4 ways to use crypto in real life

What are the common use cases of cryptocurrencies? How to start using crypto for your daily needs? What are the limitations of some of the use cases? In this article, we’ll try to give you the answers to these questions!

What are the common use cases of cryptocurrencies? How to start using crypto for your daily needs? What are the limitations of some of the use cases? In this article, we’ll try to give you the answers to these questions!

The backstory - adoption of crypto

The advent of blockchain technology led to the development of the first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto, "Jaqen H'ghar"* of cryptocurrency. This innovative discovery has transformed and revolutionized the global perception of people about the term “money”. The development of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is already re-writing our common ‘high school’ economics concept and definition of money – today, these virtual assets are in some way starting to fill the role of fiat currencies. Even as blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies gain mainstream adoption, Cointelegraph reported that only about 19% of the world have actually bought a cryptocurrency before 2019. This would imply that about 81% of the world are either not aware of the power of digital assets and their utilities, or simply do not want to engage with cryptocurrencies - especially in the countries where Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are associated with Ponzi schemes (fraudulent investing scams where investors are promised high returns with little risks) and cybercrimes. However, shying away from these ‘banana peels’ that tend to reduce the traction of cryptocurrency adoption, we will be looking at some wonderful ways crypto can impact your daily life as an end-user – and how to make the best use of them.

So, what are the ways to use crypto in everyday life?

  • Buying goods. Today, there are lots of marketplaces where buyers and sellers exchange goods and services with the use of cryptocurrency. Such platforms as OpenBazaar and WeShopWithCrypto offer you buying clothes, gadgets, and everything else available at a regular online marketplace. Takeaway and ShuttleDelivery allow you to order food online and pay with crypto. Electroneum is a particular crypto project that allows its users to buy goods from their local communities and settle payments with electroneum (ETN token). All it takes is just to scan the vendor’s barcode and the units of electroneum token amounting to the value of goods purchased would be charged from your wallet. This particular application of cryptocurrency ensures seamless transactions and swift settlement of bills.

Sadly, such platforms and marketplaces are available far not everywhere in the world, but as the adoption of crypto goes fast, we are sure this will change soon.

  • Paying for Services. As buying food is not available yet in many parts of the world, online services are aсcessible from anywhere as long as you have an internet connection. Cryptwerk, one of the best platforms for monitoring real-life cryptocurrency use cases, finds 512 internet services, and 190 tourism-related ones throughout the world on the date of publication of this post. For example, you can store your files in a cloud, order consulting services, or book a hotel and pay with crypto for the service. Also, there are 649 offline services available - you can recover your data, make a new haircut, and even take singing lessons and pay with crypto for that! Apparently, offline services are dependent on the location, which makes them less accessible for the crypto users as of today.

You can visit Cryptwerk coin map to find services and markets that accept crypto nearby.

  • Store of Value (the “buy and hodl” strategy). Just like gold and other valuable metals, cryptocurrencies (especially the top coins) have monetary value which can rise in price over time. And just like the conventional market system where you buy gold when it’s cheaper to sell it when it’s more expensive, the same is applicable to cryptocurrencies. You can buy ‘low’, keep (“hodl”) till the price is ‘high’ enough for you and boom! You sell.

Yes, it is possible that the value drops, however, crypto assets thrive by their use cases and adoption, thus carefully selecting a crypto asset to invest in can give you a huge ROI (Returns on investment) within a specified period of time, which can range between (10-10000%).

  • Accessing loan facilities on cryptocurrency platforms – just as impossible as it may seem. This feature is one of the pillars of DeFi (Decentralized Finance). The aim of DeFi is to use the power of decentralization of the blockchain technology to redefine the conventional finance system where users have control over their financial activities, loan facilities being one of its attributes.

When you borrow money on a DeFi platform, no collateral goes into the transaction (yummy!) and the interest rate could be as low as 0.9%. Although there are still a lot of works in the pipeline to perfect this module. The good news is that talks of DeFi has been echoing throughout the four walls of the crypto sphere in the past year. On the 7th of February, 2020, De-Fi community announced to have locked up its first $1 billion! Funny enough, users of the platform still considered this landmark a “beta test”; as said in a tweet: https://twitter.com/TruthRaiderHQ/status/1225760695968550912

What to wait for?

Considering all mentioned above, it looks like in a couple of years, all our activities and basic transactions will be governed by the blockchain technology. Funds will continue to move massively in crypto assets. Also, as cryptocurrencies gain the attention of some of the world leaders, quite a number of countries have shown interest in adopting crypto and blockchain to address some of their financial flaws and to treat tax remittance issues. It is beginning to look like very soon, tax remittance would be collected with cryptocurrencies, and your country could be the next! Popular among crypto enthusiasts is the saying: “if you still keep money in banks, you are not living the 21st century dream”. You might be wondering whether or not to hold some crypto because you are unsure of its benefits. We hope this article has revealed to you how cryptocurrencies can impact your daily life – and why it may be a good idea to have some! Check out our article where a man lives with his wife and 3 kids and only pays with crypto. And here, find out how a girl in Tokyo decided to only pay with BCH for 3 days - and what that has ended up with. *The faceless man of Braavos, Game of Thrones.

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