Bitcoin can be seen as the tool to create a parallel economy to fiat currencies, because it is possible to sell goods or services and be paid in bitcoin. Transactions can be made directly in Bitcoin, without the need to go through an exchange platform, but simply going from a Bitcoin wallet to another.

The Bitcoin economy exists and is developing in certain regions of the world, like in El Salvador, where Bitcoin became a legal tender in 2021. Unfortunately, on January 2025, the assembly passed a new law that stripped Bitcoin of the "legal tender" title, allegedly after receiving some pressure from the International Monetary Fund. Under the new law, people are not obliged to accept Bitcoin in their businesses anymore, and can no longer pay taxes using it. Acceptance remains voluntary.

Nonetheless, in El Salvador and in other parts of the world, there are more and more individuals, businesses, and organizations that accept Bitcoin as a means of payment for their products or services.

In addition, an open-source and collaborative project has been launched, BTCMap, to facilitate the use of Bitcoin in everyday transactions. This platform lists all the merchants that accept Bitcoin, as well as the different Bitcoin communities around the world, so you can visit their website to discover the Bitcoin ecosystem around you. Thus, despite the difficulties and the hesitations, there are initiatives like BTCMap that contribute to making the Bitcoin economy more accessible and convenient for everyone.

To obtain bitcoins, you can buy them on platforms regulated by organizations such as the AMF (Autorité des Marchés Financiers) in France, or the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) in the U.S.A., but this solution entails the traceability of your transactions. Another method to obtain bitcoins is to accept them as a means of payment for the products or services you offer, so you can acquire bitcoins through your work without constantly worrying about the price of Bitcoin.

Furthermore, accepting Bitcoin as a merchant has several advantages, including censorship resistance, reduced transaction fees, increased efficiency, protection against inflation, as well as financial freedom and sovereignty.

To accept Bitcoin, it is necessary to study the different available solutions and choose the one that best suits your business. There is no perfect solution, and several factors must be taken into account to make your choice, such as the expected transaction volume, allocated budget, and type of business (online or physical).

We will cover this topic in detail in another course, but to keep it simple, we can consider several categories of businesses and therefore related solutions.

To further explore this topic, we recommend our BIZ101 course! Discover how to effectively integrate bitcoin into your company's treasury, accept bitcoin as a means of payment according to your organization's profile, and understand the related tax and accounting requirements: