The value of cryptocurrency would be very incomplete if they were used only for the transit of funds. That is why the cryptocurrency world will always remember with gratitude the people who first tried to exchange bitcoins for other, virtual and real values, and of course, those who agreed to accept them as payment. The first of these people was Laszlo Hanesh, who in 2010 was able to purchase two pizzas for 10000 bitcoins.
The points of intersection of the Bitcoin economy and the real economy were sporadic in the days of Hanesh, but now it is difficult to count all the goods and services that can be easily bought for cryptocurrencies.
Buy a car for bitcoins or a mobile phone?
One of the fairly frequent offers for sale with a price in bitcoins concerns the sale of cars.
Offers for selling cars for Bitcoins appeared in different countries a few years ago. In 2017, there are already a lot of such offers. True, in the CIS countries, due to the weak legislative base, car dealerships and companies could rarely organize auto sales for Bitcoins, therefore, proposals for such deals came mainly from individuals. Apparently, sellers who agree on Bitcoins as an alternative method of payment were interested in the opportunity to join a promising and fashionable cryptocurrency trend. In addition, it is much more convenient and easier to immediately sell the car for bitcoins, instead of changing it for ordinary money and buying cryptocurrency for them.
For bitcoins offered and just good cars of the middle class, such as the Ford Focus, and elite models, for example, BMW X5 or Lexus LS570.
In a number of countries in Europe and the New World, the indication of prices in bitcoins can be found already in car dealerships. For bitcoins can offer cars of the most different class, from medium prices, to luxury, such as the Mercedes Benz S Class. This car, in particular, is offered by the Japanese dealer Liberala for about 20 million yen or 22 BTC (counting on the bitcoin rate at the time of this writing).
An even more exotic option is buying for the bitcoins of the innovative electric car Tesla S, whose sales for bitcoins began at the end of 2013 of the year, or even several Formula-1 cars, and “with history”. Now one Tesla S, depending on the configuration, can cost from 7 to 10 bitcoins (60-80 thousand dollars); for four race cars an anonymous Chinese collector had to lay out about half a thousand coins (4 million f.st.)
Prices in car dealerships that support crypto payment are usually indicated in dollars (or other fiat currencies), and bitcoins are converted at the rate of the cryptocurrency exchange at the time of sale. In addition to bitcoins, dealers often accept other popular cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum or Dash, for payment.
Another leader in the number of proposals, oddly enough, are mobile phones. Today more and more varieties of phones can be purchased by paying for the purchase of cryptocurrency. You can buy a phone for bitcoins from many retailers, but the first of them was the Overstock Internet hypermarket.
Of course, in addition to smartphones, in online stores for Bitcoins in 2017, it was possible to purchase any other gadgets, and the market for accessories purchased in the same way is even wider and is not limited to large firms. Thus, many private workshops offer exclusive designer leather and synthetic products designed to carry mobile devices or attach them to the body.
What else can you buy for Bitcoins?
Buy goods for bitcoins is not difficult in the modern world. In addition to various gadgets and cars, you can buy many other things and devices for bitcoins. Along with home appliances in offline and online stores you can buy jewelry, luxury clothing, paintings and luxury items for Bitcoins.
You can, of course, buy real estate and whole islands for bitcoins.
In Panama, one restaurateur even sold his well-established business for bitcoins, however, for a very impressive amount of 305 BTC.
A special theme is the purchase of ready-made food in restaurants and food products in some supermarkets for cryptocurrency. True, the purchase of pizza for bitcoins, which has long become a meme, is more relevant nowadays for large orders for significant amounts, or when using more “cheap” cryptomonet to pay. Often it is the presence of a significant commission that complicates the development of trade for bitcoins, if we are talking about relatively inexpensive goods.
Payment services in bitcoins
Today, there are plenty of opportunities to buy for Bitcoins, not only goods, but also services. Here are some of them:
- Purchase of air tickets for cryptocurrency is already available in many airlines.
- A number of tour operators offer to buy from them tourist cruises for bitcoins.
- Space tourism can also be paid bitcoins.
- Renting a room or a hotel room for crypto coins is becoming a reality in more and more countries.
- The University of Nicosia on the island of Cyprus has become another pioneer in the business of crypto payments, offering to pay for training in bitcoins. Over the past four years since then, Cypriots have found quite a few followers.
- Payment of cryptocurrency housing and communal services, communication services or, for example, transport cards, is also gradually coming into use.
- The American authorities even promise to accept bitcoins as tax deductions.
Despite the fact that the acceptance of donations in cryptocurrencies has always been typical for startups IT and the cryptosphere, recently the reception of such donations began to establish charitable, research and public funds of general profile. For example, recently the donate fund in cryptocurrency opened the foundation “Give Life” (more precisely, its subsidiary in the USA, where such a collection of funds has the necessary legal basis).
The development of a cryptocurrency market will certainly expand its capabilities. Obviously, in 2018, we will have to wait for no less interesting discoveries and offers. The demand for cryptocurrency is growing, and offers to sell goods and services for them will not be long in coming.