Straight From Rebecca's Desk
Both @knarly327 and I have spent the last couple of days teaching people about blockchains, cryptocurrencies, fiat currency and Steemit. We've been meeting with our friends, whom we've learned to qualified in advance from our previous experiences when we've attempted to do this.
It's been tough, in that you just want everyone you care about to have the same life changing opportunities that Steemit provides. Yet, most aren't willing to change their habits, learn how to do something new or take a risk.
I must admit that it has been a little bit easier to hold a person's attention since the price of Steem has been staying over a dollar.
Now, I can confidently tell people and they can physically see that all the time that I have been spending on Steemit, creating, writing and reading have produced decent pay-outs. Plus, because I chose to park all these pay-outs and leave them in Steem Power, they fluctuate with the value of steem as it is increasing or decreases in value.
(Every time Steem goes up in value, so does the value of your account and vice versa.)
From time to time, people will ask me how I can use this "internet currency" and what it can be exchanged for?
So, let me just say, right here that: I do not think that exchanging your Steem is a good idea, at this point, unless you need to spend it in order to survive.
However, if a person did want to exchange their Steem or other crypto-coins for commercial goods or services, there are a few ways that you can go about this.
Typically most of the ways involve using an Exchange like Poloniex or Bittrex to convert your Steem into Bitcoin. Then, the Bitcoin can either be left in that form or converted into fiat currency. You can use the same Exchanges to buy coins too and there are transaction fees charged by the Exchanges for their services.
Besides converting Steem into Bitcoin and then Bitcoin to fiat currency, I know a couple of Canadian "forward thinking" companies who are accepting Bitcoin payments directly.
The first is a precious metals retailer named: Silver Gold Bull. https://silvergoldbull.ca/payment
They sell precious metals that they ship right to your door.
The second is a company called: Coincards. https://coincards.ca/
They sell gift cards from 100's of Canadian retailers and they accept payment in 40 different crypto-coins.
So, if you wanted to buy a $1000 Costco gift card for example, you could purchase it and Coincard would charge you in the crypto-coin of your choice, from their list of coins that they accept.
You'd pay the value of $1000 + $50 (There is a 5% service fee.) for a total of $1050 plus shipping if applicable.
They offer both physical and electronic gift cards.
Many days ago, @thearcanebear posted a video that they made using a mastercard credit card that they had programmed with cryptocurrencies just like a pre-loaded credit card.
If you missed it, you can view it here: https://steemit.com/steemtofiat/@thearcanebear/how-to-spend-your-steem-although-we-dont-recommend-it
Don't forget to follow them because it is really cool that they shared (with all of us) that these cards even exist. Then, how easy it was for them to use this credit card all the way in Central America.
I welcome your comments and I invite you to follow me on my journey. ;)
~ Rebecca Ryan
great info @rebeccaryan, thanks!
Thanks :)
Rebecca, I was watching for your nearly daily post yesterday. I get up early, so I didn't get my daily fix of @rebeccaryan.
You have done well with this post. I had a lot of the questions in my mind that you have answered. How many times have we needed to know, and had no one to turn to?
Not true with Steemit. We have Rebecca.
Thank you so much. You are more than a fellow Steemian. You are a true friend of all of us here at Steemit.
Francis
Thank you so much for your kind words @francisk! I will do my best to help where ever I can. LOL! I know my posting frequency and timing is a bit sporadic. I do try to post something new everyday to keep in touch.
We will all get there with Steemit, we just have to keep at it my friend.
Thanks again. ;)
Thank you Rebecca. Clears up a lot of things I've been wondering about and thanks again for introducing me to this platform. So many fantastic posts here. Thanks!
You are so welcome @ehutchinson! You actually have been one of the few people who have jumped in with both feet. Good for you!
Very helpfuk, thank you.
You are welcome @loribitner! Welcome to Steemit!
I have followed you and will try to help whenever I can. :)
Oh thank you. I was wondering about Canadian services to spend cryoto at. Coincards.ca will be huge help come xmas and birthdays.
Have u got a tip where i can pay my Canadian credit card bill with bitcoins.?
It is really cool that this company is so far ahead. It's a game changer. I did read that the owner of the company has negotiated these arrangements with each retailer. I think a 5% service fee for doing that isn't out of line. Once people realize that they can turn crypto into any type of payment they want easily, it will become commonly used. I hope that streamlining the process will be the next piece and as of yet, I do not know how you can pay your credit card bill using bitcoin directly. ;)
Does wirex can be used there.. before they used MasterCard.now planing to chance to visa
well said @ rebeccaryan..
Thanks @helene!
i like the way it is
It is a good opportunity @doqstrader!
Very true, once you know about it you just want to help others discover it. I tried tirelessly to get my friends and family onboard with Bitcoin when I found out about it in 2011. It was a shame I did not have much capital back then, all I know is everyone else is definitely regretting not listening to me!
Good for you for following through with what you thought was a good idea. We often let other people talk us out of things and then have regrets. :)
Very helpful for exchange cryptocurreny into material goods.
It is very sad, as you say, with people that you care about wont give Steemit a chance. I even have people that are always complaining about lack of money that wont give it a go here. So sad really.
I've been saying this a lot lately: "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink." It's the same with others who are unwilling to do anything differently.
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Thanks.