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Didi Taihuttu and his wife and children find enough ways to pay with Bitcoin for everything during their 4 years of traveling the world.
At the Kapıkule border between Bulgaria and Turkey, Bitcoin is not accepted for the payment of the mandatory visa application fee. However, the Taihuttu were not discouraged. This Dutch family parked the car with the Bitcoin logo on the side of the road, trying to pay with digital money.
For the last 4 years, this family has only lived on Bitcoin. In early 2017, after selling all of their assets, from pension accounts to cars, clothes and toys, they bet everything on cryptocurrencies and traveled all over the world. At that time, each Bitcoin cost 900 USD.
They have pledged never to pay for services or goods again, unless the transaction is in Bitcoin. So “we waited until we found someone who would accept Bitcoin,” said Didi Taihuttu, the father of the family, as he waited at the border.
Didi Taihuttu’s family of 5 with a car with the Bitcoin logo. Image: Didi taihuttu
After explaining to this person the value of the virtual currency, Taihuttu transferred a Bitcoin to his phone and received it in cash. “With this money, we have a visa,” Taihuttu said. “My wife and children are not very happy, but if you want to live a Bitcoin life, you have to accept the ups and downs.”
Since he invested all of his assets in Bitcoin in 2017, his family has traveled to 40 countries. The gradual acceptance of Bitcoin in recent years has made life easier for them. But anyway, they still have to be very creative.
Combining a variety of ways, from exchanging, haggling, and obtaining Bitcoin debit cards to persuading merchants to accept Bitcoin, they have traveled across much of Europe, Asia, and Oceania. This family says that there are two places in the world where you can pay almost anything in Bitcoin. It is the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana and a small Italian town called Rovereto.
In Ljubljana, they pay for everything from car repairs to movie tickets with Bitcoin. In Rovereto, you can buy a motorcycle, pay taxes or get a haircut with this virtual currency.
“I always told people ‘I won’t cut my hair until I find a hairdresser who accepts Bitcoin,’ Taihuttu said. Then I walked into this barbershop, he accepted Bitcoin. I was like, ‘Oh, I need a haircut now.’ “, said.
For him, the adoption of Bitcoin by a very small traditional town and the capital of a country is a sign that this can happen anywhere.
“I believe that any country, any city in the world can accept Bitcoin as a store of value, payment or cash exchange,” said Taihuttu. it has encouraged us to continue exploring the world. “
Early last week, the price of Bitcoin hit an all-time high, at $ 19,920 per coin. Some analysts say there is plenty of room for cryptocurrencies to flourish.
Mike Novogratz, CEO of investment firm Galaxy Digital, said this momentum is just the beginning. He predicted that Bitcoin could hit $ 60,000 next year. Tom Fitzpatrick, global director of CitiFXTechnicals, believes that the charts point to Bitcoin possibly touching $ 318,000 by December 2021.
Due to such high prices, it is not surprising that more and more investors are choosing to hold Bitcoin rather than use it. According to statistics from Chainalysis, the number of accounts that bought more than a million dollars of Bitcoin and then took it off the exchanges increased 180% between 2017 and 2020. Data from Glassnode shows that about 95% of the value of Bitcoin is in the wallets they have more than one virtual currency.
The data also shows that wealthy investors are increasingly playing this game. The Bitcoin rally in 2017 was largely driven by retail investors. But now, billionaires and famous corporations are also buying Bitcoin.
As more and more people choose to hold Bitcoin, the question arises: is Bitcoin a currency or a commodity? It can be used to buy, sell and price products. Major fintechs like PayPal now also allow users to pay with Bitcoin. That is, Bitcoin is still a currency.
However, the Bitcoin movement is like gold and crude oil. The value fluctuates a lot, has its own trading floor and includes a derivatives market. Therefore, Bitcoin fits both definitions.
Even Taihuttu, who has been using Bitcoin for almost five years as the sole payment tool, believes that the role of Bitcoin is fundamentally changing. “I think Bitcoin is slowly becoming a store of value. We view Bitcoin as digital gold, which can store value. Every now and then, the price skyrockets. But you can also bring that piece of gold. Buy and check how to buy. custom, “he said.
Ha Thu (According to CNBC)
