Ways To Spend Crypto
There are quite a few ways in which you can spend your cryptocurrency, each with its own benefits and drawbacks. Though not a category mentioned here, peer to peer (P2P) crypto transactions are becoming more common (sending someone crypto for goods), while sites that allow you to sell your crypto directly to another person (P2P Exchanges) are also quite popular.
Crypto Debit/Credit Cards
One of the most popular answers to the question of “how do you spend cryptocurrency?” is a crypto debit/credit card. These are essentially prepaid Visa or Mastercard debit cards issued by cryptocurrency exchanges such as Crypto.com and Coinbase. Depending on the platform you either convert crypto to load onto the card to spend or get real-time conversion of assets on the card. These are not to be confused with something like the Shakepay card which is a Visa credit card that gives you cashback in Bitcoin. Crypto debit cards can only be used with funds you already have, like a traditional debit card. Crypto debit card issuers try to incentivize you to use the card by offering things such as rebates on your monthly Spotify payments, cash back on debit spending, and more.
Crypto Payments
Crypto payments are simply a payment gateway service that allows retailers to accept cryptocurrencies for their goods or services and receive fiat in exchange. While larger retailers tend to stay away from crypto payment options, for now at least, it is a great idea for medium to small businesses to set up a crypto payment option for their customers as it gives them an extra avenue to create a sale. BitPay is one of the most well-known processors, but it's certainly not the only one.
Retailers Who Accept Crypto
There are many retailers already accepting crypto payments for their goods and services, with some very large names such as Microsoft and AT&T accepting Bitcoin payments. Some retailers only accept crypto at their locations in certain countries. For example, Pizza Hut allows you to pay in Bitcoin at their Venezuelan locations, while Burger King in Germany does as well. The caveat with many of these retailers is that they aren't yet using the Lightning Network to process Bitcoin payments, making the transaction fees somewhat unreasonable.
Buy Gift Cards With Crypto
Perhaps the most common way people spend their cryptocurrency holdings is by exchanging them for gift cards. Sites like BitRefill allow you to buy gift cards for almost any online merchant you can think of and you can get them without even signing up for the site and providing any personal information. This allows users to stay more anonymous with their cryptocurrency transactions, while also giving them an avenue to spend it without having to pay much if anything in comparison to withdrawal and/or conversion fees if trying to convert crypto to fiat then withdraw to a personal account.