Have you ever used Bitcoin to pay for anything?

[headingnorth]

There was a lot of talk about using bitcoin as a payment method during the Bitcoin 2025 conference.
A representative from Steak N Shake was on stage, announcing the introduction of bitcoin
lightning payments to all their stores has been a success so far.

NEWEGG.COM
I buy most of my computer stuff from Newegg which accepts bitcoin payment through Bitpay
which I have used a few times in the last three or four years. For those who don't know Newegg
is a major retailer of computer products in the US. They have been accepting bitcoin payment since 2014.
It's pretty amazing for a large retailer to start openly accepting bitcoin at a time when bitcoin FUD was
at an all time high. But they never seem to get much credit for it. I never hear anyone mention it.

Newegg sells all their stuff online so you don't have to be near a physical location to buy from them.
To me it's a satisfying feeling to actually use some of my bitcoin to pay for things.

 

One of my recent purchases on Newegg.com. To use it choose the Bitpay option during checkout,
then connect to one of the supported wallets. It deducts bitcoin funds from your connected wallet. Very easy.



I used my Coinbase account to fund this purchase. You can use any supported wallet.

Newegg doesn't accept bitcoin payments directly so Bitpay is used as a bridge.
But I don't think that matters. Using Bitpay the merchant saves on credit card
transaction fees, so you help the merchant to save money and also support bitcoin miners
who I believe earn mining fees from the transaction.

BITCOIN DEBIT CARDS
Coinbase has a VISA debit card that you can fund with either bitcoin or cash, so you can use it anywhere
that accepts VISA. Some other providers are crypto.com and Bitrefill that lets you fund gift cards with bitcoin.

JACK DORSEY AND SQUARE
Jack Dorsey said it's important for the long-term health of bitcoin to become widely adopted for payments
not just a store of value. Dorsey's payment processing company Square is supposedly working on integrating bitcoin
payments into their machines so that could be big for adoption of bitcoin as a payment method.

So to help support bitcoin try using it for payments as much as possible. When you help the miners you are also
helping yourself as a bitcoin investor. You don't have to use bitcoin for every purchase but do what you can to support
the bitcoin network and ecosystem. Even if the merchant doesn't accept bitcoin directly you can use a bitcoin or crypto
debit card anywhere that accepts regular credit cards.

If you are a business owner consider accepting bitcoin as a payment method for your business.

I don't understand this argument that you should buy things with cash and save your bitcoin.
You can use bitcoin to do both. Simply convert some of the cash you normally use to pay for
everyday items anyway and do it that way. You never have to touch your main bitcoin savings.

Sure there can be some volatility issues using bitcoin as a payment method but over the long run
it balances out and you break even. Because some days the price of bitcoin may be down but
other days the price will be up so over the long run you're not losing anything.


Used my Coinbase debit card at McDonald's this morning:

[Lida93]

While it's a good thing that such conference admonishes bitcoiners to use bitcoin for payments, they should also note that right now a whole lot of bitcoiners are rather interested in accumulating than spending. And this is due to the store of value bitcoin has, everyone wants to make profit and they understand that spending their bitcoin wouldn't give them such profit.

However, Satoshi has actually meant it for an alternative payment gateway as the fiat system continuous to fail us.

[NotFuzzyWarm]

From 2014 thru around 2018 I bought many many things using BTC. Mainly miners of course directly from Bitmain and Canaan but also TV's, UPS's and computer parts from TigerDirect, Overstock.com, and Frozen CPU. They all directly accepted BTC.

I refuse to use Bitpay because they require a direct connection to the wallet you are using that is always running as a background process.

[headingnorth]

While it's a good thing that such conference admonishes bitcoiners to use bitcoin for payments, they should also note that right now a whole lot of bitcoiners are rather interested in accumulating than spending. And this is due to the store of value bitcoin has, everyone wants to make profit and they understand that spending their bitcoin wouldn't give them such profit.

As I said, this argument against using bitcoin for payments is nonsensical.
You don't have to spend any of your primary bitcoin funds  you are hodling.
You can simply convert some of the cash that you normally use for daily expenses into bitcoin
and use that to pay for things. Even if you do spend from your primary bitcoin funds
it's not going to kill you to buy a coffee or a meal with it once in a while.

However, Satoshi has actually meant it for an alternative payment gateway as the fiat system
continuous to fail us.

That is true. Satoshi understood future halving events will have a negative financial impact on miners
ability to stay in business. Mining is not free. Expensive equipment has to be constantly upgraded, energy costs are huge, etc.
The costs become exponentially higher with every halving. The bitcoin network won't be very strong or secure if miners
don't have the funds they need to run things optimally and stay in business. That is why he intended for the network
to be supported as a payment system where miners are supported by transaction fees.

I refuse to use Bitpay because they require a direct connection to the wallet you are using that is always running as a background process.

The Bitpay phone app/wallet is optional. When you use Bitpay in a browser with a non-Bitpay wallet
the connection is temporary and there is no background process running. There are also other bitcoin payment
options besides Bitpay.

[Queentoshi]

I buy most of my computer stuff from Newegg which accepts bitcoin payment through Bitpay
which I have used a few times in the last three or four years. For those who don't know Newegg
is a major retailer of computer products in the US

Large retailers are mostly the ones able to do this easily based on the kind of products they sell and the customers they have, but when it comes to small retailers people who sell little consumable items, implementing Bitcoin payments may not work or be a success completely because not that payments will not work just that the products are too small to have customers interested in using their Bitcoin cryptocurrency to pay for it.

Bitcoin will first be used as payment for large items before use for small items will follow.

[avikz]

Unfortunately I do not have much options to make payment using Bitcoins or any other cryptocurrency is in my country. It is not recognised as a legal tender. However, 2 years ago, I needed to buy hosting for my website. So I found a hosting provider who accepts Bitcoin and purchased hosting for 5 years. But I do regret the decision.

If I compare now, the price in today's date, have tripled compared to what I had paid a couple of years back. I think this is a major blocker for a lot of people who doesn't want to lose on future value of Bitcoin. I personally feel, I should have used my credit card to pay for that hosting.

[Zaguru12]

As I said, this argument against using bitcoin for payments is nonsensical.
You don't have to spend any of your primary bitcoin funds  you are hodling.
You can simply convert some of the cash that you normally use for daily expenses into bitcoin
and use that to pay for things. Even if you do spend from your primary bitcoin funds
it's not going to kill you to buy a coffee or a meal with it once in a while.

Sometimes when I see people bringing up his kind of comments when ask about using bitcoin for payment I somehow get confused, does making payment actually affects anyone’s investment again? Can’t an investor ever have a good life again by getting things for themselves because they simply invest into bitcoin? For me it simply not even correlated that because you’re investing into bitcoin you can’t pay for goods with it.

Using bitcoin as payment options doesn’t only makes you a good advocator of bitcoin alone but you’re simply saving your self the hassle of using fiat most especially during online and cross boarder transactions. You don’t need to spend from your savings to actually use bitcoin as payment option, just swap your fiat to bitcoin and pay, this even support does that have it included as payment option and creates more advocacy for bitcoin

[DubemIfedigbo001]

I don't understand this argument that you should buy things with cash and save your bitcoin.
You can use bitcoin to do both. Simply convert some of the cash you normally use to pay for
everyday items anyway and do it that way. You never have to touch your main bitcoin savings.

Sure there can be some volatility issues using bitcoin as a payment method but over the long run
it balances out and you break even. Because some days the price of bitcoin may be down but
other days the price will be up so over the long run you're not losing anything.

I love your point and your argument to support bitcoin in every little way we can, but I would want to point you to the direction that funds kept for expenses are not entirely good to be kept in bitcoin since the price movement cannot be predicted and you might end up needing the funds when the price is down which would lead you to a deficit and may lead you to tampering other funds to balance up. Hence it is better you hold funds meant for your expenses in stable coins or fiat and if you are so much of a bitcoin advocate, when you want to use those funds, you can convert them back to bitcoin and spend it.

[coyhasmon]

I don't consider debit cards that are funded by Bitcoin as paying for something with Bitcoin, that is not. While you are using Bitcoin to fund the card, you are not using Bitcoin to pay for something. Sure it has many benefits, but again that is not it. You are only really paying with Bitcoin, when you are sending Bitcoin to the merchant. I have done this a couple of times, and it always felt great. It is a positive surprise to find someone accepting crypto where you don't expect it to happen.

[seoincorporation]

in the past years i used bitcoin for paying different services, but my favorite one was to pay the house rent with bitcoin, my house keeper used to like bitcoin too, so, he toldme that it would be better for him if i pay the rent in bitcoin, and since bitcoin was my only source of income it was easy for me to do it that way. And selling bitcoin to buy things was always an option too, i even bought a car that way, it was my worst move ever, but is part of this crazy cryptoworld.

[Cointxz]

Yes, I use Bitcoin before on e-commerce platform in my country called shopee. They allowed the use of Bitcoin as payment using a local wallet that supports Bitcoin.

That is way back 2017 IIRC when Bitcoin started to create a hype on my country. They removed this feature now and stick to the normal fiat payment due to the refund issue.

The number of Bitcoin being refunded is always changing due to the fiat value of Bitcoin is too volatile.

[Zlantann]

Sometimes when I see people bringing up his kind of comments when ask about using bitcoin for payment I somehow get confused, does making payment actually affects anyone’s investment again? Can’t an investor ever have a good life again by getting things for themselves because they simply invest into bitcoin? For me it simply not even correlated that because you’re investing into bitcoin you can’t pay for goods with it.

Using bitcoin as payment options doesn’t only makes you a good advocator of bitcoin alone but you’re simply saving your self the hassle of using fiat most especially during online and cross boarder transactions. You don’t need to spend from your savings to actually use bitcoin as payment option, just swap your fiat to bitcoin and pay, this even support does that have it included as payment option and creates more advocacy for bitcoin

I am aware that some business owners in my country used Bitcoin for financial transactions when the Central Bank of my country placed a restriction on the amount that can be transferred from bank accounts. This policy was about strangulating their businesses since many of them had to import goods and needed to make payments. With Bitcoin,  they were able to pay business partners outside the country.

As Bitcoin advocates, we could also encourage businesses that accept Bitcoin by buying with the coin. Another case is when you want to maintain privacy, you could also use Bitcoin for P2P transactions.  

But it will be hard to convince people to use Bitcoin when there are other cheaper and more convenient options. Bitcoin as an asset will continue to thrive until the coin becomes less volatile. A more stable Bitcoin will make it less speculative and more acceptable as a currency.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

A crypto or bitcoin debit card makes paying for things physically or online with bitcoin more appealing and encouraging, but unfortunately, I am yet to get hold of any of the debit cards I applied for, maybe as soon as I get hold of a bitcoin debit card, I will spend bitcoin more often on items I buy from day to day..

And i like the fact you talked about not touching our saved bitcoin, this is very important, as we all encourage ourselves to spend bitcoin by using it as payment for goods and services, lets also encourage ourselves as well to save up on bitcoin for our dear future and the future of our generation coming, it will be a grave mistake to own some bitcoin today but end up spending it all on payment for goods and services even before true adoption begins to happen.

[Luzin]

From 2014 thru around 2018 I bought many many things using BTC. Mainly miners of course directly from Bitmain and Canaan but also TV's, UPS's and computer parts from TigerDirect, Overstock.com, and Frozen CPU. They all directly accepted BTC.

I refuse to use Bitpay because they require a direct connection to the wallet you are using that is always running as a background process.

An interesting experience, since knowing around 2015 until now I have never made a direct transaction with Bitcoin. I always exchange it with fiat. The reason is simple, I rarely shop abroad, besides that my country prohibits transactions using Bitcoin. Legal transaction tools have been established in government regulations and I dare not violate them. Even when the sales system and transactions are online I sometimes choose to use fiat and pay directly when the goods arrive.

[sokani]

I've used Bitcoin a few times to pay for antivirus and VPN subscriptions, but one time it was more like a lifesaver. Then, the CBN had placed a ban on the use of credit cards for international payments, and I wanted to buy something abroad. I had two options; use a virtual card or crypto. I wanted to use a virtual card, but the operator was charging more than the rate in the black market to convert naira to dollars. Hence I had to resort to Bitcoin, and it indeed helped me out.

[aylabadia05]

You don't have to spend any of your primary bitcoin funds  you are hodling.
You can simply convert some of the cash that you normally use for daily expenses into bitcoin
and use that to pay for things. Even if you do spend from your primary bitcoin funds
it's not going to kill you to buy a coffee or a meal with it once in a while.

Want to be able to make transactions with payment using Bitcoin, but can't shop using Bitcoin because of the ban.
What you say is a very easy process, but what can be made when there is a ban.
When I am in a country other than my country of residence, I will do it. Maybe while on vacation abroad.
Cash intended for vacation money, 50% will be converted to Bitcoin.

[m2017]

If you are a business owner consider accepting bitcoin as a payment method for your business.

Not only business owners, but also ordinary users who can provide small services or sell goods every day, for example, unnecessary and used ones for bitcoin. If people have a need and necessity (benefit) in using bitcoin, they will start using it more often.

Sure there can be some volatility issues using bitcoin as a payment method but over the long run
it balances out and you break even. Because some days the price of bitcoin may be down but
other days the price will be up so over the long run you're not losing anything.

Are you sure? And if bitcoin is bought during a bullish trend, like now, and the payment is made during a bearish trend, which can last a long time, and the price of bitcoin falls significantly? Then in this case, payment using bitcoin will be unprofitable for you. Therefore, volatility is the enemy of accepting bitcoin as a means of payment.

[coyhasmon]

in the past years i used bitcoin for paying different services, but my favorite one was to pay the house rent with bitcoin, my house keeper used to like bitcoin too, so, he toldme that it would be better for him if i pay the rent in bitcoin, and since bitcoin was my only source of income it was easy for me to do it that way. And selling bitcoin to buy things was always an option too, i even bought a car that way, it was my worst move ever, but is part of this crazy cryptoworld.

That sounds like a very unlikely story. Where are you from?

A crypto or bitcoin debit card makes paying for things physically or online with bitcoin more appealing and encouraging, but unfortunately, I am yet to get hold of any of the debit cards I applied for, maybe as soon as I get hold of a bitcoin debit card, I will spend bitcoin more often on items I buy from day to day..

Why are you not able to get one unless you are in a restricted country or there are issues with your KYC? As far as I know, they come pretty fast from most providers.

[Ucy]

Bitcoin is mostly meant to be Peer-to-peer electronic cash system. This include both device communication and financial/business transactions.
The right and best practices is to buy/sell with Bitcoin on a peer-to-peer marketplace, with inbuilt escrow/smart-contract and a reputation system... And transactions recorded on transparent and immutable ledger. The so called Lightening Network is an attempt (whether knowingly or unknowingly) to gradually turn Bitcoin into some sort traditional Banking system that may eventually stripe users off anonymity since there is no transparent public ledger to use as an excuse to be anonymous. Besides it becomes a dark chain, like monero or even fiat banks where only few can probably see the transaction of others.

By the way, buying from companies is a bit like transacting on centralized exchanges instead of peer-to-peer decentralized transactions like Satoshi intended. Such transactions can be easily censored by companies controlled by national laws. It should be a local marketplace, more like LocalBitcoin but decentralized, to also avoid tyranny like situations or the demand for kyc or total allegiance from users before they can buy or sell.  

Buying from large companies is not sustainable. They will be allowed grow, and people become so dependent on them, and then pounce on the people for kyc and other measures in the name of security.


Bitcoin principles(which is basically natural principles) should be adhered to while building or transacting on ths space. It's well tested principles that can stand the test of time.
Marketplaces should be virtual and probably physical local locations, where users buy from peers nearest to them. But if no closest peer can be found, they can buy from abroad, regions or states. But it's important to always look for the next near places to buy from if there is no nearest sellers.. This method doesn't break the Bitcoin principles, and transactions are recorded permanently onchain, which can always be referred to. Transactions should be mostly Peer-to-peer. And transparent immutable ledger and users anonymity are beautiful things that should not be taken for granted.
These are part of what we are currently waiting for before we can start buying and selling with Bitcoin

[Woodie]

Back then when these platforms weren't well designed to handle other Altcoins besides BTC I have used it for mobile top-ups, paying for premium services, paying for hosting when ICOs we a big thing and I took bounty hunting seriously , bought several gadgets using wirex card(indirectly) well list goes on...but for now with the help of NFC or crypto cards spending crypto has never been super easy 

Do we still have cases of double spending, because I have seen and read of people losing money because of BTC and the RBF feature