Have you ever paid for anything with bitcoin?

[+ BlueSky]

So, you've got some bitcoin or other cryptocurrency. We all know one thing you can do with it:

you can watch the market value roller-coaster up and down. And (more fun) you can enjoy the thought of how much money you've made if you bought before late 2017.

 

But setting that aside, have you found a practical use for it? I know some stores accept it as payment. Some websites accept it for donations. Have you done anything like that yet?

 

Even some escorts will take it. Take bitcoin I mean. So it would be interesting to hear from an escort or client how that work out. With the price changing so rapidly was it hard to agree on an amount in bitcoins?

 

This really is just a question. I'm not trying to bash bitcoin or comment on the wild market right now.

[+ Keith30309]

Nope. Purely speculative.

[+ Pensant]

I’ve thought of buying some as a minor hedge on Coinbase, but feel that I missed the boat.

[Rudynate]

According to James Altucher, Amazon may announce in the near future that it accepts bitcoin.

[+ OliverSaks]

I’ve used truly anonymous cryptocurrencies (NOT BTC) to do business. It’s a pretty neat thing.

[rvwnsd]

That's how I paid for my support elephant.

[+ BlueSky]

I’ve used truly anonymous cryptocurrencies (NOT BTC) to do business. It’s a pretty neat thing.

I didn't know there was that kind of difference.

Which are the more anonymous ones?

[+ OliverSaks]

Monero (XMR) is the big one.

[+ Avalon]

But doesn't the value of a bitcoin change from day-to-day, even hour-to-hour? So an escort might accept one for a $300 hour fee yet the next day it won't buy a cup of coffee.

[+ Avalon]

So does the value of other things like Gold, Silver, Stock in Amazon, One Fiat Currency to Another, etc, etc etc.

 

Right! So imo it's best to stay with cash.

 

At work for overtime we had a choice of money or comp time (extra vacation time). Most chose comp time. I always chose cash. I said that my landlord would not take comp time to pay the rent.

[+ Avalon]

You do know the US Dollar has a changing value as well, right?

 

Yes it does but although prices do rise the US$ is not like the Weimar currency when it took a wheelbarrow of the money to buy a loaf of bread.

[+ Avalon]

A wheelbarrow???? We're talking about an electronic currency here... If the hundredth millionth decimal place for Bitcoin is difficult to interpret, just use Satoshi which is the smallest fractional amount of a Bitcoin that can be transferred.

 

I don't enough about it all to take a chance with it. I'll stick with the US$.

[KinkyNEguy]

Yes, I often use it on RM to pay for some of my favorite's membership dues...

[+ BlueSky]

Yes, I often use it on RM to pay for some of my favorite's membership dues...

 

That sounds like a perfect use for it. The one time I can recall wishing I had some bitcoin to spend was when I was checking out Chaturbate. I think you could buy tokens with bitcoin. And it seemed to be cheaper than by credit card (let alone the hassle of getting my CC company to approve the charge.)

[+ Keith30309]

In my humble opinion, BTC is far too volatile for a business to hold as payment for goods and services unless its real business is cryptocurrency speculation.

However, I think it’s an excellent means of exchange... very simple, clean and available. Elegant.

Unlike Venmo’ing USD’s, for example, which leaves a slug-like audit trail.

(Just in case one is interested in these things).

[Bertster]

is not like the Weimar currency when it took a wheelbarrow of the money to buy a loaf of bread.

 

Got the reference ✅

[+ OliverSaks]

In my humble opinion, BTC is far too volatile for a business to hold as payment for goods and services unless its real business is cryptocurrency speculation.

However, I think it’s an excellent means of exchange... very simple, clean and available. Elegant.

Unlike Venmo’ing USD’s, for example, which leaves a slug-like audit trail.

(Just in case one is interested in these things).

BTC leaves an audit trail, too - especially everyone buying on exchanges (Coinbase) like the wave of investments that have happened in the past couple of month.

 

When you pay for a RM ad with bitcoin purchased on Coinbase, your identity is NOT safe, to be clear to anyone who thinks otherwise

[+ OliverSaks]

Yes it does but although prices do rise the US$ is not like the Weimar currency when it took a wheelbarrow of the money to buy a loaf of bread.

Hyperinflation in unstable countries (Venezuela, Zimbabwe) is one of the classically given examples for the utility of a bitcoin - it sure as hell is a better store of value in some places in the world where the economic systems are crumbling

 

The USD is relatively strong right now, but that might not always be the case - having access to cryptocurrency in the event of a market crash / economic downturn seems like a step towards not getting all of one’s eggs stuck in one tragic basket

[+ Keith30309]

BTC leaves an audit trail, too - especially everyone buying on exchanges (Coinbase) like the wave of investments that have happened in the past couple of month.

 

When you pay for a RM ad with bitcoin purchased on Coinbase, your identity is NOT safe, to be clear to anyone who thinks otherwise

If understand what you’re saying: suppose Greg pays me 1 BTC for a used bicycle and I then pay you 1 BTC for a bushel of tomatoes then a disinterested third party (like, for example, the IRS) can obtain independent records from somewhere other than the 3 of us documenting those two transactions?

[+ BlueSky]

Yes, I think the volatility and unpredictability could prevent any crypto coming into widespread use. And it seems if the hopes of those who are long in cryptocurrency are to come true, it will have to go mainstream at some point. The average Joe will need to use it to buy, well, average things.

 

Sometimes there is a tipping point to these things and suddenly they are everywhere. But it still hard to find a "real" use for cryptos. But I'm open to being proved wrong.

[+ GregM]

Yes, I think the volatility and unpredictability could prevent any crypto coming into widespread use. And it seems if the hopes of those who are long in cryptocurrency are to come true, it will have to go mainstream at some point. The average Joe will need to use it to buy, well, average things.

 

Sometimes there is a tipping point to these things and suddenly they are everywhere. But it still hard to find a "real" use for cryptos. But I'm open to being proved wrong.

 

Two things off the top of my head are causing a road block.

 

1. TAXES. The IRS considers crypto an asset so upon cashing out one is taxed. #taxationistheft

 

2. Fees. When I purchase one of the big three I'm charged a fee. When I use them to purchase penny crypto I'm charged a fee. Can't fart without gwtting charged a fee.

 

I'm sure there's other road blocks but these two are pretty big ones imo. Regardless, I will still purchase my crypto and diversify. Yes diversify. I'm not keeping all my eggs in one basket.

 

Hugs,

Greg

[+ GregM]

If understand what you’re saying: suppose Greg pays me 1 BTC for a used bicycle and I then pay you 1 BTC for a bushel of tomatoes then a disinterested third party (like, for example, the IRS) can obtain independent records from somewhere other than the 3 of us documenting those two transactions?

 

I would never spend 8k or more for a bicycle

 

Hugs,

Greg

 

Ps The IRS will be out for their fair share.

[+ OliverSaks]

If understand what you’re saying: suppose Greg pays me 1 BTC for a used bicycle and I then pay you 1 BTC for a bushel of tomatoes then a disinterested third party (like, for example, the IRS) can obtain independent records from somewhere other than the 3 of us documenting those two transactions?

The blockchain is a public ledger, so provided the IRS knows your wallet address, they can see how much is sent and received from your wallet (I’m sure they do this / will do this, just like they track banking records for businesses dealing in cash/credit)

[+ Keith30309]

The blockchain is a public ledger, so provided the IRS knows your wallet address, they can see how much is sent and received from your wallet (I’m sure they do this / will do this, just like they track banking records for businesses dealing in cash/credit)

You may be right but i think that what the IRS, for example, CAN get is the records of buys & sells at exchanges within their legal grasp (you mention Coinbase, for example.... I think they already turn over records). And they can theoretically get my wallet information from an exchange where I bought or sold (assuming I did that.) or I was willing to give up that info - remember that a new wallet address is generated after every transaction for me (assuming I use it).

 

However, what I believe to be more elusive are transfers outside the involvement of exchanges - between individuals, for example. A distributed ledger (which governments obviously monitor) does indeed mean that everyone acknowledges the validity of every transaction but that doesn’t mean that the identities of the transferring and receiving parties are decipherable and can be correlated to specific identities.

 

In my hypothetical example of the bicycle and tomatoes the act which would cause alarm bells to ring would be your sudden selling of a large amount of BTC’s for which there was no corresponding buys (aggregated across all exchange data available). As with USD transactions, I believe the IRS only cares if you fail to report a gain from your tomato business.

But DHS, Commerce and others would want to know where they came from and would be unable to know the source unless they found supporting information outside the ledger proving that you sold tomatoes to North Korea.

 

I could be wrong... just a layman’s opinion.

[+ GregM]

https://www.ccn.com/pineapple-funds-5-mil-bitcoin-donation-boosts-medicine-foundation/ Who can say this is a bad thing?

 

Hugs,

Greg