new municipality somewhere where all the merchants and utilities will take bitcoins. Imagine a bitcoin city built with all the latest green concepts. Could have one in every country.