Ask HN: How can I use Bitcoin as currency?
There is more talk than usual about bitcoin as an alternative to cash (vs as an investment) for transactions that are not government mediated. So, if I wanted to use bitcoin (or any major crypto), is it actually possible? Can I pay < .1% fees like I would with fiat and can I buy physical goods anonymously? Or is it really just that I can send money to someone else? I've tried some googling but certainly not found anything definitive. If I don't want to "invest", why would I get BTC instead of cash for personal spending? Or is that not what it's for?
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https://www.coinbase.com/card
They convert cryptocurrency to "fiat" during the purchase so it's not really what you want per se. I've heard crypto compared to gold in that most holders wouldn't buy goods/services with it directly but it somehow has value anyway. Obviously it doesn't have the same thousands year history as gold.
I don't think you can. It is too volatile to be used as a currency.
> Can I pay < .1% fees like I would with fiat and can I buy physical goods anonymously?
No. It is not anonymous and the fees are just as high.
> Or is it really just that I can send money to someone else? I've tried some googling but certainly not found anything definitive. If I don't want to "invest", why would I get BTC instead of cash for personal spending? Or is that not what it's for?
It is meant for peer-to-peer electronic cash. Using a wallet on an exchange defeats the purpose of 'peer-to-peer' and so does waiting for hours to send Bitcoins from one address to another which is slower than 'fast bank transfer'.
There are better cryptocurrencies and stable-coins suitable for that purpose.
* easy on-ramp for non-holders - this is the hardest
* easy to use wallets
* actually useful merchants that accept said crypto
* reasonable fees - that preferably beat visa/mc - this rules out most (crypto CC providers)
I have a side business in a field rife with CC fraud.
I am yet to find an easy to offer crypto payment solution that would entice customers.
Depending on the fees, the merchant could use say, Solana Pay [1] or MoonPay [2] and the user on-ramp is the Phantom Wallet [2][3].
All of that addresses every single bullet point.
[0] https://www.circle.com/en/multichain-usdc
[1] https://solana.com/news/solana-pay-announcement
[2] https://www.moonpay.com/business/onramps
[3] https://www.moonpay.com/blog/moonpay-phantom
[4] https://phantom.app/
I do not see the example link of user paying with Solana USDC?
In your links I did not see useful case studio OUTSIDE crypto space.
Your links show tons of crypto to crypto use cases. (currently emphasing being on various nft related services, like that phantom.app -> A beautiful home for all your NFTs).
I sell virtual products/services which are not related to crypto. I want to offer an ability for someone without any cryptocurrency to purchase these virtual goods from me.
So the chain could be https://www.moonpay.com/buy -> users uses some wallet -> payment widget on my site.(like old bitpay)
There have to be examples of a regular ecommerce shop having this functionality.
Again, I want Joe Sixpack with a CC but no crypto to come onto my site and pay with cryptocurrency in a user friendly manner.
Edit: ditto for solana pay, it looks like this was announced this month an "will" do a lot of stuff but doesn't exist
https://www.coinbase.com/price/bitcoin-cash
The main difference being that BCH has lower on-chain fees (half a penny per transaction). And BCH does not have Replace-By-Fee (RBF), making it much more difficult (but not impossible) to reverse transactions maliciously. Adoption of BCH has been disappointing, as cryptocurrency continues to be seen mostly as a speculative investment rather than a replacement for cash.
Lightning Network is not Bitcoin. It is a separate payments platform, being pushed by a for-profit company, Blockstream. It is never non-custodial. You always require a third-party to authorize and process your transactions for you. Since it doesn't use mining / blockchain, it is vulnerable to all the centralization problems that Bitcoin was supposed to solve.
I think you are confusing the lightning network with liquid BTC [0], which is controlled by Blockstream.
[0] https://help.blockstream.com/hc/en-us/articles/900001408623-...
You need a way to obtain Bitcoin (through a crypto exchange or by receiving a crypto payment from somebody else), and you need someone (a person or a business) to accept the payment.
It might be worth it for illegal stuff, buying drugs or for large international transactions. It's not practical for regular spending because almost nobody will accept it and the transaction fees will be high.
No. Its value is too volatile, its transaction fees are too high, its clearance speed is too slow, and if anyone rips you off you are reduced to begging.
What's a good replacement for fiat cash? Easy: fiat cash.