Cryptocurrency or digital currency is fast becoming a household name on the internet today. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you must have heard about it. But if you haven’t, well, better late than never.

Cryptocurrencies are a great way to pay for goods and services online (especially sensitive products) as they offer a countless number of benefits compared to some conventional payment methods which can be restricting.

In this article, you’ll quickly learn about cryptocurrencies and how you can buy CBD oils with them.

WHAT ARE CRYPTOCURRENCIES?

Cryptocurrencies (or cryptos for short) are a digital form of money designed with a cryptographic framework to act as a medium of payment for goods and services or transfer of value.

So how is cryptocurrency different from the usual payment options such as credit cards, bank transfers, and  Paypal? While other payment methods adopt a centralized system, digital currencies are decentralized, meaning there is no central entity controls them.

Cryptocurrencies are built on blockchain technology. The blockchain is a public digital ledger. This means that they cannot be reversed, stolen, or counterfeited and they can only be altered when special conditions are met.

Digital currencies are stored in wallets. These wallets can be online or offline. There are top companies that maintain these wallets. To transfer units of any crypto to someone, you will need their wallet address, which is usually a string of alphanumeric characters.

While there are thousands of digital currencies today, some of the most popular ones include Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC).

Bitcoin (BTC)

Bitcoin (BTC) is known as the king of all cryptocurrencies. The digital currency was created in 2009 by a person or group of anonymous programmers under the pseudonym of “Satoshi Nakamoto.”

It is the first successful and most widely accepted digital currency in the world. It is a decentralized peer-2-peer payment system that lets you send money to anyone in the world, cheap and quick, regardless of your location or the receivers.

BTC gives you full control of your money. Your funds are always secure as long as you don’t share your private keys with anyone and keep them safe.

You can acquire bitcoin by mining it or buying it from an exchange or a local trader. Mining bitcoin requires the use of special devices, electricity, and some technical know how (or simply invest in some cloud mining company).

Your best bet of getting bitcoin real quick is to purchase some units from top exchanges like Coinbase (with PayPal) and Binance (with credit cards).

Litecoin (LTC)

Litecoin is another digital currency in the crypto space, and it was created by Charlie Lee, a former employee of Google. Just like Bitcoin, Litecoin serves as a payment system that allows you to send global payments in an instant and at a very minimal transaction fee.

You can also mine or buy units of Litecoin just like bitcoin. But if you wish to do some mining, then you have to do more research.

Benefits

As I mentioned earlier, cryptocurrencies offer great benefits, so you probably would want to know how they are better than conventional payment methods. Here are a few benefits for starters.

Fast and Easy

Cryptocurrencies are the quickest and simplest way to send global payments. It takes only a few seconds for the recipient to get the funds and less than 5 minutes for money to clear. This cannot be said for conventional methods that take up to 24 hours or even days to clear funds.

Cheap

The cost of sending cryptocurrencies is almost zero, which is not the same when compared to other payment methods.

Borderless

Sending money across borders has always been a hard nut to crack for many. Conventional payment systems are not fully supported in some countries, especially in third world nations. However, cryptocurrencies don’t discriminate. You can send money to anyone in the world, even if they are living in a cave (as long as they have access to the internet).

Secure

Cryptocurrencies are very reliable. They use strong encryption technique (cryptography) to secure and verify the transfer of funds between parties. Just like with every payment methods, it pays not to share your private keys with anyone.

Anonymous

Cryptocurrency transactions are anonymous (at least to a great extent). Although when you send and receive cryptocurrencies, the records are stored in public ledger that is accessible to all, your private data such as name and address are concealed.

HOW TO BUY CBD WITH CRYPTOCURRENCIES

The first step is to set up a crypto wallet. We recommend creating one at Coinbase.com as it makes the whole process of buying digital currencies (at least for beginners) a lot easier. Then you have to fund the wallet with units of your preferred crypto.  

Tip - Don’t let anyone create a crypto wallet for you.

Next is to find a reliable CBD store that accepts cryptocurrency payments, search for the product you want to buy, add to cart, and select cryptocurrency as your preferred payment method. Some CBD stores let you pay with major cryptos like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin, so you have to select one from the list.

Now place your order, and a designated crypto wallet address will appear, copy the address and paste it in your cryptocurrency wallet and send the appropriate amount to it.

Note - always copy a wallet address. Don’t try to type it or something, and make sure to triple check before sending the funds!