How do I pay with bitcoin? Is the hope of every bitcoin lover even mine? But is it possible to spend or pay with bitcoin while many countries are trying to ban bitcoin and other digital currencies?
Like fiat currency, you can not send bitcoin directly to the retailer shop and you need a wallet for this but does the retailer know or have a bitcoin wallet.
But now you could say this problem has become old and from the last few years, many companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Dominos, and retailers have started accepting bitcoin as payment.
So let’s explore some areas to see where and how we can pay with bitcoin.
What is Bitcoin?
According to Investopedia, Bitcoin is a decentralized, peer-to-peer cryptocurrency system designed to allow online users to process transactions through digital units of exchange called Bitcoins (BTC). Started in 2009 by a mysterious entity named Satoshi Nakamoto, the Bitcoin network has come to dominate and even define the cryptocurrency space, spawning a legion of altcoin followers and representing for many users an alternative to government flat currencies like the U.S. dollar or the euro or pure commodity currencies like gold or silver coins.
Before we start how to pay with bitcoin, let’s see some of its advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages of paying with Bitcoin.
There are many advantages to using or paying with bitcoin, some directly and some indirectly, but both are important.
Privacy.
Here clear your mind if you were thinking bitcoin is anonymous, no it’s not bitcoin is private, not anonymous. And anyone can see your bitcoin present in your wallet but can not see your identity.
When you pay or receive bitcoin in your wallet address, it will generate a tracking key on the Blockchain explorer and by using this, anyone can see your entire wallet history.
To avoid this situation, pay or receive bitcoin from different bitcoin addresses. It is free you can generate as much as you want.
Fully Autonomy.
Like country currency, you can control your own money. But bitcoin allows you to do this by using bitcoin you can manage how and who you want to pay, spent, or want to just store. While you can not store fiat currency (comes in black money) except in a bank account.
International Use.
You can not use fiat currency like USD, EUR, INR all around the world and you have to exchange it into other country currency. But in the bitcoin case, it doesn’t matter, you can use it all over the world at the same price and amount.
Low Fees.
If you compared international transaction mediators like VISA, Master Card, PayPal with bitcoin you will find it has lower fees than others. Where most of the fiat exchanger charge 3% to 4% of the amount while Bitcoin charge few percentages(fixed) on every amount.
Peer-to-Peer (P2P).
Bitcoin is a totally P2P system that means you can pay or receive bitcoin payment from anywhere and from everyone without involving and approval of third parties like Bank, Government, or other external authority.
Easy Payment.
Like your regular payment method, bitcoin users also can pay and receive via their Mobile phone having internet access.
So users need not go to the bank office or store to withdrawal their money.
Availability.
Because users can send and receive bitcoins with only a smartphone or computer, bitcoin is theoretically available to populations of users without access to traditional banking systems, credit cards, or other methods of payment.
Disadvantages of paying with Bitcoin.
Like other things, Bitcoin also has disadvantages, and it directly affects the users, but you can avoid this with a simple understanding.
No Refund.
Bitcoin is a onetime payment, and if you send your money mistakenly to other user addresses, you can not recover it. For more clarity suppose you mistakenly send payment to an unknown bank account in this situation you can file a complaint in the bank office for your mistake and may have a chance to return your money. But in the Bitcoin case, you can not do this because of no one, no identity of unknown users.
Scams and Fraud.
This is one of the main resign many countries don’t allow the use of bitcoin. Like we said, you can avoid this just stay away from the Ponzi website, scheme, mining, doubling bitcoin website, ICO, a giveaway that demands money for it.
High Price Volatility.
The price of bitcoin is highly volatile, which means you may lose or gain thousands of dollars in a day. Just imagine that the price of bitcoin was $1000 in February 2017 and increased to $19500 in December 2017; after that, it fell to $6000 in February 2018. So you should think before investing in this market.
How to use Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is not a physical currency like fiat, so you cannot put it in someone’s hand or in your pocket. So the only option is online shopping. You can shop with it and buy clothes, shoes, pizza, and other things online, or you can go to a retailer store that accepts bitcoin, but in both situations, you will need a mobile phone and internet.
Pay with bitcoin online.
Some bitcoin wallets like Uphold and Bitcoin.com have shopping features; if you don’t, you can shop and pay with bitcoin on separate platforms like Purse and Gyft.
Pay with bitcoin at stores.
Many popular stores accept bitcoin as payment. Subway, Lieferando, Domino’s Pizza, Burger King, Eat Me Bangkok, Microsoft, and more. Here are over 250+ places that accept bitcoin payments (online and physical). Here is a list of all online and offline stores that accept bitcoin as payment.
How to pay with Bitcoin Online?
To pay with bitcoin online or offline, open a bitcoin wallet on your mobile and then choose a crypto type like Bitcoin, Ethereum, or else, and then click send or withdraw and enter the amount. After that, your wallet will ask for a Bitcoin address, and it will look something like this:.
3AjuFStSNeFJm4HcyZ8zPpj3gxGf2DPizP
Or you can scan the address via QR code. After that click confirms, in a few seconds other users will receive their coin in the provided wallet address.
In all this process there is no need to sign up, bank card, PIN, bank details,
To pay bitcoin with Coinbase.
- Go to the website or open a Coinbase wallet.
- Click on the Bitcoin logo or withdrawal button and enter then enter the amount.
- After that, enter the amount, bitcoin address, or scan QR code and click confirm.
To pay bitcoin with BitPay.
- Open the BitPay wallet and select currency Bitcoin.
- Click on pay and then enter the amount.
- Click ok and scan the QR code or enter the wallet address and then confirm the button.
How to receive Bitcoin in your wallet?
Receiving feature processing is the same in all wallets, and there is no need to do something extra.
- Open your wallet.
- Choose the currency, bitcoin and tap on it or click the receive button.
- Copy the address and send it to the sender, or let them scan your QR code for your wallet.
- And that’s it; your bitcoin will arrive in a second. If the sender did it properly.
Where to buy bitcoin.
To pay with bitcoin, you need to have bitcoin in your wallet, so in order to pay with bitcoin, you have to buy bitcoin first. Here are some great ways to buy bitcoin.
With Credit or Debit card.
Bitpanda.
The most popular and leading website to buy bitcoin with a credit card in the European region. Once verified, you can use every feature of Bitpanda. There are no tiers, and every user can use Bitpanda the same way regarding limits and features.
For buying bitcoin with a credit card you have to verify at least your Email and Mobile number, then you can buy and sell up to 50 EURO worth of bitcoin with a credit card.
About the fee, Bitpanda does not have mentioned on websites, but you can see or calculate the fee during the buying and sell process. And it may be near about 5% of the amount you buy.
Lumi wallet.
A total anonymous wallet for buying bitcoin with a credit card in any device. Users can buy BTC, ETH, USDT, and more without providing personal details.
It has listed a total of 1200+ coins and tokens for exchange (only some available for buying) so Lumi wallet could great for trading. You can buy $150 worth of Bitcoin, Ethereum, USTD, and more without verification.
Lumi Wattle supports almost every country to buy cryptocurrencies with a credit card. But like other platforms and due to countries’ privacy and policy, it also has some restricted countries that follow. If you are from the United States, it does not support the following states.
With Bank account transfer.
Coinbase.
A simple and secure wallet for everyone and supports over 100 countries around the world. It has many features, like trading, exchange, and more.
For US customers, Coinbase allows you to connect your bank account via ACH bank transfer. While for European Coinbase connects with a SEPA transfer to buy bitcoin with a bank transfer.
The fee is around 1.49% of the buying amount with a bank account for all supporting countries.
Bitpanda.
A multi-use and non USD supporting platform founded in 2014. Bitpanda accepts via SEPA, SOFORT, and Online Bank Transfer for buying Bitcoin or other cryptos with the bank account.
Currently, Bitpanda supporting Euro, Swiss Franc, and GBP, USD for buying bitcoin. The fee still unclear and does not show on the website.
With a PayPal account.
eToro
eToro, one of the leading websites to buy and sell bitcoin with Paypal, also offers to invest in stocks with different underlying assets.
With eToro, users can easily buy a large amount of bitcoin with Paypal in over 140 countries. It also provides copy trading, which means the new trader can copy the trading ideas of other users or connect to others in the social forum. Here, see more.
With PayTM.
LocalBitcoins.
LocalBitcoins is the most trusted P2P web wallet where you can buy bitcoin among the actual people on the internet. It allows you to exchange your local currencies into Bitcoin with the best market price and actual people. Most of the exchange sites use Boot for exchange, but on LocalBitcoin, you are dealing with actual people, which makes LocalBitcoin more trusted and faster to trade. See here for more.
Wallet to pay and receive bitcoin.
Just buying bitcoin is not enough; you should have the best features and security in your wallet.
Trust wallet.
A Full features wallet to store almost any coins anonymously. Not just storing it also allows for exchanging, staking, and buying cryptos with a credit card.
Trust Browser also gives a full-fledged Web3 browser that allows you to interact with decentralized applications (Dapp) directly from the Trust wallet app.
Bitcoin wallet.
Yes, its name is Bitcoin Wallet, which is owned by Bitcoin.com. And have everything that needs to start a crypto journey for a beginner. By using it, you can store several coins like BTC, BHC, ETH, USDT, and more, and you can also exchange cryptos via a credit card for other coins in a minute.
How to secure your wallet?
There is lots of scamming and hacking happening in the crypto world, and you should know how to avoid this and protect your bitcoin wallet from it.
Use 2FA security.
If you have not enabled Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) then do it right now this is high-level security provided by Google. 2FA is an extra layer of security used to make sure that people trying to gain access to an online account are who they say they are.
Use Own Internet Connection.
This is the easiest target for the hacker, no matter how much speed giving a public internet connection always uses your secure connection otherwise you will not lose only your bitcoin wallet, also your other important details such as a credit card, your ID, and more.
Avoid Suspicious Links.
We Will strongly suggest you do not open or click on the suspicious link which coming into your email inbox.
Remember the email you received looks normal, but it may contain a link that can give access to your bitcoin wallet when you click on it.
When you see this type of email, change your email and Bitcoin wallet password immediately.
Set limits for everyday withdrawals.
This is a small step to increase the security of your Bitcoin wallet. By doing so, you can set limits on transactions or withdrawals per month, week, and day.
So in case, you lose control of your wallet then you are able to protect your remaining bitcoin or other cryptos in your wallet.
Paying with bitcoin is easier than withdrawing money from an ATM or bank account. The silly mistake new users make is entering the bitcoin address and choosing the wrong cryptos. For example, when they see other coin prices going high, they send bitcoin to other cryptos like ETH and BCH without exchanging it for bitcoin.
By the way, have you ever faced a problem while paying with bitcoin, or have you made a silly mistake?
