The actual number of stores around the world that accept Bitcoin is very negligible. If you want to pay for your air tickets, accommodation, meals, and other expenses using crypto, you will struggle to find merchants and service providers who will accept it.
While grappling with concerns like the lack of technical know-how, price volatility, and regulatory requirements, entrepreneurs often overlook the potential gift that crypto could be, as many are not even aware of its existence.
With that stated, crypto offers an opportunity for luxury travelers and digital nomads. It can provide opportunities lacking when using fiat currencies to pay for luxury travel.
Today solutions exist to enable you to pay for goods and services using crypto, even in stores that do not accept it. Before we look at the most used of those options, let us look at the benefits of using crypto for luxury travel payments.
The first reason that crypto can be a great way to hold the funds you use to travel is that it can protect you from inflation. When a currency loses its purchasing power over time, that is known as inflation.
All fiat currencies are inflationary, especially in the long term. That is why the amount of goods a $100, for example, could afford you today is a small fraction of what it would be in 1990. Fiat currencies are inflationary because increasing the money supply is a tool central banks often use to stimulate the economy.
On the other hand, cryptocurrencies are generally deflationary. Bitcoin, in particular, is extremely deflationary. Indeed cryptocurrency is more deflationary than gold, an asset considered the most valuable for thousands of years.
The precious metal will likely continue being mined forever. There are still huge deposits in the ground. Some are discovered, and some could be discovered with time. On its part, the Bitcoin amount is forever capped at 21 million. The last coin will be mined sometime in the year 2140.
In addition to the cap, some of the coins are lost forever when people lose their private keys are they die before sharing them with their next kin. According to some reports, including those done by the blockchain research firm Chainalysis, up to 6 million bitcoins have been lost for good. That loss contributes to the deflationary nature of the cryptocurrency.
If you are an avid luxury traveler who might prefer keeping the funds they need to pay for their travel in cash, HODLing it as crypto could be an attractive option. Crypto can maintain your value in the long term or even increase it.
Meanwhile, some solutions can help you make payments from your crypto wallet even though merchants do not accept crypto. The most widely used of these is the crypto debit card.
This card is supported by mainstream payment rails such as Visa and Mastercard. Nevertheless, the wallet is funded from a crypto wallet through a linked exchange.
Most of the crypto debit cards can be funded using Bitcoin as well as other crypto assets. The companies that issue these cards range from exchanges to travel concierge service providers.
Other benefits include being able to protect your funds from the failure of the financial system. With your crypto, you have full control over it, and you can't worry about waking up one morning and finding out that your back can't issue money because of a sort of collapse. Other benefits include having access to high limits and access to your funds, not being limited by your global location.
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