With every day that passes, bitcoin is becoming a more usable and accepted form of payment for a variety of goods and services, even those in the mainstream economy. To be sure, it’s arguably a long way off from being able to use bitcoin for small purchases at your local coffee shop or for big purchases like buying a house, but it is not unfathomable.
The financial company Visa (ticker: V) has been working with bitcoin wallet services and various cryptocurrency exchanges to make cryptocurrency debit cards easy to acquire and use. These cards are known by names such as the Shift Card, Bitwala, BitPay, and others, partially depending on the region of the world in which they can be used. These cards allow users to transfer funds from Bitcoin wallets and immediately convert them into spendable fiat currency wherever Visa debit cards are accepted. Customers can also withdraw national currencies from Visa debit ATM machines based on bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange rates, which often fluctuate wildly.
The implementation of this system has not been without its hiccups, naturally, but it bodes well for the future of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, at least in the sense that your bitcoin value can be converted to fiat currency used for purchases. Up to this point, it has been a bit harder to use bitcoin itself for purchases in mainstream shops and venues, but savvy techies and crypto-enthusiasts have resourcefully procured nearly everything imaginable with bitcoin, and merchants have used bitcoin wallets just like their shoppers to transact business for several years now, both online and in brick-and-mortar stores.