Cryptocurrencies, for the majority of people, are generally considered to be only high-risk investments. However, most cryptocurrencies, such as BTC or LTC, have been created to be used in the real world and as a result can have a wide range of use cases. Below are seven ways to spend cryptocurrencies.
Low-cost money transfers
One of the most popular ways to use cryptocurrencies is to send and receive payments at a low-cost  in a short time.
For example, a recent $1 billion transaction cost the sender only $700 in commission, equal to a 0.00007% fee.
If this transfer of money had been made via a financial intermediary, the commissions would have been exponentially higher and the transfer would certainly have taken several days, not to mention the need for various authorisations.
A censorship-resistant deposit
A simple bank account could be frozen for several reasons.
It is enough to be accused, perhaps unjustly, of financial misconduct. It could also happen that the bank in which the funds are held gets into trouble and goes bankrupt.
Cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin, act as a censorship-resistant alternative for storing wealth to which only the individual with the private keys of the wallet has access.
As a result, no personal bitcoin wallet can ever be frozen by the authorities unless, of course, they are able to take possession of the private keys.
Investing in innovative startups
The emergence of token-based fundraising has allowed anybody with an Internet connection and some savings to become a startup investor.
ICOs, and in the last period IEOs, are a new form of fundraising that offers startups the opportunity to raise capital by selling digital tokens linked to their project.
In the past, access to these types of investments was only available to venture capitalists, but the advent of cryptocurrencies has opened these opportunities to a much wider spectrum of investors.
Carrying out private transactions
Privacy-focused digital currencies such as Monero (XMR) and Zcash (ZEC) allow users to make anonymous financial transactions.
This means that anyone can make money transfers without having to explain to the bank why they are moving a large amount of money, or what the sources of funds are and to whom they are directed.
Receiving tokens to publish content
The world’s first social media and blogging platform, Steemit, enables publishers to receive financial rewards in the form of cryptocurrencies for publishing quality content.
Steemit financially helps its users by rewarding them for contributing to the platform instead of collecting user data and selling it to third parties as other platforms do.
Travelling the world
Another of the most common ways to use cryptocurrencies is to plan a trip.
Thanks to the growth of the cryptocurrency ecosystem in recent years, it is now possible to travel the world using only crypto.
Established travel agencies, such as Destinia, accept bitcoin (BTC) as a payment method for booking flights and car rentals.
For those who prefer to stay in a hotel when travelling, they can book accommodation using Travala or TravelbyBit.
In addition, with the growth of the bitcoin ATM market, travellers can convert their cryptocurrencies into local currency in major cities around the world.
Space travel
Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson’s commercial space travel company, has stated that it accepts bitcoin payments for future space travel bookings.
However, the California-based company has not yet successfully launched a commercial space flight.
Many future astronauts have already paid for their tickets worth about $250,000 in bitcoin, including the famous twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.
