Top 10 Ways People Spend Bitcoins Today

Published at: May 13, 2015

A curious user recently asked members of the Bitcoin subreddit how they spend their bitcoins on an everyday basis. Because Reddit is a global community, it's likely that their responses are reflective of overall patterns.

Here's how the bits are flowing today:

1. Coffee and Food Delivery – Couture coffee got a whole lot cheaper the day that Foldapp started offering 20% off Starbucks purchases. Redditors also use bitcoins for food delivery services like Foodler, Magic and Thuisbezorgd (Netherlands).

Word on the street is that Foldapp will soon add both Whole Foods and Target to its 20 % off list, making grocery store food as bitcoin-friendly as restaurant food.

2. Electronics and Phone Bills – Electronics retailers were among the first merchants to accept bitcoin. AdaFruit, Newegg, TigerDirect, Dell and FastTech are just a few.

Redditors also pay their phone bills with bitcoins using BitRefill or Neteller (the bitcoins-to-Mastercard service).

3. Overstock, Rakuten and Amazon – These online big-box stores substantially expand what's available for bitcoin. Overstock and Rakuten accept the cryptocurrency directly, while redditors use Purse.io to order through Amazon at a discount.

4. Flights and Hotels – AirBaltic accepts bitcoins directly for flights. Otherwise, flights on any major airline can be purchased through BTCTrip or Cheapair.

Redditors also use both Expedia and Cheapair to book hotel rooms.

5. Poker and Betting – One of bitcoin's first major uses was in online betting. Primedice, Seals with Clubs, and BitDice are among redditors' favorites. Betting and gaming have fused together with Leetcoin, where players wager on the outcomes of their League of Legends and Counter-Strike games.

6. Gyft and eGifter – Hundreds of retailers become accessible when you turn bitcoins into gift cards. Gyft and eGifter are used by redditors to purchase eBay, Groupon, and even American Airline gift cards. Both companies offer 3% back on all purchases.

7. Gaming – Xbox, Steam, Twitch.tv, and Eve Time Code games are among redditors' favorites. Discounts are frequently offered for purchases made in bitcoin.

8. Charity and Tipping – ChangeTip supports tipping on ten social networks: YouTube, Reddit, Disqus, and Twitter are among them. Redditors also report making donations to Wikipedia, Red Cross, Edward Snowden, AntiWar, and relief efforts such as the Nepal Great Quake.

9. Precious Metals – Sound money begets sound money, so many crypto users like their gold and silver, too. There are numerous ways to not only purchase physical metals for bitcoin, but to hold and trade them remotely, too.

10. Website Services and VPNs – Namecheap and DirectNic both offer domain name registration and website hosting for bitcoin. Redditors also report that they regularly purchase VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) from companies like Boleh, Mullvad, and Private Internet Access.

Aside from dropping their bits on the above options, many redditors also report saving the majority of their holdings. Lifestyle funding, retirement, and big purchases (like a Tesla Model S) were reported as the primary goals of saving.

How do you spend your bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies? Share below.

Tags
Related Posts
3 Ways to Turn Bitcoins Into Gift Cards
If only everything were available for purchase in Bitcoin. Oh, wait, it is. Anything from plane tickets to houses, sex toys to groceries, can be purchased just by using CheapAir or BitPremier, Purse or Magic (respectively). But you can also just buy good ol'-fashioned gift cards. The companies Gyft, eGifter, and newly-rebranded Gift Off stand out in the crypto-for-gift card space: 1. Gyft Founded in 2012 with the aim to eliminate the use of physical gift cards, Gyft began accepting Bitcoin relatively early on. They offer cards for over 200 retailers, including: Amazon Whole Foods Home Depot Starbucks Target Best …
Bitcoin / Feb. 26, 2015
How to buy food with Bitcoin?
Bitcoin (BTC) is a dynamic monetary asset with the potential of being both — a commodity and a currency. For instance, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) classified BTC as a commodity, whereas El Salvador made Bitcoin a legal tender in 2021. So, does this make BTC a store of value or a medium of exchange? It can do both — On one hand, BTC can be added to treasuries as an inflationary hedge. On the other hand, it could also serve the retail purpose of paying for routine expenses. Almost over a decade ago, the first person to utilize …
Adoption / Dec. 3, 2022
How can UK-based businesses accept Bitcoin?
What are the pros and cons of accepting Bitcoin payments? Accepting Bitcoin payments is advantageous due to lower fees than credit and debit cards, expansion of customer base and real-time bank balances. However, risks like volatility and cybercrime may undermine these benefits. Cryptocurrency payments help save excessive credit and debit card processing fees as they are decentralized and do not need intermediaries to verify the transaction. Moreover, merchants do not incur overseas currency exchange changes if payments are made in BTC or other cryptocurrencies. High transaction speed is another benefit of accepting Bitcoin payments, allowing businesses to receive payments in …
Adoption / Dec. 5, 2022
Netflix 'might' be next Fortune 100 firm to buy Bitcoin — Tim Draper
Netflix may just be the next Fortune 100 company to buy Bitcoin (BTC) and Amazon will have to accept it, says billionaire Tim Draper. In an appearance on the Unstoppable Podcast on Feb. 28, the serial investor and hodler forecast that out of all possible candidates, Netflix is his pick for putting BTC on its balance sheet. Draper: Netflix "might be next big one to fall" "You know who it might be? Netflix," he said. "I think Reed Hastings is a very innovative guy and has a lot of creative thinking and I think he still controls the reins at …
Adoption / March 3, 2021
Former Overstock CEO Sells His Entire 13% Stake in the Firm for $90M
Former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne has sold his 13% stake in the firm for $90 million to move to gold and crypto trading. Byrne, who resigned from Overstock on Aug. 22, cashed out nearly 4.8 million Overstock (OSTK) shares, which accounts for more than 13% of the company, American financial publication MarketWatch reported on Sept. 19. According to a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the former CEO was selling his shares at lower and lower prices over the past three days, ranging from $21.84 on Sept. 16 to $16.32 on Sept. 18. “Counter-cyclical to the …
Bitcoin / Sept. 19, 2019