Coincards

That's what Bitcoin is all about, being spent peer-to-peer without having to ask anyone's permission. Today, very few merchants accept Bitcoin in exchange for their goods and services (we are so early), making it difficult for those of us who need to spend our satoshis. Coincards is here to try and solve this problem, allowing you to spend your bitcoins to buy gift cards

On this subject, a brief aside to emphasize the importance, in my opinion, of using Bitcoin as a means of payment rather than solely as a store of value. Indeed, as these lines are being written, the reflex of too many Bitcoiners, when they have the opportunity to spend their precious Sats, is to refrain from doing so, and instead spend the euro / fiat shitcoin imposed on them.

On the face of it, this may seem perfectly reasonable, but it does make you wonder about the logic behind it. Bitcoin is designed to be used without permission. Isn't it obvious, then, that the more businesses that accept Bitcoin around you, the more choices you have as a sovereign Bitcoiner? In other words, the easier it is for you to spend your Sats without asking permission, the more valuable your own Bitcoins become. So in this sense, you need to encourage adoption, favoring businesses that accept Bitcoin to give them a competitive edge that will encourage others to follow their example.

So even in a logic of preserving the value of one's Bitcoin savings, participating in the adoption of Bitcoin to make it as easy as possible to spend it, is at least as important as "HODL".

If you have to go through a Exchange to be able to spend your Bitcoins, then they're potentially worth 0. If you can spend them anywhere, they're worth a lot more.

In summary, "spend" & "replace" seem to be the way forward. Participate in the development of adoption, distribute satoshis in as many places as possible, then buy back spent Satss as soon as possible.

Like its big brother Bitrefill, and its competitors (The Bitcoin Company, Coinsbee etc...) Coincards lets you spend your precious satoshis to buy gift cards that can then be used online or even in physical stores, at the major retailers around you. Which, of course, don't yet accept Bitcoin natively.

Coincards offers a wide range of choices, from retail to fast food, streaming platforms, online games, e-commerce sites and more...

They are present in the following regions: North America, Europe and Australia.

Coincards is committed to preserving your privacy. They allow you to pay in Bitcoin, On-Chain and Lightning, but also in Monero, the only shitcoin with a high sympathy capital in the Bitcoin community, due to the ideological proximities and numerous objectives shared by the two communities. As a reminder, Monero is a crypto asset that allows you to conceal your transactions, making them difficult or impossible to track on the Blockchain public register.

This is an opportunity to remind those who would like to pay for their gift cards in Bitcoin, while enjoying good privacy protection, to opt for Lightning Network to do so.

A selection of tutorials on the main Lightning wallets (Phoenix, Breez, BitKit, Zeus...) can be found here: Plan ₿ Academy - Wallet

If you'd like to learn more about how the Lightning Network works, a comprehensive training course is available.

First of all, Coincards does not require you to create an account. All you need to purchase your gift cards is a valid email address, which will enable you to receive them in digital format.

Creating an account is only useful for those who wish to have an overview of their cards and purchase history, for example.

Let's start by illustrating the purchase process without creating an account, and then we'll come back very quickly to the Coincards account and its functionalities.

Visit Coincards.com.

For this tutorial, we'll be focusing on Europe, and more specifically on France.

Using the menu at top right, you can sort the references in a preferred order. For example, "Sort by popularity" lets you see which cards are most popular with users.

For our example, we'll choose the Monoprix brand, a major French food retailer.

Take care to read the description of the chosen card at the bottom of the screen, to understand how it is to be used, and to identify any limitations, scope of use, validity date, etc.

Choose the value of your card, here for example €20 (this is the minimum allowed), then click on "ADD TO CART". Finally, select your basket using the icon at the top right of your screen.

On the order summary page, click on "PROCEED TO CHECKOUT".

On the next page, fill in your contact details (which can be pseudonymous, of course), but provide a valid e-mail address.

Choose your payment method, for us Bitcoin...

Finally, check the box "I have read and agree to the website terms and conditions" ...then click on "PROCEED TO BTCPAY".

Choose "Lightning", and scan the QR code with your favorite Lightning wallet. Pay now.

Once you've paid for the Invoice, you'll be presented with a summary page. Then go to your mailbox to receive your gift card.

We have received the gift card via the mailbox indicated at the time of purchase. Click on 'Claim Code'.

A web page opens, revealing your card's security codes and detailed explanations in the country's local language on how to use and spend your card.

So, buying a gift card with Coincards is really easy and doesn't require you to create an account. That said, let's take a look at the account creation process and what it brings us.

To do this, click on "Login/Register" at the top of the page.

Then click on "Register".

Enter your contact details and click on "Register".

You then get a dashboard that lets you track all your transactions on the platform in a single place.

And there you have it, you now know how to spend your bitcoins without KYC at major retailers for your everyday spending. It's not a particularly satisfactory method, and it's still "do-it-yourself". But until more people realize that it's in their interest to accept electronic cash in their businesses, it's still very useful...

If you'd like to help popularize Bitcoin and encourage an independent merchant to adopt this payment method, I recommend you take a look at our comprehensive tutorial on Swiss Bitcoin Pay. It's an all-in-one solution for BTC payment processors, easy to install and manage on a day-to-day basis: