Bit by bit, crypto is edging its way into society.
Although the crypto space is ultimately expected to thrive in the future, there are more crypto implementations making their way into our day-to-day world. Here are the 4 most popular crypto utilities of today.
#1 – Online Purchases
Payments online is where crypto is most frequently used. A national survey from last year found that 30% of crypto users paid for a product, service, or experience through an online website.
To nobody’s surprise, this is the easiest implementation of crypto as all it requires is a store wallet address and an interface so payments can be made. Visa, PayPal, Twitch, Twitter, AT&T, and Wikipedia are among the leading businesses accepting crypto.
Gift cards are another popular leverage of crypto, with companies like Apple and Amazon accepting crypto payments for gift cards.
#2 – Brick & Mortar retail
An astonishing 21% of crypto users from the same survey said they had used crypto in a real world store purchase during the past year. Fast Foods were one of the first industries to adopt crypto payments, with Domino’s, Starbucks, KFC, Subway, and Burger King being among the first.
QR codes are frequently allocated at certain shopping malls and stores. To make a payment with crypto in-store, it’s as simple as scanning the QR code with your phone, and then selecting which currency to pay with.
#3 – Foreign Trade
It became apparent globally that crypto was a perfect medium of trade as Russia invaded Ukraine. Severe sanctions were imposed on Russian finances, which resulted in many alternatively moving their funds into crypto. Russia soon began looking further into cryptocurrency and building a framework around international crypto trade.
Other sanctioned countries began to follow suit, namely Iran who began using cryptocurrency as payment for international shipping in June 2022. El Salvador, Portugual, Switzerland, Germany, Estonia, Slovenia, Singapore, Malta, and The Netherlands have also incorporated legal crypto frameworks and are potentially using cryptocurrency in foreign trade as of now.
Denmark, France, Iceland, Japan, Mexico, Spain, Australia, Canada, and The United Kingdom are also in the process of following suit.
#4 – Donations
Crypto donations are ever-increasing with an estimate close to $1 billion donated in 2022 despite the bear market.
Crypto Havens – Bitcoin City
El Salvador’s Bitcoin City hopes to become the first fully crypto-based economy. The city is tax-free, with two sources of sustainability:
- $500 million in Bitcoin Bonds with a 6.5% Annual Yield.
- Digital crypto mining powered by geothermal energy from a volcano that the city is based next to.
While Bitcoin City’s success is dependent on Bitcoin’s price increasing significantly over the next several years (as the city is built on the back of Bitcoin Bonds which will eventually need to be paid back), it has not been well received.
Despite legislation requiring all businesses and stores to accept crypto payments, only around 21% have actually taken steps to implement the country’s Chivo Wallet to allow Bitcoin payments.
The major contributors to this are a) lack of enthusiasm and belief in Bitcoin as prices have declined since November 2021, and b) the complexity of understanding the technology and how to use it.
Crypto Havens – Other
However, other crypto-inclusive cities that simply promote and allocate crypto payment systems have received far more positive reviews.
Townsville, Australia 🇦🇺 is a small city with hundreds of merchants and local businesses accepting Bitcoin Cash through the simple scan of a QR code. Bitcoin Cash has become a frequent payment option for restaurants, bars, and experiences across the city.
Here are the Top 10 cities most inclusive Crypto Cities across the globe (factoring # of users, payment options, amount spent, digital ATMs, and positive experiences).
- Ljubljana, Slovenia 🇸🇮 This city has the most destinations in a single built-up area that accept cryptocurrency, and even has an entire shopping center where every location accepts crypto and utilizes blockchain technology.
- Prague, Czech Republic 🇨🇿 Prague has over 80 Crypto ATMs available and accepts crypto payments at the majority of its nightclubs and bars.
- Tokyo, Japan 🇯🇵 Japan has been legally involved with crypto since 2014 amid controversial exchange hacks, but despite regulation issues and skepticism for several years, the country has began to embrace crypto since 2021. There are hundreds of locations that accept crypto across Tokyo, although crypto ATMs are hard to come by. The city is also very immersed in Web3 NFTs & Gaming, and Japan is likely to become the first country to regulate permissionless stablecoins into its financial system.
- Buenos Aires, Argentina 🇦🇷 This city has 200+ locations available to spend crypto at. Buenos Aires also accepts taxes paid in crypto.
- Miami, United States 🇺🇸 Home of the biggest Bitcoin conference in the world, and 700+ Bitcoin ATMs, this city has huge potential for crypto in the future. One let down however is that barely over 100 different merchants accept crypto payments on the Lightning Network.
- Madrid, Spain 🇪🇸 An extraordinary amount (64%) of the Spanish population prefer the use of Bitcoin and Ethereum over the Euro. Madrid is also the financial captial of Spain, and offers crypto payments at stores and businesses across the city.
- Amsterdam, The Netherlands 🇳🇱 This city offers the widest variety of crypto payments for different services and experiences. Although crypto can be used for an incredible range of utilities, the amount of locations that actively accept crypto is not especially high. With 15 or so crypto ATMs located across the city, Amsterdam is still a very convenient place to spend crypto.
- Bogotá, Colombia 🇨🇴 As the country becomes more pro-crypto, a surge of stores and Bitcoin ATMs are beginning to populate the city.
- Tel Aviv, Israel 🇮🇱 Crypto is legal in Israel despite being scrutinized by the government. Merchants across the city make crypto readily useful, and there is a strong Bitcoin community in the city.
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates 🇦🇪 Despite only 30 or so brick & mortar retailers accepting crypto, the city is very crypto friendly and many residents and visitors exchange and pay for goods / services with crypto.
Other countries recently to watch as they make progress with mixing crypto into their societies are Malta 🇲🇹, Cyprus 🇨🇾, Hong Kong 🇭🇰, Zimbabwe 🇿🇼, and The Philippines 🇵🇭.
Is crypto better or worse than Fiat as a payment?
Speed: Crypto is significantly faster than fiat currency for transactions, especially for larger exchanges of money. Verification & process time for cryptocurrency is near-instant, whereas fiat this isn’t guaranteed. Granted for some countries there may be no difference for simple payments, but a landslide majority of crypto systems globally are superior to fiat systems globally.
Simplicity: Fiat is more accessible to the average person. Crypto may seem complicated, and may be more difficult for many to understand. Additionally, downloading a specific wallet and buying crypto to add funds to the wallet is more difficult in crypto than Fiat (for most people). Although, once crypto is available in a wallet, they’re both just as easy to use.
Security: Crypto security is superior by every metric, as it is wholly private and hack-proof. In comparison, the fraud risk many people using fiat are exposed to on a daily basis when entering sensitive information online or even in person is quite high, as all it would take to steal someone’s funds would be to see the information on the screen.
With crypto, this is different.
Blockchain technology only allows correct data to be computed, which makes it tamper proof and irreversible. Crypto wallets also require a string of 12-24 word passcode along with another form of verification (fingerprint, password, phone / email verification, device check) before proceeding. The wallet is part of the blockchain and has various data-wrapped securities protecting the interface which you use to enter your details.
Borders: Crypto makes international and cross-border transactions simple. All that’s required is a wallet address, and the funds can be sent instantly without interference from middlemen. Ever tried sending fiat between two banks based in two separate countries? Don’t, it’s a headache.
Corruption Control
Elon Musk pointed out that crypto provides competition to the fiat system. Basically, the more fiat becomes restrictive, people will turn to crypto alternatives, but fiat will maintain its majority use the more transparent and unrestricted it is. This ensures that the monetary system does not become completely corrupted.
Although it won’t happen overnight, crypto is becoming more and more useful to society, and as it does so, expect it to rapidly grow.