Paying with bitcoins has become increasingly popular over the last few years. As more retailers accept cryptocurrencies, bitcoins have transitioned from an investment asset to an everyday spending currency. In 2024, paying with bitcoins is easier and more convenient than ever.
This guide provides an in-depth look at everything you need to know to pay with bitcoins in 2024. We’ll cover:
Overview of Paying with Bitcoins
- Benefits of spending bitcoins
- Types of payments accepted
- Getting set up to use bitcoins
Major Retailers That Accept Bitcoins
- Large online retailers
- Brick-and-mortar stores
- Other services expanding acceptance
Ways to Pay with Bitcoins
- Bitcoin debit cards
- Mobile wallet apps
- Paying bitcoins directly
Bitcoin Payments Step-By-Step
- Getting bitcoins
- Choosing a wallet
- Making a purchase
- Checking transaction history
The Future of Bitcoin Payments
- Improving ease of use
- Scaling adoption rates
- Government regulations
So let’s dive in and explore the expanding world of bitcoin payments!
Overview of Paying with Bitcoins
Before we get into the specific methods, let’s look at some of the key benefits, payment types, and things you’ll need to start using your bitcoins for purchases.
Benefits of Spending Bitcoins
There are several advantages to paying with bitcoins compared to traditional payment methods:
- Enhanced Privacy – Bitcoin payments don’t require providing personal information that could be compromised in a data breach.
- Lower Fees – By avoiding financial institutions and card networks, bitcoin transaction fees are typically lower, especially for large purchase amounts.
- Universal Usage – Bitcoins allow you to pay anyone around the world easily, without needing to convert currencies or pay international transaction fees.
- No Chargebacks – Bitcoin payments can’t be reversed or disputed after they are sent, removing the risk for merchants. However this means less recourse for the buyer if something goes wrong.
As these benefits demonstrate, paying with bitcoins offers individuals more privacy and can reduce fees, while providing merchants faster, irreversible payments from any country.
Types of Payments Accepted
The number of merchants accepting bitcoin continues to substantially grow every year. Here are some of the main types of payments you can use bitcoins for:
- Online Purchases – Many major online retailers and small e-commerce stores now accept bitcoins. Anything you can buy online, from Amazon purchases to paying freelancers, can typically also be bought with bitcoins.
- Brick-And-Mortar – An increasing number of physical retailers, restaurants, hotels, transportation services and ATMs accept bitcoin payments through point-of-sale systems.
- Bills and Services – You can use bitcoins for bills like utilities or VPN services, phone top-ups, buying gift cards or vouchers, and more through crypto payment platforms.
Essentially anything you would buy with cash or credit card can also be purchased with bitcoins in many cases. As adoption spreads, one day we may reach a point where paying with bitcoins becomes more common than legacy payment methods.
Getting Set Up to Use Bitcoins
To pay with bitcoins yourself, you need to complete these preliminary steps first:
- Acquire some bitcoins – You obviously need some BTC to spend it! We’ll cover obtaining bitcoins later.
- Choose a wallet – A bitcoin wallet app stores your coins and allows you to easily send payment transactions. Popular options include software, hardware and mobile wallets.
- Understand privacy implications – While bitcoin payments enhance privacy in some ways, they can reduce anonymity in other aspects since the blockchain ledger is transparent. Use caution when linking identity and payments.
Once you get some bitcoins and set up a suitable wallet, paying with BTC is relatively straightforward. But first, let’s look at some of the major retailers that now accept cryptocurrency payments.
Major Retailers That Accept Bitcoins
Many large online stores and physical chains now allow customers to pay with bitcoins. The vast range of retailers where you can spend your digital currency continues to substantially expand each year.
Large Online Retailers
Here are some of the major online retailers that accept direct bitcoin payments for purchases:
- Amazon – One of the largest recent adopters through a partnership with the crypto payment platform Flexa. This enabled bitcoins to be used on Amazon and other whole foods stores.
- eGifter – A popular online gift card retailer that allows purchasing hundreds of different gift cards with bitcoins to indirectly shop at other major brands.
- Etsy – In early 2023, the handmade ecommerce marketplace began allowing sellers to accept bitcoin transactions if they choose.
- Overstock – A home goods retailer that was one of the first large companies to adopt bitcoin payments back in 2014.
- Shopify – One of the largest ecommerce platforms that offers integrations with crypto payment processors for its over 1 million online stores to accept bitcoins.
In addition to the household names above, there are thousands more niche online retailers, service providers and freelancers accepting cryptos every day.
Brick-and-Mortar Stores
If you prefer to shop in-person, an increasing number of chain retailers and small businesses now allow you to pay with bitcoins. Some examples include:
- AMC Theatres – You can pay with supported crypto apps and cards at all AMC locations and concessions across the United States.
- Crate & Barrel – A popular furnishing store using Flexa to unlock bitcoin acceptance across 100 US locations in early 2024.
- Nordstrom – The high-end clothing retailer plans to enable bitcoin payments through partnerships with crypto payment apps at many locations by late 2024.
- Petco – Over 1,500 pet supply stores accepting bitcoin through integration with digital asset platform Bakkt announced in late 2023.
- Regal Cinemas – Like AMC, Regal uses crypto payment rails to allow paying with bitcoins for movie tickets, concessions, and more across hundreds of cinemas.
- Starbucks – After an initial trial, Starbucks announced rollout of bitcoin payments to select stores globally through an integration with Bakkt and mobile payment apps in 2023-2024.
Other Services Expanding Acceptance
Aside from the retail applications we’ve covered, bitcoin payments are growing for bills, transportation, hotels, and more everyday expenses and services:
- Travel Sites – Leading travel booking platforms like Travala.com and Expedia accept cryptocurrencies for booking flights, hotels, rental cars, and other travel arrangements.
- Food Delivery – Services like DoorDash, Just Eat Takeaway, and Seamless have integrated options to pay for food deliveries with bitcoins as crypto gains popularity.
- VPN Services – Many popular VPNs like NordVPN, ExpressVPN, IPVanish etc. allow cryptocurrency payments to enhance privacy and security together.
- Gift Cards – eGifter and Bitrefill enable you to buy gift cards for hundreds of brands including Best Buy, Nike, Adidas, Sephora, Airbnb, Uber, Southwest Airlines, and countless other gift cards.
- Electric Vehicle Charging – EVgo electric vehicle charging stations across the United States are integrating the ability to pay by scanning your crypto wallet app at checkout rather than using physical cards.
Essentially mainstream services of all types are jumping on board with accepting bitcoin in just the last year or two. This makes spending bitcoins significantly more convenient and practical for everyday purchases.
Ways to Pay with Bitcoins
Now that we’ve seen an overview of bitcoin payments and some major companies involved, let’s explore the primary methods available for paying with bitcoins day-to-day:
Bitcoin Debit Cards
The most familiar and convenient approach is using a traditional physical or virtual debit card that is funded by your bitcoin balance rather than fiat currency. Some top bitcoin debit card options include:
- Coinbase Card – A Visa debit card that can be funded from your Coinbase balance to spend online or in-stores anywhere globally that accepts Visa.
- BlockFi Card – This popular crypto rewards card offers 1.5% back in bitcoin on every transaction and additional perks.
- Cryptopay – A variety of prepaid card options from this leading provider that allow withdrawing cash from bitcoin at ATMs or spending in-stores and online around the world.
- Wirex – Both physical and virtual debit cards available that can be loaded with bitcoin funds instantly with low fees to spend conveniently.
Bitcoin debit cards offer the most flexibility for purchases at mainstream retailers. As they gain popularity, more providers are competing to offer the best rewards, features, flexibility and fees.
Mobile Wallet Apps
Dedicated mobile wallet apps represent another easy way to directly spend bitcoins from your smartphone:
- SPEDN – This Flexa-powered app focuses on enabling retail brand compatibility for spending cryptocurrency in-stores.
- Gemini Pay – Allows using Gemini exchange accounts as your mobile wallet to conveniently pay any merchant through QR codes and more.
- BitPay – Connect your exchange accounts/wallets to generate QR codes or digital invoices to pay online and in-stores through one convenient app.
- Coinbase Wallet – Popular companion to Coinbase allows simple mobile payments to friends, family, retailers and bills all from one intuitive app.
As more stores adopt point-of-sale compatibility with these apps, it makes the retail shopping experience smooth and familiar to smartphone users.
Paying Bitcoins Directly
If a merchant doesn’t accept automatic conversions through a payment processor yet, you may still be able to pay bitcoins directly:
- When checking out, ask the merchant if they’re able to accept bitcoin payments manually.
- If they support it, they will provide a bitcoin wallet address or QR code.
- Open your bitcoin wallet app and enter the amount to send to their provided address.
- Wait for the merchant to detect the incoming payment and confirm before completing your purchase.
Though this requires more steps, some retailers are willing to accept direct bitcoin transactions through their own wallets. As global adoption accelerates, direct acceptance will likely be less common in favor of more seamless point-of-sale integrations.
Bitcoin Payments Step-By-Step
Now that you understand the primary methods for spending bitcoins, let’s walk through the typical workflow from start to finish:
Getting Bitcoins
First you need to acquire some bitcoins in order to use them for payments:
- Purchase – The easiest way is to buy BTC from a cryptocurrency exchange platform like Coinbase or Kraken using deposit methods like bank transfers or cards.
- Earn – Alternatively you can earn bitcoins from working freelance jobs, mining coins by providing processing power, or receiving them as income from an employer.
- Convert – If you already own other cryptocurrency coins, you can easily trade or convert most popular altcoins for bitcoin through crypto exchanges and wallets .
Typically purchasing is the most common on-ramp for those looking to unlock bitcoin’s spending potential for everyday purchases rather than just investment holdings.
Choosing a Wallet
Once you acquire some BTC, you need to store them in a cryptocurrency wallet. Here are some good options to consider:
- Software wallet – A desktop or mobile app that provides private keys for full ownership, like Exodus Desktop Wallet or Edge Mobile Wallet.
- Hardware wallet – An offline external device protecting keys from hackers, such as Ledger Nano X or Trezor Model T.
- Exchange custodial wallet – The wallet provided by exchanges like Coinbase or Crypto.com allows easy spending but less privacy as they host the keys.
Ideally use a software or hardware wallet for large holdings, paired with an exchange custodial wallet connected to your spending methods for convenience.
Making a Purchase
Now comes the exciting part – actually spending your digital currency!
- Browse online retailers that accept bitcoin or visit stores in-person that support crypto payments. Add items to your cart as normal or inform cashiers if paying in-store.
- Select bitcoin as your payment method at checkout. You will either get a payment QR code, crypto invoice through an app, or the cashier can scan your crypto card or mobile wallet.
- Open your preferred bitcoin wallet or payment app that is funded by your BTC balance, and point the camera at the QR code to send the due payment amount automatically.
- Wait a few seconds for the transaction to process and confirm before the purchase is complete! It is that quick and easy when the merchant has implemented a crypto point-of-sale system.
If paying directly without a POS system, you would instead manually enter the merchant’s BTC address they provide, enter the accurate send amount in BTC, and get payment confirmation verbally or through your wallet transaction history.
Checking Transaction History
One last important aspect of bitcoin payments is being able to track purchase activity and payments:
- Wallet History – Your preferred bitcoin wallet app where you initiate payments from will maintain a transaction history allowing you to see all debits and credits with details on the wallet addresses sent to/received from.
- Exchange Records – If using an exchange wallet or debit card method, check the exchange account history to monitor overall bitcoin spending just like a bank account.
- Payment Processor – Services like BitPay or Flexa will provide app transaction histories and sometimes purchase receipts depending on integration.
- Blockchain Ledger – You can consult public blockchain explorers to analyze complete transaction details, flow of funds, timestamps, fees paid, and other in-depth data.
Between the wallet and exchange interfaces, you have easy and transparent access to full historical details on both crypto and retail purchases made through your preferred bitcoin payment apps and services.
The Future of Bitcoin Payments
Despite the impressive growth, bitcoin payments are still in the early stages when it comes to mainstream adoption. Here are some upcoming trends to monitor as consumers increasingly choose digital currencies over physical cash and cards:
Improving Ease of Use
The bitcoin community is rapidly addressing previous barriers around user experience:
- Seamless retail integration – Tap-and-pay apps will unlock instant smartphone payments at most merchants.
- Scalability solutions – Innovation like the Lightning Network will reduce congestion and confirmation times by handling smaller rapid payments off-chain before settling periodically to the blockchain.
- Enhanced privacy – Advances like Taproot will improve transaction ambiguity and user control over revealing sensitive linkages.
Combining these improvements will make bitcoin payments exponentially more convenient, accessible and private for daily transactions.
Scaling Adoption Rates
Accelerating real-world usage is also a major priority, with initiatives like:
- Crypto rewards incentives – Issuers are competing to convince consumers and merchants of the perks around bitcoin debit/credit cards and loyalty programs.
- Geographic expansion – Access to crypto tools and financial services are improving in developing regions where digital payments can better serve users than legacy systems.
- New demographics – Generations like Millennials and Gen Z showing high interests in alternatives to conventional payment networks.
- Small business onboarding – Providing affordable merchant payment solutions to tap into the long tail of small companies representing massive global spending activity.
Expanding awareness and access among major demographics and geographies will continue eroding barriers to global participation.
Government Regulations
As with any disruptive innovation in finance, questions around government oversight persist:
- Clarifying rules – Regulators are still working to enact clear guidelines and legislation for cryptocurrencies to define acceptable use cases and compliance best practices around identity, security, consumer protection and preventing illicit activities.
- Tax implications – Tax reporting and compliance for using bitcoin as both investment assets and payment currencies has seen evolving temporary guidance. Further clarifying regulation would ensure proper taxation of gains while supporting legal development of compliant services.
- Mainstream momentum – Expanding real-world bitcoin usage could make outright bans more difficult if these payment platforms grow extremely popular day-to-day even with average consumers. However some countries may still attempt strong-handed approaches.
Government regulation remains the wild card that could either severely slow or provide a clear legal framework allowing accelerated adoption. The rapid development thus far suggests consciousness around enabling innovation may prevail over restrictive policies.
Start Using Bitcoin Payments!
As we’ve explored throughout this guide, bitcoin has clearly transitioned from speculative digital asset into an emerging online and retail payment method preferred by millions globally. With services constantly improving usability through tap-and-pay integration with major mobile and card payment processors, paying with BTC continues getting easier by the day.
Growing consumer awareness of the benefits around privacy, reduced fees, rewards incentives and accessibility also provide the necessary demand to motivate ongoing bitcoin payment adoption. Advancements enabling lightning-fast confirmation times, lower network congestion and stability around government oversight may also prevent previous inhibiting factors.
In summary, 2024 is clearly proving to be a milestone year where paying with bitcoins for everyday purchases accelerates from early adopters into the mainstream, fueled by forward-thinking cryptocurrency and financial platforms making the process extremely simple.
So if you still have been waiting to try out that shiny bitcoin balance for something other than long-term investing, this is the perfect time! With the sheer variety of major retailers expanding acceptance monthly, you’ll enjoy enhanced convenience and privacy paying with bitcoins versus conventional payment rails. It is easier than ever before to unlock the full potential of digital currencies.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What are the benefits of paying with bitcoins?
Some key benefits include enhanced privacy since you don’t provide personal information, lower fees compared to credit cards or payment processors, universal usage allowing payments to anyone globally, and no chargebacks which reduces risk for merchants.
What do I need before I can pay with bitcoins?
You need to acquire some bitcoins, choose a wallet to store them, and understand the privacy implications of blockchain transactions being public. Popular wallet options include software, hardware, and exchange custodial wallets.
What major companies accept bitcoin payments?
Major online retailers like Amazon, Starbucks, Petco, AMC theatres, Nordstrom, and Overstock now accept direct bitcoin payments. Many more smaller retailers, service providers, and individual sellers accept crypto through payment processors like BitPay and Flexa.
What methods can I use to pay bitcoins?
Top options include bitcoin debit cards that convert your BTC to currency, mobile wallet apps with retailers integrations for tap-and-pay, and manually entering a wallet address and payment amount when directly paying a merchant that accepts crypto.
How do I check transaction history and purchase records?
Your bitcoin wallet and connected exchange accounts will have detailed transaction histories. Payment services may also provide purchase receipts and records. You can also consult public blockchain explorers to analyze payment data if needed.
Will paying with bitcoin become more popular in the future?
Yes, improved ease-of-use, scaling to new demographics and regions worldwide, attractive rewards programs, and stabilized government legislation are all trends contributing to bitcoin payments substantially growing over the next few years.
Is paying with bitcoin legal? What about taxes?
In most developed countries, paying for goods and services with bitcoin is perfectly legal. However, unclear regulation means you should keep records of transactions and expect to pay capital gains taxes if you realize investment profits when using bitcoins.
