Have you ever tried to live only on Bitcoin?

[Pmalek]

People use Bitcoin in various ways. For some, it’s a long-term investment. Others use it for trading to ultimately increase their fiat bags. Using crypto as a payment method to purchase goods and services is also popular, or it can be an instrument that protects you against inflation.

But, it’s very rare to come across people who have integrated Bitcoin into their daily lives in such a way that they don’t use fiat at all. It’s not that easy to do.

I accidentally came across a YouTube video of a guy from Canada who claims to live on Bitcoin. So he decided to share his experience. If you are interested to hear what he has to say, this is the link: I Live On Bitcoin! Here's How You Can Too…

It’s a rather long video that lasts over 44 minutes, so I will try to sum up some of the most interesting points:

• Benjamin has lived on Bitcoin since September 2020.
• He lives in Canada, where he spends most of his coins.
• Benjamin is a Youtuber who gets paid exclusively in Bitcoin, no fiat.
• He claims that he values his privacy and uses mixing services and CoinJoins to mask the origin of his funds.
• Benjamin uses a Canadian online service called Bylls, which allows customers to pay utility bills with crypto.
• He does his daily shopping by purchasing gift cards from Bitrefill.
• When he needs USD, he deposits his Bitcoin as collateral and takes out a loan in fiat.

If you want to know more, you will have to watch the entire video. It’s difficult to explain everything in one post.

This YouTuber lives in Canada, a country in the West. So, naturally, it’s easier to do it there than in many poorer regions of the world. But it’s still an intriguing and courageous live choice. If all of it is true, of course.

With this thread, I would like to know how many users of Bitcointalk have tried something similar, or are maybe living only on crypto as we speak? Has anyone tried it for a day, a week, or just a few hours?

Please share your experience, and if possible, include the names and locations of shops, websites, and services that made your BTC spending easier and more comfortable. How easy or hard is it to live only on Bitcoin in your city/country?

If you are concerned about your anonymity, you don’t have to mention any names if you believe someone could use that info against you. 

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[Charles-Tim]

I have seen bitcoin more as an investment rather than for spending. Although, I have used bitcoin for payment online before, when I saw crypto as one of the means that can be used for payment, but bitcoin is not in my everyday use, maybe likely because people around me, stores, shops are not accepting it. But above all, I can buy and hold bitcoin which is all that matters most to me because it is a deflationary asset that its value will increase over long term period.

I can easily still make use of P2P and exchange my bitcoin to fiat, make use of the fiat for spending. The only time I have prefer to use bitcoin are for cross border payments, especially if fiat is not accepted.

I have always have to think that all can not be based on bitcoin, if there is no more fiat again (which is not possible though), then what would be use to compare bitcoin, fiat do depreciates in value, it is depreciative asset, another reason we see bitcoin to be helpful as a hedge against fiat declination. So I am not even bother to make use of bitcoin for everyday use, I use fiat because I want the continuation of fiat everyday use. I hold bitcoin which is a hedge against inflation is what that matters most to me.

Some people that are concerned about their privacy will not like the above idea in a way you can used bitcoin in a way your identity can be revealed through bitcoin transactions.

[BIT-BENDER]

I think everyone would love to live their daily lives on Bitcoin,it would not only mean investment opportunities but it would also make transaction and payment very easy.although to be honest this may be hard to achieve, there are hardly any place that solely accepts Bitcoin as a means of payment offline, also employers are not willing to add Bitcoin as a means of payment to their employees and this are all little hindrance in terms of that which the government poses.
I think we have a long way to go if we want to live on Bitcoin all through

[ShowOff]

Pmalek, I really haven't tried it even a day without fiat "only with bitcoin". Living without fiat in a country that doesn't legalize bitcoin as a means of payment is impossible for me because it's so hard to do. But of course the story would be different if one could use it in a country where bitcoin is legalized as a means of payment especially since there are so many services and shops adopting it.

In the future, if my country's government changes the rules regarding the legality of bitcoin and starts accepting bitcoin as a means of payment then I might try it "as often as possible". But of course not for now.

[Coyster]

This is really difficult to achieve, highly improbable but might not be impossible. The possibility though depends a lot on where you live and how you earn/receive your income. For example i come from a region where there is a sort of ban on Bitcoin, and even if Bitcoin adoption is pretty high in my region, people are only adopting it as an investment method/option and not as a medium of exchange just yet, so trying to live on just Bitcoin here would more or less be impossible. As regards how one receives his income, i believe someone who earns in fiat would prolly not consider using fiat to buy bitcoin for spending, especially when fiat is the most popular medium of exchange, on the other hand, someone who earns in Bitcoin has a chance of doing this if it is possible in their region.

Having said that, personally i perform my daily transactions with fiat, if i choose to live on Bitcoin where i live, then i prolly would die of hunger, lol, that is cause i would struggle to get all of my basic needs. I use fiat and i hold Bitcoin, i only use Bitcoin when i get the rare opportunity to do so.

[qwertyup23]

Please share your experience, and if possible, include the names and locations of shops, websites, and services that made your BTC spending easier and more comfortable. How easy or hard is it to live only on Bitcoin in your city/country?

If you are concerned about your anonymity, you don’t have to mention any names if you believe someone could use that info against you. 

Though I have not experienced exclusively living using BTC at this kind of caliber (due to the lack of BTCs that I earned and received), I have tried using majority of the BTCs that I owned as part of my living experience with my family.

As someone who currently lives in a third-world country, snatching a job opportunity is like going to war. The opportunity of earning money is so hampered by the economic struggle experiencing due to the ongoing corruption that has been continuously happening for years.

Growing up with a single dad who raised 3 children alone (eldest), the priority in terms of expenditures were more focused in my brothers so I had to hustle and look for opportunities to at least make my life tolerable.

I stumbled upon this forum last 2017 when my friend introduced to me BTC and showed the potential of earning BTC weekly through participating into campaign signatures, which I was fortunate to participate on. Though what I received were only a handful amounts of BTC (~$10-$20/week), it got me through most difficult times as I used all of my earnings to purchase school materials and educational books.

[Crypt0Gore]

Its impossible not to use Fiat at all, I tried and I failed, I paid many bills using crypto like electricity bills, TV subscriptions and gaming services but when it comes to food or Gas 😤 I cant use crypto because sellers aren't ready to accept crypto as means of payment, God knows I try.

[Rikafip]

This YouTuber lives in Canada, a country in the West. So, naturally, it’s easier to do it there than in many poorer regions of the world. But it’s still an intriguing and courageous live choice. If all of it is true, of course.

At first I thought that he is paying everything directly with Bitcoin, no 3rd party services included and that would be extremely hard to do but then I saw that he is using services like bitrefill which makes it easier so yeah, I don't think that is impossible at all but kudos to him nevertheless, its certainly not an easy thing to do and is still very rare.

If using payment processors like Paycek, crypto debit cards and BTC ATMs counts as living on bitcoin then I can say that I lived many times for days in a row while max was ~2 weeks (went on a holiday and everything was paid with previously mentioned methods) and I know some people irl that lived much longer than that. If we exclude those methods and count only direct bitcoin payments with no 3rd party involved, I don't think that something like that is possible in Croatia.

What about you, have you tried living on bitcoin?

[bittraffic]

This YouTuber lives in Canada, a country in the West. So, naturally, it’s easier to do it there than in many poorer regions of the world. But it’s still an intriguing and courageous live choice. If all of it is true, of course.

At first I thought that he is paying everything directly with Bitcoin, no 3rd party services included and that would be extremely hard to do but then I saw that he is using services like bitrefill which makes it easier so yeah, I don't think that is impossible at all but kudos to him nevertheless, its certainly not an easy thing to do and is still very rare.

If using payment processors like Paycek, crypto debit cards and BTC ATMs counts as living on bitcoin then I can say that I lived many times for days in a row while max was ~2 weeks (went on a holiday and everything was paid with previously mentioned methods) and I know some people irl that lived much longer than that. If we exclude those methods and count only direct bitcoin payments with no 3rd party involved, I don't think that something like that is possible in Croatia.

What about you, have you tried living on bitcoin?

Even the family that lives in a bus who sold his business to live fully in BTC I think doesn't live and spend BTC only. There is no way without using 3rd party, not all stores that sell everything we need for our daily use are accepting BTC.

But I would live to do it if there is a way. Maybe if they also accepts ETH and other altcoins. So far I have partly live in BTC, buying some groceries with BTC using 3rd party I wouldn't be tired as long as I can earn BTC. What I'm fed up is the 3rd party keeps updating and every time they do will once again ask KYC documents.

[Doan9269]

Benjamin has lived on Bitcoin since September 2020.

He lives in Canada, where he spends most of his coins.

Benjamin is a Youtuber who gets paid exclusively in Bitcoin, no fiat.

Going by the first three ways, i think it is very easy to realize such achievement if your business transactions is solely on bitcoin but going by making use of bitcoin in all participatory aspects of the economy without involving the significant role of fiat may be uneasy to achieve for now, come to think of buying commodities from the conventional markets, commercial merchants and other menial purchase you could wanted within your reach which doesn't require bitcoin for now in their payments option. although bitcoin is heading to that stage of globalization adoption, fee payments and daily market transaction and also, considering that the location in Canada is concentrated with bitcoin adopters whom he transact business with on daily basis.

[Pmalek]

What about you, have you tried living on bitcoin?

I have financed parts of my holidays with Bitcoin. Sites like Travala accept crypto for hotels and airline tickets. They even accept LN payments. There is also a great resource on the forum that has a list of airline companies that accept Bitcoin > Overview of all airline & flight ticket sites that accept bitcoin. It hasn't been updated since 2019, but it's still a good reference point.

Except the occasional purchase here and there, I haven't tried living on it exclusively. I don't own a crypto debit card, which adds additional limitations to where I can spend my BTC. And like you said, Croatia and the Balkans aren't really the places for that. I have had more luck when I am in Germany, but lately I find it much easier to convert whatever I plan to spend to fiat and just use that.

[Daniel91]

Very interesting story, thank you for sharing it with us.
I think this experience is generally not applicable to most crypto users who don't receive a salary in crypto but invest in crypto.
In fact, my long-term goal is to live solely from the crypto, but that will not happen until the crypto grows even higher in value and I gain enough funds to achieve financial freedom.
Only then will I be able to afford to live only on bitcoin but it will be based on bitcoin savings and not bitcoin salaries like the man in your example.
So far I've been buying some technical stuff with bitcoin but mostly I don't spend my crypto and I'm waiting for a certain price level which will be my exit strategy from crypto.

[Rikafip]

I have financed parts of my holidays with Bitcoin. Sites like Travala accept crypto for hotels and airline tickets. They even accept LN payments.

I heard about Travala but never really bothered to check it out as I don't know anyone irl that used them and didn't want to risk buying airline ticket and then finding out that something is wrong at the check in, but good to hear that they are legit. I just compared the prices with skyscanner (which I usually use when buying airline tickets) and Travala is on average 10% more expensive. Not a big difference for cheap flights, but when you are buying round trip ticket that costs $500+, its noticeable. Since I travel a lot I will try to use them this year to see how is it going on.

And like you said, Croatia and the Balkans aren't really the places for that. I have had more luck when I am in Germany, but lately I find it much easier to convert whatever I plan to spend to fiat and just use that.

While situation may be better in Germany, I don't think that you could live solely on Bitcoin (excluding 3rd party) there either and probably nowhere in Europe for that matter. At least not normal life, without serious constraints. I don't really know what's the situation in Bosnia and Serbia regarding crypto adoption, but Croatia ain't bad at all, especially if we count all the merchants that are using Paycek and other payment processors. Slovenia is probably far ahead the other ex-Yu countries, but they don't count themselves as Balkan anyway.

[pakhitheboss]

Everyone who lives in a first-world county can easily live and grow his/her income using only Bitcoin. I live in a third-world country which is India and in my country from 2018 to date you will not even survive if you are only using Bitcoin. Not a single store offers Bitcoin transactions to date. There were a few who try to implement Bitcoin-based transactions in early 2018 but they were shut down. I do not think living on Bitcoin would be possible now as the government of India has imposed a 30% tax on every crypto transaction and starting July 1%TDS would get activated.

[Pmalek]

In fact, my long-term goal is to live solely from the crypto, but that will not happen until the crypto grows even higher in value and I gain enough funds to achieve financial freedom.
Only then will I be able to afford to live only on bitcoin but it will be based on bitcoin savings and not bitcoin salaries like the man in your example.
So far I've been buying some technical stuff with bitcoin but mostly I don't spend my crypto and I'm waiting for a certain price level which will be my exit strategy from crypto.

Maybe I am wrong, but it seems to be like the first part of your reply contradicts the second part. You would like to live solely from crypto, but you are waiting for the value to reach a certain target, so that you can sell. Looks more like you are looking to take your profits and than live from the fiat you get when you empty your crypto bags. That's the most common way.

I just compared the prices with skyscanner (which I usually use when buying airline tickets) and Travala is on average 10% more expensive.

That's true. I used it a time when I made some good profits, so I didn't pay that much attention.     

[Daniel91]

In fact, my long-term goal is to live solely from the crypto, but that will not happen until the crypto grows even higher in value and I gain enough funds to achieve financial freedom.
Only then will I be able to afford to live only on bitcoin but it will be based on bitcoin savings and not bitcoin salaries like the man in your example.
So far I've been buying some technical stuff with bitcoin but mostly I don't spend my crypto and I'm waiting for a certain price level which will be my exit strategy from crypto.

Maybe I am wrong, but it seems to be like the first part of your reply contradicts the second part. You would like to live solely from crypto, but you are waiting for the value to reach a certain target, so that you can sell. Looks more like you are looking to take your profits and than live from the fiat you get when you empty your crypto bags. That's the most common way.
    

OK sorry, you're right, I didn't express my opinion the best.
What I actually wanted to say is that my plan and desire is to make a living from crypto earnings exchanged into a fiat when the right time comes. To live solely from the crypto I would have to live in a country where bitcoin is accepted as regular money everywhere and I'm not optimistic about that issue and I don't expect that. So, the only option for a long time will be to exchange the crypto into a fiat and live from it and, when possible, spend the crypto directly in those few places where it is possible.

[nurilham]

for people who can use Bitcoin well and are supported live in a country that accepts Bitcoin then it will be easy. as told that Bitcoin can be used for purposes and daily life. That's a good thing, isn't it, that means Bitcoin can be relied on even without fiat. but for people who are not yet qualified to do that like me, then I think it will be difficult and prefer to invest or trade. but honestly the story is cool and motivates many people to make good use of Bitcoin because currently crypto technology is growing and accepted by many countries so it will facilitate the development of the crypto world as well.

[Oluwa-btc]

Many of them folks here will say investment, hurdling which I find very untrue, most at times I do wonder if it is hype or flattering though.
The ways I have seen this happen is send Bitcoin as a birthday gift to someone else, this is the only I have seen with my eyes.
It'll sure take time, as a whole lot of folks are tied down to their local fiat- bitter truth, but a lot will lie.
Taking for example Nigeria, They simply do convert their Bitcoins to Alternative Coin's and then to local fiat for profits.
This will take a long period.

[SFR10]

With this thread, I would like to know how many users of Bitcointalk have tried something similar, or are maybe living only on crypto as we speak? Has anyone tried it for a day, a week, or just a few hours?

If partially and indirectly living on BTCitcoin counts, then I did it back in 2019 ^{[for 3 months]}... My plan was to live only on BTCitcoin, but it took me less than a day to realize it's not going to happen! Before I went back to the Philippines, I managed to persuade one of my previous landlords to accept BTCitcoin, but when I arrived at the building, I found out there's been a misunderstanding between the landlord and the tenant, so I had no choice but to look for another place and pay with fiat money.

• I used "coins.ph" to pay the bills and cash out some amounts.
• Back then, "Bitrefill" didn't have the same number of options for my country, so most of the time I had to pay in cash.
• FYI: Based on my findings ^{[at the time]}, I couldn't rely on any of the crypto debit cards!

[taufik123]

Currently it is still unthinkable to live on only bitcoin without having to trade to Fiat.
Another reason is because my country does not fully regulate bitcoin or cryptocurrency to be used as legal tender. Regulation is only limited to commodities and nothing more.

But if you imagine trying to live on only bitcoins, it might be an amazing experience. I have also made a Domain purchase transaction using Bitcoin.

Now Fiat is still the main currency I use and Bitcoin or cryptocurrency is just a commodity asset that I trade every day.