Cryptocurrencies are becoming increasingly popular instrument of payment, as many companies are beginning to see the digital currencies as a valid payment option for the wares they sell. According to the latest industry figures, there are more than 100,000 merchants globally, both online and offline, who would happily provide you with their goods and services for cryptocurrency.
Education
A handful of universities across the world are currently accepting Bitcoin for payments. These include, but not limited to the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Switzerland, FPT University in Vietnam, The King’s College in New York, the University of Nicosia in Cyprus, the University of Cumbria in the UK, and the European School of Management and Technology in Berlin.
Real Estate
Cryptocurrency payments appear to be finding a niche within the real estate industry. There are already several documented examples of people wishing to trade a property in exchange for digital currency. A luxurious 4,890 square-foot, three-level modern home in the Silicon Valley is up for sale in cryptocurrency. The seller says it will accept Bitcoin (Bitcoin) , Ethereum (ETH/USD) or Ripple (XRP/USD). A modern style villa located in the Alicante region of southern Spain will cost the buyer $545,000, Bitcoin is accepted.
Lamborghini
Career entrepreneur Peter Saddington bought a Lamborghini with part of his Bitcoins in October 2017. He was able not only to purchase the Lambo with Bitcoin, but got away with only paying $115 for the supercar. Saddington admits it to be a lucky investment, having bought his first Bitcoin way back in 2011. Back then Bitcoin price was $2.52.
Submarine
If you want to travel through the ocean like a shark, above and below the water, you are able to purchase the two-person submarine, the Seabreacher, with Bitcoin. The submarine is armed with a light 260hp supercharged engine, that gives it the power-to-weight ratio of a Bugatti Veyron sports car. The Seabreacher is capable of doing 20-25mph underwater and 50mph+ on the surface. The price for a Seabreacher ranges from $80,000 to $100,000.
Bars and Restaurants
There are numerous restaurants and cafes around the world that accepts Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies. If you are in the US, you can buy pizza from PizzaForCoins, which accepts over 50 cryptocurrencies.
The Subway sandwich shop offers to buy sandwiches with Bitcoins in various locations all over the world.
Pembury Tavern — a tavern in London, UK.
Old Fitzroy — a pub in Sydney, Australia.
The Pink Cow — a diner in Tokyo, Japan.
Burger Bear — a food stall in London, UK.
Precious metals
Online bullion dealers, like Veldt Gold, APMEX and JM Bullion, are selling gold and silver to investors willing to pay in Bitcoins. Shipping is free for Bitcoin-based bullion orders and investment grade gold/silver is offered.
Furniture
Famsa is the biggest furniture provider in Mexico which is also providing services for customers in the United States. They offer various sorts of furniture, from living room to dining and bedroom sets. You can buy it all by paying in cryptocurrencies.
Fetch Portraits
A one-woman company, Fetch Portraits is a company for dogs photo sessions . This experienced photographer took shots of over 3,000 animals for owners and also in an effort to find new owners for homeless animals. The photos are for sale and can be purchased with cryptocurrencies.
Photos
Peter Beard's original photograph Orphaned Cheetah Cubs for $1100000 or 115,69 BTC It’s the opportunity of a lifetime. You can still own a unique and original piece created by the famous contemporary photographer Peter Beard.
Mary Jane's Nutrients
Bitcoin is one of the preferred methods of payment for this fertilizer company. If you use Bitcoin, you can get a 7.5% discount on one of their all-in-one fertilizer products. The fertilizer comes in powder form which dissolves in water for maximum mobility for the product.
Online Payments
Cryptocurrencies are even more popular for online payments. The prospect of a fast, secure, low cost and genuinely international payments system is encouraging businesses and individuals around the world to seriously consider cryptocurrency settlement.
Overstock.com was the first big online retailer to start accepting Bitcoins in January 2014. The company allows customers to use all the major cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum, Litecoin, Dash (DASH/USD), Monero (XMR/USD), and the new Bitcoin Cash (Bitcoin.Cash).
The e-commerce platform allows merchants to set up their own online shops to sell their products similar to Etsy or eBay. In November 2013, all 75,000+ Shopify merchants received the option to start accepting Bitcoin payments with the help of BitPay.
Bitcoins can be used to purchase gift cards for places that don't directly accept Bitcoins. eGifter is a popular gift card site and mobile app that lets users buy gift cards for all sorts of places, including Amazon, JCPenny, Sephora, Home Depot, Kohl's and more. eGifter uses Coinbase as their Bitcoin partner.
One of the biggest company in the world allows its users to add money to their accounts with Bitcoin. When you redeem Bitcoin to deposit funds into your Microsoft account, you can use it to purchase games, movies, and apps in the Windows and Xbox stores. You can't use these funds to purchase items in the Microsoft online store.
Pornhub
One of the most popular adult websites in the world Pornhub has announced that it added support for cryptocurrencies. Pornhub accepts Verge as a payment option for all Pornhub purchases such as Pornhub premium, HD, on-demand services and merchandising, but not recurring subscriptions.
Ticket to outer space
Virgin Galactic, which describes itself as one of universe’s most exciting, futuristic companies, offers opportunity to pay in Bitcoins for a journey to space. The company will also be delighted to welcome more of the Bitcoin community as future astronauts. American rowers and Internet entrepreneurs Winklevoss Twins have already booked their tickets for a high-altitude voyage on billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic commercial spaceflight venture.
Airline and hotel tickets
CheapAir.com was the first online travel agency in the world to accept payments in Bitcoin in 2013. Spanish travel agency Destinia.com also accepts Bitcoins. Latvia’s national airline airBaltic has been accepting Bitcoins since 2014 for its discount flights to the Baltics, Russia and Europe.
PayPal has accepted Bitcoin since 2014, the payments processing firm partnered with Ebay to accept Bitcoin as a payment currency for almost all transactions.
The company offers low-cost games for PC, Mac, iPad/iPhone and Android. Nearly all of their games can be purchased for less than $5 (or the equivalent in Bitcoin)
CryptoArt sells real art that doubles as a sort of piggyback that can store your Bitcoin safely. Once stored, it can be accessed anytime or more can be added.
The motion-picture company accepts Bitcoin at its online store where you can obtain merchandise for the films you paid to watch with cash.
Newegg is an online retailer that offers state-of-the-art resources to give customers peace of mind while looking through and buying one of the estimated 10.5 million products offered on their website.
This company is a service dedicated to help businesses manage their finances with the most convenience possible. From sending invoices to paying employees, Square is there to make money easier for small-time business.
This VPN service offers a content filter, web filter, and ad and virus blockers. It has 750 servers in 140 countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.
1-800-FLOWERS Anyone needing flowers can simply visit this website and get flowers for any occasion. Get them for a loved one, send as a “get well” or sympathy gift, or any other reason.
The cable TV giant began accepting Bitcoin in 2014. The move made them the largest company to accept the cryptocurrency at the time.
Roadway became the first U.S. moving company to accept Bitcoin as payment. Based in New York, the company offers commercial moving, local and long-distance moving as well as storage services.
Purse is a company dedicated to making cryptocurrencies useful by matching online shoppers looking to exchange their Amazon gift cards for Bitcoin. This process also allows customers to get discounts on Amazon products at claimed average of 15%.
Newspaper subscription
Bloomberg, Chicago Sun-Times and other online newspapers allow subscription for Bitcoins.
Donations and Charity
A number of companies are accepting donations in cryptocurrency. Donating money in Bitcoins is a perfect way to avoid any fees and keep the donation anonymous.
UNICEF - In an effort to raise money for the children in war-torn Syria, UNICEF is asking gamers, eSports fans and anybody with powerful graphics cards in their computers for help in mining Ethereum. UNICEF Australia has launched The HopePage project, which allows people to make a donation by keeping the webpage open and using the computer's CPU to mine those digital dollars. It taps into an application by Coinhive, which mines Monero.
Wikimedia Foundation — a nonprofit organization dedicated to encourage the growth, development and distribution of free, multilingual educational content.
Wikileaks — an international non-profit organization that publishes secret information, news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources.
By Anton Lysenkov