- Yes, it's possible to buy pizza with cryptocurrency.
In fact, there are thousands of retailers worldwide
that accept crypto for all types of products and services.
So sure.
While there continues to be plenty of skepticism
about the viability of cryptos,
and it might seem that most people buy them
to profit from their rising value,
cryptos do function as a method of payment.
For a long time, acquiring cryptocurrencies was difficult.
Early on, it was largely the domain of technologists
and those prepared to put in the work
to learn more relatively complex steps.
I've got good news.
Those days are behind us now
and acquiring and selling crypto
has been greatly simplified.
In addition to a growing number of
new dedicated cryptocurrency management businesses
called crypto exchanges,
existing financial institutions,
from PayPal to Venmo and Goldman Sachs to Ally Bank,
now offer services.
If you already have an account
with a provider that supports crypto,
then buying something like Bitcoin or Ether
can be as easy as buying a stock
or some foreign fiat currency,
a government backed money such as the Euro.
On the other hand,
since so many banks and financial institutions
are not currently supporting cryptocurrencies,
you can choose to engage with a wide variety of providers
outside of the banking sector.
Coinbase, Binance and Bitstamp
are examples of credible crypto exchanges.
Doing your own research here is vital,
as more than a few crypto exchanges have been hacked,
have experience performance issues
or have been simply shut down.
If you do decide to use a crypto exchange,
you'll first create an online account.
You'll then need to move fiat currency into that account.
This can be done via a bank transfer
or by using a credit card.
Once your fiat currency is deposited and ready to use,
buying and selling cryptos is straightforward enough.
Crypto exchanges will list all the cryptocurrencies
they support.
This means that if you plan to buy a particular crypto,
you'll need to first make sure the exchange supports it.
After you've identified your desired crypto,
you'll specify the amount you want to buy
and then hit the buy button.
Depending on the crypto you choose,
it may not show up right away.
However, most are processed within a few minutes.
Selling is typically just as easy.
Select your crypto and then choose to sell or withdraw.
You should be able to convert it
back to fiat currency or another crypto.
In addition to often highly volatile prices,
pay attention to the fees imposed for every transaction.
These will at least depend on the crypto chosen
and the exchange.
Small amounts of buying and selling
could incur some disproportionate costs for you.
If you want to receive cryptos into your account,
you'll provide the payer with the public key
you've been assigned.
Your public key, a long series of letters and numbers,
can be found in your crypto wallet
or in your crypto exchange account details.
You can copy and paste the public key
and provide it to the payer.
Or if it's being done in person,
many wallets and exchange apps will provide a QR code
that then the payer can use to pay from their app.
When you want to pay someone,
you should be able to use your smartphone app
or just enter the receiver's public key,
their address for payment.
Finally, buying and holding cryptos has become the choice
for many enthusiasts and investors.
It's now often referred to as hodling,
the result of an incorrect spelling of holding
on a popular online forum
that has now been adopted as a term by the crypto community.
Those that do it, hodlers,
are waiting until the price reaches a point
where they feel that selling makes sense.
Despite its popularity, hodling is risky.
Hold out too long,
and the crypto could crash.
As you can imagine,
crypto hodling is the topic of intense debate.
In the next video,
I'll share some other investment techniques
and tools that you can use.