Living with Bitcoin
Living with Bitcoin
Simple steps how to move from fiat (slavery) money world into full Bitcoin Standard
Today, we still have to pay bills in USD/EUR/whatever fiat shitcoins. But little by little, things will change. With calm and patience WE will change it. Because everything comes from ourselves, from individuals, from how we make other people realize that BTC can be used and that it helps us to exit the fiat system.
First step
This is not an easy process, but every day is getting easier, we have more tools, more ramps, more apps. The hardest one is our mind. People are nor ready yet to make this huge change in mentality: how to live only with Bitcoin and move away from the fiat world (consumerism, greed, inflation, control, debt, slavery).
Prepare your mind, prepare your knowledge about Bitcoin, test many apps, test many solutions and start pricing everything in sats. It’s a slow process, but worth it.
I started with Bitcoin in 2012, but never leave it behind, I always learned something new every day. And then from 2015 I started to prepare myself for this long journey of moving away from fiat world. Started with Bitwage, accumulating BTC then from 2018 I stopped accepting fiat anymore. ONLY BITCOIN. And spending in BTC/LN.
You can do it ONLY if you really want it. Don’t come up with excuses like “but I can’t pay a coffee with sats” or “I can’t pay bills with sats”. Find your own way to move away from fiat, convince as many merchants as you can to accept your BTC. The revolution starts with you, as individual, not with big fucking retail chains.
Second step
REMOVE THE USD/EUR FROM THE BANK. Leaving money in a bank account today is an act of madness. At any time they can block it or remove it from there. Also, while you leave it, they USE it, and they don’t give you anything. Give this some thought. Bitcoin is your life savings account, is your retirement plan.
There is a saying: “leave in the bank only the money that you are willing to lose!” Well, taking out the money, you have to keep it somewhere safe. Even though we don’t have much, so much we have is OURS and it’s our savings and work that we’ve done with sweat.
This is a multi step process, moving slowly from fiat money dependency.
Leave ONLY enough in bank accounts to pay recurring bills and if you can put the money JUST when the due date approaches.
Third step
Start teaching about Bitcoin your family, friends, neighbors, local shops and START THE BITCOIN CIRCULAR ECONOMY.
RECEIVE BITCOIN, Get paid in BTC, earn BTC
I recommend the first step: use Bitwage to receive the payroll in BTC. It is the easiest way to start receiving BTC. Then if you manage to convince the company where you work to start using BTC and to pay you in BTC, it will be a big step. Convince the employers to start using BTC as a financial reserve and from there start paying you.
Bitwage also is a great tool for freelancers or self employed. You bill your customers and give them the bank account assigned for you in Bitwage. You receive BTC straight to your personal private wallet.
You could also split the income in % in BTC and another % in fiat, if you still want / need to pay some bills in fiat money. Now Bitwage also supports LN (Lightning Network).
Another step would be: change your job. Find a company that is already in Bitcoinlandia, that you can work remotely, from home and/or that pays you in BTC.
Here some examples of jobs boards that pays directly in BTC:
How to use Bitwage and separate your coins
Receive through Bitwage.com some invoices from your clients, directly in a BTC address of my Electrum or whatever other cache wallet. Of course, these BTC are KYC and I don't want to spend directly from there either
You have this Electrum activated with LN (trampoline channels, more or less like Phoenix). You can also have private channels (0 fee) with your nodes or other nodes 0 fee
Swap to LN within Electrum, but not the entire amount received, only the corresponding part that I want to spend in 1 month for example
Send via LN to another LN wallet or even to my node (if I need more liquidity)
The other party onchain, send to boltz.exchange / coinos.io or other swaps and receive by LN on other wallets (node, blixt, even electrum itself, sparrow - taproot)
Done, so I have the income divided into 3 parts: HODL (onchain, savings are never touched), cache (distribution point, node, waiting), spending (LN wallets).
Promote your business/shop into Bitcoin community, like that we can create a circular economy of Bitcoin. Here is a list o pages where you can post your business / shop Bitcoin acceptance:
BTCmap.org - brick & mortar merchants that accept BTC
CoinMap.org – physical and / or online stores with BTC, you can add your physical or web store in the list (Android app – iOS app)
BitRefill.com – buy with BTC everything you want, using virtual cards/vouchers, including groceries
LN Online Stores – online stores that accept BTC / LN, you can add your physical or web store in the list
Accepting LN – online stores with BTC / LN, you can add your physical or web store in the list
SpendABit – BTC merchant and product directory
BitcoinWide – map and merchant directory, you can add your business
BTCPay Server Merchants – merchants using BTCPay Server (a separate, proprietary type of server that processes all txs in BTC)
Spending Bitcoin – list of merchants of all kinds and from the world
Accepted Here BTC – list of online stores that accept BTC, you can add your physical or web store in the list
Cryptwerk – merchants list by types, you can add your store there
List of nodes LN of merchants
Agorist Market – P2P online market where you can publish your store / products
Bitempresas – List of Spanish merchants that start accepting Bitcoin
Bitify – Purchase – direct P2P sale of products with BTC
P2P Marketplaces:
https://satscrap.com/ - P2P Bitcoin marketplace
https://scarce.city/ - P2P Bitcoin marketplace (physical and digital items)
https://t.me/bitcoinp2pmarketplace
http://robosats6tkf3eva7x2voqso3a5wcorsnw34jveyxfqi2fu7oyheasid.onion/
https://old.reddit.com/r/BitMarket/
Many would say: “but BTC is too volatile”, “I can’t afford to accept something such volatile”. For all these scared people, I have a simple answer: Read first The Bitcoin Standard book, then think about “volatility” again, on which side it is?
How much income in BTC you could have in the first 3 months, in the first year? 10%? Consider this your private pension fund. Just take them, HODL them, forget them about 5 years. Thank me later. Zoom out people, don’t look at volatility in terms of days/months… Look at the value of Bitcoin during years…
If you already have a website, sell products or services, start accepting BTC on the web. Offer discounts of up to 10% to those who pay with BTC. You have to attract Bitcoiners. Keep in mind that you have to give your clients options so that they can clearly see the difference in paying with BTC:
payment by bank transfer: normal price + 3%
payment with VISA / MasterCard cards: normal price + 5%
payment with Bitcoin: normal price – 10% discount
cash payment: normal price
PAY WITH BITCOIN
Pay in stores as much as possible with cash and / or BTC. Find stores that accept it, there are many, and some do not advertise it yet, because they are afraid. But if you ask everyone … “do you accept BTC” little by little they will raise awareness and start. Don’t be insistent if they don’t know it yet, leave them. If they accept it well, if not, nothing happens, they’ll see later. You don’t waste time explaining it to them: just to say, it’s time to think about accepting BTC. Nothing more. Later they will come to you to explain how to do it…
Online you can buy almost anything with BTC. Buy a lot online. By helping stores that accept BTC you do a great job keeping this going. These small or large merchants are the engine that sustains Bitcoin, we must support them because that is how we support ourselves and get rid of banksters.
Now, case studies.
You have to charge your mobile (it is better prepay, stop using shitty contracts), control your expenses to the maximum! Use bitrefill.com or the mobile app, select the operator, the amount you want to load, pay with BTC / LN and that’s it. You already have your mobile charged.
You have to buy something on Amazon. I know, we all do not want that, but sometimes, let’s say you don’t have another option. Easy, you enter Bitrefill.com select Amazon card, load it with 100-200 or whatever amount you want, pay with BTC / LN. Then you enter Amazon, and in your account, put the Amazon card payment that you just loaded in Bitrefill. Put the card code and voila, you buy what you want! At Bitrefill there are almost a hundred online stores that you can load with BTC. It’s a great way to shop.
Do you have to pay bills? Search in the lists the merchants who have already published their acceptance of BTC. If you still have a website that you don’t know if they accept it or not, then send them an email asking if they are willing to accept BTC. If they don’t want to, ask if you can pay the bill by bank transfer. There are online services that pay you SEPA bills and you pay them in BTC.
Here is a list of services that you can use to pay bills with Bitcoin.
You have to go to a restaurant to eat. First, go to the restaurants that you already know they accept BTC. Now more and more will start to accept, look at BTCmap.org. You ask before if they accept BTC. If they say YES, great. If they say NO, we already have 2 solutions:
A friend who wants to get BTC – he/she pays with their USD/EUR, you pay them the cost in BTC.
There are VISA debit cards, which can be debited/ loaded with your BTC (selling your BTC).
Personally I do NOT recommend them, because they go against the “BTC law”: stop using fiat currency. Using BTC through VISA, we do nothing more, but return to the same system. But hey, in cases of situations that there is NO other way, we pay with these. What is good in this case is that you keep your savings in BTC (not in the bank) but when paying, you convert them into fiat instantly, at the time of payment without having to go to an exchange and everything. These cards are the last resort. Keep in mind that also have a cost in fees.
Examples of these cards that you can register online and they send it to your home:
I am sure you will find your own way to live only using Bitcoin. Please share your case, commenting to this article. Let’s give more examples of how we can start own Bitcoin circular economy.
Start your own Bitcoin citadel, connect it to a Meshtadel, start small, organize or participate in local market, with direct producers and pay them with sats.
Check these resources: Oshi and Reko
Read more: Quick guide for Bitcoin HODLers
NEVER give up, it is Bitcoin (freedom) or death.
Listen Getting PAID In Bitcoin with BitWage CEO Jonathan Chester
MAY THE ₿ITCOIN BE WITH YOU!
If you appreciate DarthCoin work, you can send some satoshis to darthcoin@getalby.com or darthcoin@stacker.news or darthcoin.blink.sv
or using Cashu Address darthcoin@minibits.cash
If you do not want to subscribe on substack, all DarthCoin Bitcoin guides are also announced on this dedicated Telegram Channel, for easy search and keep track.
To subscribe on substack, click here: