Remember when people started talking about Bitcoin and Ether as the future of money?

It seems so long ago.

You could send it to someone on the network.

You could trade on an exchange.

In some instances, you could buy some things with your BTC and ETH.

You already know the story about the pizza and Bitcoin that got it all started.

But for the most part, the usefulness of crypto was more as a capital gains play than a medium of exchange.

It’s taken some time for crypto to fulfill its promise as the next generation of money. But it has come at least to some extent.

Three years ago, crypto companies couldn’t get banking services from the big banks.

Custodial services were in development.

Institutional acceptance was still in its infancy.

But now, you can do all kinds of interesting things with your crypto, including buying a Beeple.

Where can you spend your BTC and ETH?  

Selling your house for Bitcoin was a novelty back in 2018. Every once in a while, someone would try to get some publicity by saying they would accept Bitcoin.

Even a jurisdiction in Ontario said they would accept it for taxes.

There were a small group of retailers that would accept crypto. There was Patrick Byrne’s Overstock. Microsoft online is always happy to take your Bitcoin. They’ve been saying that since 2014. That’s around the same year that Newegg got into the action. Now they take Dogecoin.

Shopify stores would take Bitcoin way back in 2013. Today Shopify stores can accept most forms of crypto for payment.

Expedia stepped up in 2017. In 2019, AT&T said they too would accept payment in crypto.

Then along comes Purse.io, where you can buy all you want from Amazon with Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash. At Openbazaar, you can buy stuff or set up a store and sell stuff instead.

Right now, Elon will let you buy a car with Bitcoin.

Have you heard of Bakkt, the crypto futures exchange started by the Intercontinental Exchange? Yes, they are doing retail now. You can use crypto to buy from Starbucks, GolfNow and Best Buy and Choice Hotels with Bakkt.

Then there’s DeFi.

Buy some NFTs with ETH

We’ve talked about DeFi as a parallel financial system. It’s an amazing experiment for new financial products and services.

It’s a place where you can now use your crypto to earn, lend and borrow. With some ETH, you can stake on Compound or Uniswap and earn a return. You can swap your ETH for various tokens to trade, stake or speculate on a project.

The entire DeFi space provides numerous places for you to use your crypto for monetary activities.

Like for example, NFTs.

To create them, you need some ETH. And if you create and sell them, you can do that in ETH or BTC. If you want to know how much Beeple has sold, you can see the list in dollars and Ether for each of his NFTs. That includes the famous First 5000 Days piece that went for 25,425.492 ETH.

Or you can check out the list of the top NFT artists by earnings.

You can buy all kinds of NFT’s on Opensea’s marketplace, where prices are listed in ETH.

And if you still have a hankering for a CryptoKittie, get your wallet ready.

Payment platforms let you use crypto too

One thing that makes using crypto easier is acceptance by regulators. In the US, the OCC has made it easier for federally regulated banks to provide custody for crypto. This has increased options for consumers and their acceptance.

Payment providers have been aggressive about adapting crypto recently.

You can pay with crypto on Square, Venmo and Paypal.

PayPal and their acquisition, Venmo, supports BTC, ETH, LTC and BCH. Square only supports Bitcoin.

Mastercard has developed a crypto rewards card with Gemini.

Visa will now let you settle transactions with the USDC stablecoin by Circle.

Sports teams embrace Bitcoin, Ether and Dogecoin

Sports teams are getting into the crypto act little by little as well.

Mark Cuban’s Dallas Mavs will accept all crypto, including Dogecoin, in 2021.

The Miami Dolphins have gone with Litecoin as their official currency as of 2019 for 50/50 tickets.

Seven teams in soccer’s Premier League, Brighton & Hove Albion, Cardiff City, Crystal Palace, Leicester City, Newcastle, United Southampton, and Tottenham Hotspur, agreed to be paid in Bitcoin in 2018.

How long until you can get paid in crypto?

More recently, the NBA partnered with Dapper Labs to create NBA Top Shots. Other professional sports organizations are exploring similar agreements. So you can buy unique experiences and memorabilia with cash or crypto.

While a few pro players are looking at getting paid in crypto, others are developing their own NFT products.

And this market is in the process of rapid evolution in 2021.

We are just getting started on the future of money

Back in 2017, if you had the future of money, there wasn’t much you could do with it. Some wondered if it was even money.

In 2021 we can see what a difference four years can make.

Government regulation is helping to integrate more services into the banking sector. Institutional services are giving large institutions greater access to Bitcoin and Ether.

And Ethereum’s DeFi ecosystem is helping to foster rapid development of all sorts of new ways to utilize your crypto and token assets.

Institutions are just warming up to Ethereum as  Ether futures have just been listed, marking an important step forward.

We’re getting close to the point where you will be able to transact exclusively in the cryptosphere for all your daily monetary needs.

Every day, that reality gets a little closer.

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