June 9, 2022
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If you are new to cryptocurrency, you are probably searching the internet high and low, trying to learn everything you can about how these virtual currencies work. One of the questions you probably have is, “How do I pay with cryptocurrency?”. Well, that’s a great question, so let’s get into it.
What Is Cryptocurrency?
It’s a good idea to gain a basic understanding of cryptocurrency before you attempt to buy, sell, trade, or make a purchase with it, so here are the basics. Before civilization, people traded livestock or goods in order to attain the things they needed. However, it could get a bit tricky at times as what you had to trade may not always be what anyone wanted or needed.
If you had five sheep but wanted an ox, you’d need to find someone who needed five sheep and either wanted to get rid of their ox or were at least okay to part with it in order to attain the sheep. As civilization progressed, we evolved to trading silver and gold, and then to trading coins backed by silver and gold.
Then entered a time where we buy things with paper dollars that the government says are worth something. From there, we’ve progressed to trading fiat currency that is in our bank for the things we want and need. We simply swipe a debit card and the banking system updates its ledger to say that we have so many dollars less and Amazon, Walmart or our favorite restaurant has so many dollars more. Large banks keep track of the ledgers and can charge the amount they want in transaction fees.
This is the biggest and most lucrative difference between traditional money and cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency is decentralized. Instead of being monitored by the government and controlled by banks, cryptocurrency runs on blockchains. These blockchains are basically public ledgers that match up to thousands of computers across the world. When a transaction is made with cryptocurrency, the blockchain or ledger shows it.
To boil it down, cryptocurrency is a digital currency that isn’t controlled by any single party. It’s set up on a decentralized system that anyone can use. The system logs every transaction on the blockchain and, by doing so, eliminates the need for banks.
How Does Cryptocurrency Work?
It’s becoming increasingly popular to use cryptocurrency in your daily life and for good reason. People are getting more and more fed up and tired of the banking system, inflation, and paying high transaction fees. Using cryptocurrency to pay your utility and restaurant bills and purchase your groceries from a supermarket may sound lucrative. Believe it or not, there are people out there who have found a way to make it work. If they can do it, why can’t you?
Cryptocurrency payments transfer crypto from one person’s wallet to another. It’s easiest to think of it as a Venmo or PayPal transaction with a traditional banking method. You acquire one person’s PayPal address and then send the funds to them via the app or website.
Cryptocurrency users store their crypto in what is called a wallet. Crypto wallets store users’ private keys as a way for them to manage, buy, sell and trade their cryptocurrency. Wallets can come in several forms. A wallet can be a piece of paper with all of your private keys written down on them and stored in a safe, private place which isn’t convenient as the only place you will use them is online, or it can be a USB stick that’s only accessible when plugged into a computer or an app.
Where Do You Get Cryptocurrency?
Cryptocurrency can be acquired through various methods. You can work freelancing online for a company or individual who pays through crypto. You can mine it, which is a whole other conversation, and you can buy it or trade for it. Before acquiring cryptocurrency online, you’ll want to have your wallet set up, whether it’s through an app or an online exchange platform like Rubix.
How To Make Your First Transaction?
Making a payment with cryptocurrency may sound intimidating, but once you’ve done it a few times, it becomes as easy as swiping your credit card. Your first few transactions should be done cautiously and carefully as irreversible mistakes have happened, resulting in significant losses. Making sure all the right fields are checked so that you don’t overpay someone or send them the wrong type of cryptocurrency is important, as these mistakes aren’t difficult to make.
To make your first transaction, get the vendor’s address. Put their address in the specific field in your digital wallet and specify the type of cryptocurrency you’ll be playing with as well as how many tokens you’ll be sending. After you initiate the transaction, they will see the payment in their wallet shortly.
So how do you pay for your gas or restaurant bill with cryptocurrency? Fortunately, many businesses are starting to accept cryptocurrency as a method of payment as they realize that this is what more and more of their customers want. There are now apps that allow you to see what stores in your area accept different types of crypto. When you go to make a payment, you’ll select the type of crypto you want to use, such as Dash, Bitcoin, or Ethereum. Making a payment can be as simple as scanning a QR code on the checkout screen.
Frequent crypto users are finding ways to purchase commodities such as gas with cryptocurrency. Sometimes it comes down to simply asking your local coffee shop or favorite yoga teacher to take a crypto payment to get them on board.
There is no doubt that cryptocurrency is increasing in popularity and that more and more businesses will start accepting it as a form of payment.