Bitcoin has
been getting a lot of attention for a few years now. But do you know exactly
what it is and can you use cryptocurrency to pay the bills?
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| Bitcoin has been dubbed by some as the secure money of the Internet. |
What is
Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a
cryptocurrency that was first created in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto.
Bitcoin is
based on blockchain technology and is not regulated by a central authority or
banks.
The independence of Bitcoin from the central bank or monetary and financial system and the use of the peer-to-peer network related to cryptography are its main characteristics. But is it possible to pay bills with Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies?
Can You Use Cryptocurrency
to Pay Bills?
You can use
Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies as a means of payment to pay your bills, pay
for online shopping or send money you owe to friends, family, or employees.
To be a
widely accepted means of payment and a store of value, the currency must be an
item with the following properties: non-perishable, identifiable, difficult to
counterfeit, easy to transport, easy to store, fungible and divisible.
Let's see
if Cryptocurrency, for example, Bitcoin has these properties:
Non-perishable: obviously
yes.
Identifiable: Yes, Bitcoin is well identifiable, like other coins and banknotes, each Bitcoin has its own number.
Difficult to
Counterfeit: Impossible to counterfeit, but a person with enough computing
resources might try to use the same Bitcoin to make multiple payments.
Easy to
Carry and Store: As long as you have a smartphone or a computer, it is
easy to store and transport a large number of Bitcoins.
Fungible: in
the same way that a gold bar is interchangeable with a gold bar ,
a Bitcoin is interchangeable with another Bitcoin. It is therefore quite
fungible.
Divisible: Bitcoin is divisible, you can subdivide Bitcoin into 100 million units, called satoshis.
At first glance, Bitcoin has all the characteristics of a currency. But this does not guarantee its success. In fact, for a currency to be successful, it must inspire confidence and trust.
To increase trust and inspire confidence, Bitcoin must closely convince its users that they will be able to exchange their Bitcoins for goods sold/purchased and services provided at any time.
The users of
a currency are part of a large exchange network, and the value of this network
increases due to the number of people who compose it.
For Bitcoin
to be truly useful, it must be accepted by a sufficient number of people.
There are
some major companies and service providers who accept Bitcoin as Payment,
including: Microsoft, AT&T, Burger King, Overstock, Subway, Amazon (not
directly), KFC, Pizza Hut, Twitch, Miami Dolphins, Virgin Galactic, Dalls
Mavericks, Namecheap, Norwegian Air, The Pirate Bay, 4Chan, Mega.nz, Benfica,
ExpressVPN, etc.
The Internet
Archive and Wikipedia also accept donations in Bitcoin.
How to Buy Bitcoin?
It is possible to buy Bitcoin by converting a currency into BTC. For this,
you will need to have a cryptocurrency wallet.
Several platforms offer this service and allow you to acquire Bitcoins. You can trade Bitcoin via derivatives offered by online brokers.
Be careful in choosing a well-known and recognized platform to avoid any risks of Bitcoin scams.
How to Pay in Bitcoin
There are
three ways to pay in Bitcoin, whether the transaction is for the purchase of a
good or service.
First, you
can use the QR Code provided by the seller. You just need to scan it with
your smartphone which will automatically open your Bitcoin wallet
application. You will then only have to validate the payment by checking
beforehand the address of sending the sum and the amount.
You can also
pay an online merchant on your computer by clicking on "pay in
Bitcoin". In this case, your wallet will open
automatically.
Finally, you can also choose to send a payment manually. Open your online wallet and copy in the "send to" or "recipient" field the merchant's address and specify the amount in XBT of the transaction before sending your payment.