Apples and oranges. 1 BTC can be divided to as small as 10^-8 (1 Satoshi) so there's you're stick of gum. In situations where precious metals are used as currency silver is used as "change"
Subway takes bitcoins huh? Pretty cool. List of companies... Overstock.com – A company that sells big ticket items at lower prices due to overstocking Subway – Eat fresh Microsoft – Users can buy content with Bitcoin on Xbox and Windows store Reddit – You can buy premium features there with bitcoins Virgin Galactic – Richard Branson company that includes Virgin Mobile and Virgin Airline OkCupid – Online dating site Tigerdirect – Major electronic online retailer Namecheap – Domain name registrar CheapAir.com – Travel booking site for airline tickets, car rentals, hotels Expedia.com – Online travel booking agency Gyft – Buy giftcards using Bitcoin Newegg.com – Online electronics retailer now uses bitpay to accept bitcoin as payment 1-800-FLOWERS.COM – United States based online floral and gift retailer and distributor Dell – American privately owned multinational computer technology company Wikipedia – The Free Encyclopedia with 4 570 000+ article Steam – Desktop gaming platform The Internet Archive – web documatation company Bitcoin.Travel – a travel site that provides accommodation, apartments, attractions, bars, and beauty salons around the world Pembury Tavern – A pub in London, England Old Fitzroy – A pub in Sydney, Australia The Pink Cow – A diner in Tokyo, Japan The Pirate Bay – BitTorrent directories Zynga – Mobile gaming Tesla – The car company 4Chan.org – For premium services EZTV – Torrents TV shows provider Mega.co.nz – The new venture started by the former owner of MegaUpload Kim Dotcom Lumfile – Free cloud base file server – pay for premium services Etsy Vendors – 93 of them PizzaForCoins.com – Domino’s Pizza signed up – pay for their pizza with bitcons Whole Foods – Organic food store (by purchasing gift card from Gyft) Bitcoincoffee.com – Buy your favorite coffee online Grass Hill Alpacas – A local farm in Haydenville, MA Jeffersons Store – A street wear clothing store in Bergenfield, N.J Helen’s Pizza – Jersey City, N.J., you can get a slice of pizza for 0.00339 bitcoin by pointing your phone at a sign next to the cash register A Class Limousine – Pick you up and drop you off at Newark (N.J.) Airport Seoclerks.com – Get SEO work done on your site cheap Mint.com – Mint pulls all your financial accounts into one place. Set a budget, track your goals and do more Fancy.com – Discover amazing stuff, collect the things you love, buy it all in one place (Source: Fancy) Bloomberg.com – Online newspaper Humblebundle.com – Indie game site BigFishGames.com – Games for PC, Mac and Smartphones (iPhone, Android, Windows) Suntimes.com – Chicago based online newspaper San Jose Earthquakes – San Jose California Professional Soccer Team (MLS) Square – Payment processor that help small businesses accept credit cards using iPhone, Android or iPad Crowdtilt.com – The fastest and easiest way to pool funds with family and friends (Source: crowdtilt) Lumfile – Server company that offers free cloud-based servers Museum of the Coastal Bend – 2200 East Red River Street, Victoria, Texas 77901, USA Home Depot – Office supplies store Kmart – Retail products store Sears – Clothing and household products, electronic store Gap, GameStop and JC Penney – have to use eGifter.com Etsy Vendors – Original art and Jewelry creations Fight for the Future – Leading organization finding for Internet freedom i-Pmart (ipmart.com.my) – A Malaysian online mobile phone and electronic parts retailer curryupnow.com – A total of 12 restaurants on the list of restaurants accept bitcoins in San Francisco Bay Area Dish Network – An American direct-broadcast satellite service provider The Libertarian Party – United States political party Yacht-base.com – Croatian yacht charter company Euro Pacific – A major precious metal dealer CEX – The trade-in chain has a shop in Glasgow, Scotland that accepts bitcoin Straub Auto Repairs – 477 Warburton Ave, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706 – (914) 478-1177 PSP Mollie – Dutch Payment Service Intuit – an American software company that develops financial and tax preparation software and related services for small businesses, accountants and individuals. ShopJoy – An Australian online retailer that sells novelty and unique gifts Lv.net – Las Vegas high speed internet services ExpressVPN.com – High speed, ultra secure VPN network Grooveshark – Online music streaming service based in the United States Braintree – Well known payments processor MIT Coop Store – Massachusetts Institute of Technology student bookstore SimplePay – Nigeria’s most popular web and mobile-based wallet service SFU bookstore – Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada State Republican Party – First State Republican Party to accept bitcoin donations (http://www.lagop.com/bitcoin-donate) mspinc.com – Respiratory medical equipment supplies store Shopify.com – An online store that allows anyone to sell their products Famsa – Mexico’s biggest retailer Naughty America – Adult entertainment provider Mexico’s Universidad de las Américas Puebla – A major university in Mexico LOT Polish Airlines – A worldwide airline based in Poland MovieTickets.com – Online movie ticket exchange/retailer Dream Lover – Online relationship service Lionsgate Films – The production studio behind titles such as The Hunger Games and The Day After Tomorrow Rakutan – A Japanese e-commerce giant Badoo – Online dating network RE/MAX London – UK-based franchisee of the global real estate network T-Mobile Poland – T-Mobile’s Poland-based mobile phone top-up company Stripe – San Francisco-based payments company WebJet – Online travel agency Green Man Gaming – Popular digital game reseller Save the Children – Global charity organization NCR Silver – Point of sales systems One Shot Hotels – Spanish hotel chain Coupa Café in Palo Alto PureVPN – VPN provider That’s my face – create action figures Foodler – North American restaurant delivery company Amagi Metals – Precious metal furnisher
That's why I'm in the minority, lol. I don't think bitcoin should be used in that way, but I think it's a nice option to have. A few weeks ago, I was in Las Vegas and stayed at the Lucky Dragon hotel, and it's a Chinese-owned hotel which has a bitcoin atm in the casino. I was thinking if I lost my wallet for some reason, I still have the option of settling our hotel bill using my phone and my bitcoin wallet. Quick way to have $ in my hand. Now I see that as an option when I'm in Vegas, just in case I lose my wallet. It's nice to have but it would be last resort as the spread was horrible (ATM was bid $865 and buy was $1050 I believe bitcoin online was around mid $900's).
Blockchain Capital first VC to fundraise using digital tokens Blockchain Capital, which has spent the last four years investing in bitcoin-related technology, now is putting its money where its mouth is – literally. The firm on Thursday announced that about $10 million of its new $50 million fund will be raised using digital tokens. (Siliconbeat)
I used to use bitcoin every month to send money overseas (to people that had no idea what bitcoin was) There were sites that would automatically convert bitcoin to whatever that countries currency is and deposit it in their bank. Then regulators stepped in and started require documents... not just from me, but from people I'm sending to. It was so much of a hassle I just decided to start using western union which really wasn't that much more money to spend once you account for coinbases 1% fee and currency risk.
Nonsense more energy intensive. Printing paper dollar bills is also more energy intensive than carry around a bunch of rocks in our pockets instead.
When you give that dollar bill to someone else, there aren't a hundred servers computing confirmations for that transaction. The bothersome energy cost is frictional, not initial.
I will agree that the ASIC hardware makes mining more efficient. However the article still makes a solid case that Bitcoin is unsustainable even with these innovations.