Living for a week on Bitcoin in San Francisco

[wry]

This article (link below) raised a number of very interesting and somewhat disconcerting issues.  Back in 2013 and 2014 a woman named Kashmir Hill did a news story about living on Bitcoin in San Francisco.  Her story was very hopeful, as merchant adoption was a lot higher in 2014 than in 2013.  So this guy, Colin Harper decides to replicate her experiment in 2019.  It should be way easier right, Bitcoin has gotten so much more attention and should be widely accepted, especially in this technology savvy city, but no, no, it's not easier at all.

Colin basically can't find anyone to take his Bitcoin except for gift card sites.  He basically lives by buying Uber gift cards and having Uber drivers bring him food via Uber Eats (at least I think that is what Uber Eats is).  All the places that his resources tell him take Bitcoin no longer do.  One problem that he doesn't really explain, is that apparently the main payments processor that did take Bitcoin went out of business, so stores where it had been an option it no longer was.  The second problem, is that during the huge price run up in late 2017, fees got so high in USD terms that people stopped using it.  It was just too expensive, e.g. a $30 bottle of alcohol cost $45 once you added in the miner fee, that people stopped using it.

Anyway, there was lots of other Bitcoin lore stuff in the article that I really wasn't that interested in, but if you are curious it is a LONG LONG LONG read but interesting.

One person he meets says that Prague is good for Bitcoin and since I know there are lots of people from Eastern Europe here I figured it might be good to get a better perspective.  So in your area do people accept Bitcoin still or is the number declining or increasing?  I know you could live most anywhere using bitcoin if you sent it to a debit card, but that's really not the point, though in a way it's almost as good.  Anyway, I don't want to go on and on but I thought this was insightful about how not well Bitcoin is moving out for mass adoption.

Link:  https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/living-bitcoin-week-san-francisco/

[williamshennie9]

Interesting article Wry! I definitely think it is difficult to spend bitcoin in its current form in almost any country. However, to make it easier, a lot of countries are getting bitcoin ATM's where you can buy and sell bitcoins. While local stores might not accept bitcoin anytime soon, I think these ATM's will become more popular in the future.

[wry]

16 hours ago, williamshennie9 said:

Interesting article Wry! I definitely think it is difficult to spend bitcoin in its current form in almost any country. However, to make it easier, a lot of countries are getting bitcoin ATM's where you can buy and sell bitcoins. While local stores might not accept bitcoin anytime soon, I think these ATM's will become more popular in the future.

Thanks for commenting @williamshennie9!  I thought the ATMs would help too, but when he went to use one, on like day 3 or 4 it was a huge pain in the rear end to buy 10 USD worth of Bitcoin.

I'm not sure why he was buying BTC rather than selling BTC to get USD to use but my guess is that is even MORE difficult to do via an ATM.

Your point goes back to his core point that while direct acceptance has declined the infrastructure behind BTC has gotten stronger.  So I guess on balance that is a good thing at the margin, but I still find the article a bit depressing as someone who was initially attracted to "be your own bank".  BTC is more like "Be your own gold depository."

[KiXxnTRiXx]

oooooh thats interesting! i have always thought of visiting San Fransisco, always looked cool in movies! haha.. but i really would like to go and see the bridge, alcatraz, the crazy steep hills and much more! that would awesome if i were able to do all the activities i have on my list using crypto coins.. honestly it would be nice to abe able to do that with everything! less hassle in carrying cash with you.. more secured than carrying a credit card.. one day i hope!

[polor12]

this might sound kinda far fetched...if you run into some mom and pops own store..(not part of any major chain retail/grocery corp stores) asking them if they accept btc..you be surprised how many do accept.. found a filipino store that does and fast food joint...around my house...well if bitcoins starts being mention in visa commercials...then that's a sign that btc is accepted everywhere...

[barbaris]

Every day it is getting easier and easier to spend cryptocurrency, shops and taxis are accepting crypto, shopping over the Internet and much more. Although several years ago I could not find an exchanger on the Internet to exchange my crypto for cash. Yes, there are places where Bitcoins are not accepted, but also not a problem, using an electronic exchanger you throw it onto a card and pay off. Cash in the near future will not be needed. Although cash is still the safest way of storage for me.

[jackkid]

Your article is very interesting. I am imagining that all the countries in the world are legalizing Bitcoin as a form of payment and I can use Bitcoin worldwide.