Bitcoin is the most popular crypto currently gaining momentum among a younger generation of consumers, and developers are becoming more innovative with new blockchain technologies. The most popular use of blockchain is to support transactions in other cryptocurrencies, but developers of other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Litecoin, Ethereum Classic and Dash also use it for many other purposes.
Got a Wallet?
If you want to judge which cryptocurrency you want to buy, it is absolutely essential that you first understand how Bitcoin works. If you are trying to pay a person or retailer who accepts cryptocurrencies, you will need a cryptocurrency wallet, a software program that interacts with the blockchain and allows users to send and receive cryptocurrencies.
We might talk about wallets and their security some other time, but for now, on to the task at hand!
Those other purposes mean one thing – shop, shop, shop! What happens if the store doesn’t accept “crypto” payments, though?
How to Pay
In a lot of ways, paying up with Bitcoin and other “crypto” is a lot like writing an email – although instead of sending text and photos or videos to the recipient, you’re sending cold, hard cryptocurrency!
Unlike with a debit or credit card, cryptocurrency doesn’t require you to give away much in terms of personal privacy, if you’re looking to keep your purchase discrete. If you’re making an online purchase to be shipped, really all you need is your name and address, if it’s something digital, even more private, an email address or even less if there’s a download link involved.
Once you’re ready to authorize and send the transaction through, instead of entering card information you’ll see a few options such as;
- A QR Code
- A Bitcoin address
- A link to sign into a coinbase wallet.
From there, sally up the payment, and you’re good to go!
You’re Not Totally Out of Luck…
If you want to issue cryptocurrencies to a merchant that does not accept them directly, you can use a cryptocurrency card – think of them like a preloaded debit card you’ve probably received from a rebate or a relative at the holidays. With the price of some crypto, that’s quite a lot of spending power!
Trading
Cryptocurrency traders can participate in cryptocurrency trading and transfer cryptocurrency assets from wallets to blockchain addresses. Cryptocurrencies can be exchanged via digital wallets using trading apps, and those who do not want to can purchase cryptocurrencies through brokers. There’s a whole trading market out there!
Be Careful, Though…
For example, a fall in the price of Bitcoin has often led to a correction in the entire cryptocurrency market. Such events affect not only the Bitcoin community, but other cryptocurrencies as well. Although cryptocurrencies have been rocky, cryptocurrency investors seem to like Bitcoin because they believe it has slightly more strength than the rest – the track record to prove it. It’s why you hear so much about it, but know that there are many out there!
You Can’t Use a Half a Penny…
Cryoptocurrencies are a bit different in that you can use a decimal amount of them! You can, for example, spent .004 of a single bitcoin. Can’t do that with a penny most of the time, now can you? That idea is outrageous now, with the value of Bitcoin jumping back and forth around 50k per coin at the time of writing this article, but, when the currency was in its infancy, it wasn’t unheard of for savvy investors to buy up hundreds for a quarter of a penny – millions of coins at once! Can you imagine the value now? Jawdropping.