What do you actually use bitcoin for?

[vadimg]

I am curious about how people actually use their bitcoins, aside from hoarding and speculation.

What do you buy with them?
What's the benefit of using bitcoins for that transaction over other forms of currency?
Is there anything that is very difficult or impossible to do without using bitcoins?

I'm working on a model for the minimum value of a bitcoin. Looking for anecdotes to check if I'm missing anything.

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[GeniuSxBoY]

Here is the buy/selling section

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=51.0

[vadimg]

Here is the buy/selling section

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=51.0

Yes, I've seen it. But all of these goods could also be bought with fiat currencies. I was wondering whether there were people using bitcoins to buy certain goods because it was easier, not just for the novelty of it.

EDIT: to show that I've actually done my research, here are some real uses for bitcoin that I have thought of:

• Donating to Wikileaks is easier with bitcoins, because it is nearly impossible using fiat currencies
• Transferring money quickly and cheaply to a friend in another country
• Easily buying products online that are not sold in the user’s home currency, especially due to fraud concerns
• Micropayments

 Are there any more I haven't thought of?

[GeniuSxBoY]

It's universal in every country. (might be too soon, but one day.. you'll be able to travel to any country in the world without exchanging your money)

[OgNasty]

What do you buy with them?

Gift cards at a discount (amazon.com, ebay.com, etc...).

Silver coins - I could buy these with dollars, but unfortunately my computer doesn't print dollars, it creates bitcoins.

[zellfaze]

I use it for the following:

• Micropayments: I give people 0.01-0.10BTC all the time for stuff.
• Online Goods: Whole lot easier than dealing with Paypal. This also makes a great universal currency.
• Donating to Wikileaks and the FSF (and previously EFF).

I really like the speed and ease at which I can make international payments. And I don't feel bad about giving someone a small amount of Bitcoins.  If I try to send someone 0.01USD Paypal would eat it with fees, but sending someone the equivalent in Bitcoin is simple and easy.

[FreeMoney]

I bought hosting, domain name, developer (a good one), and graphic designer for my site, firstbits.com, all with bitcoin.

[vadimg]

Online Goods: Whole lot easier than dealing with Paypal.

Could you expand on this please? I feel like paypal is pretty easy to deal with as a consumer. As a merchant it's a completely different story of course, but most consumers don't know or care about that.

There are some drawbacks to using bitcoin for normal online purchases that could also be done with fiat currency:

• You're exposing yourself to massive forex risk (working on mitigating this )
• Bitcoins move the risk of a disputed transaction from the merchant to the consumer. I don't think consumers are compensated for this via lower prices when paying with bitcoins, or are they?

Gift cards at a discount (amazon.com, ebay.com, etc...).

I know you can also buy gift cards with USD. Are the prices cheaper with bitcoins (due to the increased risk of credit card fraud since gift cards are almost cash)?

I bought hosting, domain name, developer (a good one), and graphic designer for my site, firstbits.com, all with bitcoin.

Yea... internet services could be a very good use of bitcoin. They can be provided/consumed by anyone in the world, and bitcoin excels at international money transfer.

Thank you for all the feedback guys. Good stuff!

[Valalvax]

I think the big one for me is the ability to go to a different country and not have to pay exorbitant (is that the right word? I used exhorbant, but it was spelled wrong, I guess it looks right) fees to exchange my cash for their cash, but of course that's not likely to happen (me traveling to other countries)

[miscreanity]

Arguments. 

[zellfaze]

Online Goods: Whole lot easier than dealing with Paypal.

Could you expand on this please? I feel like paypal is pretty easy to deal with as a consumer. As a merchant it's a completely different story of course, but most consumers don't know or care about that.

...

Thank you for all the feedback guys. Good stuff!

I don't have to login anywhere and I often forget my Paypal password because they are always auditing my account and forcing me to change my password (I have had to prove who I am to them via fax twice in the past 6 months).

With Bitcoin I just copy/paste the address and I'm done.  No username/password to remember, no one auditing my account, no one asking me for personal information, no waiting on people to verify my information.  Just simple clean transacting, just like cash.

[lathomas64]

I'm still slowly collecting small amounts of bitcoin because I don't feel like jumping through all the Dwolla hoops and whatnot to buy into bitcoin.

[xali]

don't forget anonymity. this avoids tax and stuff, also illegal trade (drugs, many still think silkroad is what really drives the price)

and there's such little hassle. it's practically like handing money to people over the internet from your hand to their hand. all other forms of payment require signing up, loading money/cards into it somehow, which itself has to come from a bank or something, etc etc

i for one will be ludicrously delighted when bitcoin becomes the new money,

[gw4tt]

I've bought a few things with it.

Food from bitmunchies, a coin from coinedbits, donations, and some other small things around the economy.

Most of the time when I pay with bitcoin it's just for convenience. I have them so it's just a few clicks to send coins.

[giantdragon]

Low-cost micro transactions, which made possible to realize idea of ad-sponsored free lottery Daily Bitcoins.

[lxFlasHxl]

buying and selling, trading for tf2 items

[joulesbeef]

It is hard as fuck to gamble with us dollars these days.. YEA LAND OF THE FREE.

cant really transfer shit loads of money in the us without the government on your back.. YEA LAND OF THE FREE,.

you can carry a shit load of bitcoins on your key chain and get pulled by some rogue cop in some small pos of shit town, who finds a roach in your ashtray and not have the cops take your money and your money have to prove it;s innocents.


You can transfer money to certain countries that would raise eyebrows with teh government.

You can buy drugs of course.. you can buy vpns anonymously which arent always used for bad.. but could be

some countries their currency is collapsing bitcoin could offer a refuge, and sometimes is easier to get than gold.

As much as i bitch about the increasing lack of freedom in the us, other countries are far far far far far far far worse.

You could say donate to a reformer politician in iran without getting a visit by the police.


and then their is the block chain.. unlike dollars, if I mail you some dollars, I cant show people the block chain and show my dollar serials going into your wallet. This doesnt have a crap load of power, but it is proof that the dollar doesnt have, and can be used for a wide range of things. AS WE SEE In the gambling section here.. where the pyramid schemes DEMAND the transparency of the block chain.

Di I mention of shore poker?.. go ahead get your self a $20 bill and I challenge you to find a poker site online that will take it.
get a credit card.. and the same..

[BitcoinStars.com]

You can gamble with bitcoins on the price of bitcoins daily now at our site

[Cluster2k]

I use my bitcoins for purchasing US dollars and then converting them to AUD$.  I haven't found anything yet for sale in bitcoins that I could or would buy.  None of the Amazon or eBay purchases I make could be made in bitcoins.

[saqwe]

[quote auhor=OgNasty link=topic=37720.msg463313#msg463313 date=1313600542]

What do you buy with them?

Silver coins - I could buy these with dollars, but unfortunately my computer doesn't print dollars, it creates bitcoins.

+1
Hi catfish. Who its your silver dealer? I also have this 9_20 % vat problem...


I've been a silver (and gold - in much smaller quantities) investor for a while now. The writing's on the wall for the major fiat currencies, especially three of the four that affect me personally - sterling (I'm English), Euros (closest trading neighbour) and USD (reserve currency). I've also a little hidey hole in my favourite place on the planet (village in the Swiss Alps) so CHF are a big deal too, but the Swissie doesn't have the same problems that the others do. Just take a look at their respective yield curves...

Hence I'm investing mainly in precious metals. I happen to love collecting coins anyway so it's a win-win for me. Buying silver ounce bullion coin with Bitcoins almost feels like getting them for free It's a good deal, even taking the electricity into account, and the hugely marked up price of silver bullion coins - my dealer's coins cost around 3.77 BTC at normal exchange rates, but he sells for 7 BTC (was 7.4 yesterday!)...


Who do you use OgNasty?? Anyone selling silver for BTC at anything approaching the margins of the 'normal' fiat currency traders (e.g. CoinInvestDirect and the other German 9% VAT traders) Regardless of my opinion of the size of the margin taken by my local UK-based dealer, his customer service is superb and I get my Silver Maple the day after I pay the BTC to him, without fail. Sometimes trust and customer service is worth a premium.

It has to be said that if I wasn't mining then I wouldn't be doing this - it'd be cheaper to sell my BTC for GBP and then buy from CoinInvestDirect... but when I'm getting a steady stream of BTC via mining, it's more convenient to pay the premium and convert directly to silver.


Has anyone rich in BTC here bought gold yet? My dealer is selling Krugers for a much lower premium over spot than his silver - it's going to take my mining boxes quite some time to accumulate over 200 BTC though - at which point anything could happen to the price (of both gold and BTC) - so I prefer not to be exposed to too much FX risk in the form of BTC-PMs and buy a silver coin as soon as my BTC balance hits the required price.

Yes, the silver price has been volatile of late, as has gold - but I'm of the mind to ascribe the volatility to the underlying currency the PMs are priced in - US dollars - rather than volatility in the PMs themselves. Silver has the problem of Blythe Masters and her naked-shorts crew at JPM, true - and gold has all the central banks in the world chasing around right now - so the PMs *are* at historical heights of market manipulation. However, IMO the Bitcoin market is MUCH more dangerous - it's a small market, it's VERY easy to move with large transactions (as we have seen), and we've got the twin horns of criminals (e.g. MyBitcoin etc.) trying to liquidate large BTC amounts without collapsing the price, and sophisticated professional traders chucking OPM around, often assisted by HFT algos (BTW, FWIW, a little bird told me that some smaller hedge funds were using the Bitcoin market as a 'beta test' of their HFT algos *before* letting them loose on the big-boy FX markets... may be horseshit though, FX traders in the City tend to 'large it up' somewhat after too many glasses of poo, nearly always augmented by a toot or two of Charles)...


Anyone else here using BTC for investment but *not* holding BTC - instead trading immediately for *tangible* physical PMs? I find it deliciously ironic that I'm working to acquire the purest of 'virtual' intangible 'money' - and then swapping it for the ultimate in 'physical' tangible money Now, how many languages can I think of where the word for 'money' is the same as the word for 'silver'

Yup, whilst I am a Bitcoin enthusiast and want to see the project succeed comprehensively... I'm a silverbug first and foremost.


(interestingly - if you follow Turd Ferguson and the rest of the silver crew, you occasionally see screenshots of people's computers, explaining a chart and some technical analysis. With a screenshot of most web browsers, you can see what other 'favourite' websites or categories are in the bookmark bar... and I've seen more than a few also have Bitcoin bookmarks amongst the silver market / economics / financials sites. I haven't broached the subject on Turd's forums yet but it'd be interesting to see how many of the inflation-hedge PM investor crew are also involved in the Bitcoin market!!)
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