This is a guest post from We Accept Cryptocurrency
Most people see cryptocurrency as an investment; a hedge against the inflationary fiat monetary system. But that was not the original intention of the Bitcoin founders. They saw Bitcoin as “electronic cash,” a radical alternative to fiat money. They envisioned people spending Bitcoin on everyday items. They envisioned people sending Bitcoin to friends and family as a gift, and using it to pay contractors for their work. Anything money can do, cryptocurrency can do better.
We Accept Cryptocurrency is a newly launched website with a mission to increase real-world cryptocurrency use and adoption. The website is a resource of online merchants and services (as well as charities) that accept cryptocurrencies as a method of payment. Bitcoin has the largest directory, but the site also lists the following cryptocurrencies: ETH, BCH, LTC, DASH, NANO, XMR, EOS, XRP.
There is a strong need for such a resource, because currently the information on real-world crypto adoption is scattered. There are many coin-specific resources (a website listing merchants accepting Litecoin for example), and several geography-specific resources (a website listing places to spend crypto in NYC for example), but a global Internet resource is needed. We Accept Cryptocurrency remains geography-agnostic by listing online merchants only.
Many people today are privileged to be able to consider cryptocurrency exclusively in investment terms. In countries with stable monetary policy, that makes sense. However there are countries like Venezuela where cryptocurrency adoption is growing rapidly as a matter of necessity due to hyperinflation.
For users in countries like Venezuela, the mission of We Accept Cryptocurrency is even more crucial, because finding merchants that accept cryptocurrency when fiat is no longer a viable option takes on another level of importance. If We Accept Cryptocurrency continues to expand its directory it may become an asset to those who really need cryptocurrency the most.
The way We Accept Cryptocurrency vets a merchant before its inclusion into the website is as follows: the We Accept Cryptocurrency team first reaches out directly to the merchant asking them to confirm that they do currently accept cryptocurrency. They ask the merchant for the page on their website where their crypto policy (and discounts) is listed, and link to that page directly. This methodology leads to significantly fewer broken or outdated listings when compared with various coin-specific directories.
Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash