Look: Several Ways Bitcoin Can Help You
The use and popularity of Bitcoin is growing, so here is a quick list of nine great ways to use it that can benefit you and, in some cases, others.
Get rid of your bank account
Come on, try! Assuming you have access online (and who doesn’t nowadays?), why not try using bitcoin and bypassing your bank account? Note that with bitcoin, you are essentially the bank account. There is no branch you can contact with about a problem, nor can you hand over your bags of pennies.
Moreover, it will not be easy, at least not yet. Online purchases should be simple enough, with more merchants accepting bitcoin, but with brick-and-mortar retailers, things can be a bit more complicated. You will have to plan ahead and keep some money in your pocket just in case.
Go on vacation to Bitcoin-friendly places
For example, take a vacation in beautiful Berlin and head to the trendy Kreuzberg district. In this part of town, you can do a great deal of bitcoin shopping and even wash up some beers in Room 77 in Graefekiez.
In my case, you can spend bitcoins on the trip of a lifetime. Go expand your horizons and travel around this beautiful planet of ours. Who knows – you may meet someone with an interesting project that is worth sending a donation in bitcoins to.
Join some crowdfunding activities
Help someone else realize their dream by participating in crowdfunding with Bitcoin. Some sites, such as Coinfunder.com, have started offering bitcoin crowdfunding services. As with any crowdfunding project, take your time and make sure the activity is worthwhile and that you are comfortable with the product or service being sold – then join in.
Providing loans to small businesses
Opportunities are available to sign up and provide loans to small businesses that may not have access to banks for any reason, or who prefer to borrow from like-minded people. Go ahead and do it with bitcoin – find a product/business idea that strikes you as interesting and reasonable and go ahead.
Empower someone without a bank account
Yes, this technically helps someone else, but think about the good karma you will have for doing this – plus it helps you become a better person. A lot of people in the world don’t have bank accounts, but if they receive some bitcoins from someone like, say, you, then they can do something positive in their life.
Why not find someone, say in sub-Saharan Africa, who has a worthwhile project to implement and send them money in the form of bitcoin? Once the relationship is established, ask them for progress updates on their work and see if it’s worth sending more at a later time. You can make a real difference to someone less fortunate than you.
Enter the alt coin market
There is no better way to enter the altcoin space than with Bitcoin. And of course you are not limited only to bitcoin – most altcoin exchanges offer other cryptocurrencies besides bitcoin. Go take the lead and see what you can do with some of these altcoins. As a bonus, note that altcoin exchanges tend to be community focused, so you are likely to meet like-minded people on their forums.
Help your kids manage their finances
Instead of giving the kids an allowance in your local currency, put some money in a bitcoin wallet for them and see how they manage it. Or buy them physical bitcoins that are handmade by one of the various artisans (enter “physical bitcoin” in your favorite search engine to find some) and store them away somewhere.
Who knows what the future holds? We’ve all heard stories of old stock certificates being discovered in our grandparents’ attic. Hey, it could happen.
Invest in some bitcoin
The simplest way to do this is to just buy some bitcoin on the exchange and keep it securely in the wallet. It is true that getting bitcoins out of circulation in this way may not be really good for bitcoin liquidity, it allows you to hold a currency indefinitely that no central bank can deflate.
Get a pizza
why not? You’ve got it. Some takeaway pizza companies are starting to accept bitcoin. Or try a website like Pizzaforcoins.com, which will take your order, accept bitcoin payments, and send the order to Domino’s Pizza for local delivery.