Why should digital nomads use Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a quickly rising (and in many ways, exciting) digital currency. Over recent years it has been growing rapidly and I think it’s about time to pay attention to it as a digital nomad and start using it to benefit ourselves.

So what makes Bitcoin so good?

Bitcoin is great for digital nomads because it’s cheaper than banks for international transfers, gives you more control over your money, and is an easy way to start investing for the future from anywhere in the world than using more traditional markets like gold and stocks.

Let’s take a look at what I mean and how you can get started.

Bitcoin is cheaper than banks

I first started using Bitcoin to accept payments from Australia. Since I didn’t have any way to accept Australian dollars directly, I had to take something else. If I wanted to accept US dollars or British pounds, we would’ve needed to pay a few percent in conversion fees when going through the banks or something like Paypal.

Fortunately there are other options these days and I consider Bitcoin to be one of the best ways to accept payments from abroad. It’s cheap (often less than a dollar per transaction) and can arrive after as soon as 10 minutes.

Once you get the hang of it, sending Bitcoin is as simple as scanning a QR code with your phone. There is some initial setup if you want to use your own wallet, but you can avoid all of that and get started right away by opening an account with Coinbase. On Coinbase you can buy, sell, send and receive Bitcoin really easily.

Obviously not everyone will be willing to pay you (or be paid by you) in Bitcoin, but when you find people that are, you can save both time and money!

Bitcoin gives you freedom

I love freedom - it’s one of the main reasons I choose to be a digital nomad. Whenever possible, I’ll make decisions that grant me as much freedom as possible.

By this metric, using banks sucks in a few ways.

• They aren’t easy to open, especially in a country you aren’t from.
• They can be closed or restricted at any time when used abroad.
• Many don’t allow you to access all of your own money due to withdrawal and transfer limits.

Bitcoin doesn’t have any of these restrictions. Anyone can create a Bitcoin address whenever they want and spend all of their Bitcoin without restrictions.

Bitcoin knows no borders! You can use it wherever you go.

All that being said, make sure you don’t get too carried away - you still need to pay your taxes!

You can make money with Bitcoin

One way digital nomads can make money online is by day trading. Traditionally people have done this with foreign currencies and stocks but now Bitcoin markets are a great option too.

Please take this with a word of caution. Trading is not easy - don’t trade anything you aren’t willing to lose.

Trading Bitcoin can give you more opportunity than traditional markets because trading is allowed 24/7 and the Bitcoin market is generally more volatile.

My preferred exchange is Binance. It has low fees, high volume and is more reliable than a lot of other exchanges.

You can save with Bitcoin

Ever heard people recommend investing in gold? They do that because gold tends to keep its value while something like the US dollar loses its value due to inflation.

Bitcoin is similar to gold in that there can only ever be a limited amount of it so in theory it should keep its value over time.

Unlike gold, buying and selling Bitcoin is easy and you can get started with very small amounts. And when you do eventually have lots of Bitcoin, you won’t need to figure out where to store it - it’s digital cash.

Personally, I much prefer this to trading because I can just buy then forget about it. (Plus I don’t want to kid myself into thinking I can trade!)

I think everyone can benefit from having at least some Bitcoin in their investment portfolio, especially digital nomads who aren’t going to be dragging gold around with them everywhere they go! Keep in mind that this is not financial advice - all opinions are my own.

If you want to get serious with investments in Bitcoin, I highly recommend purchasing a hardware wallet to keep it safe and secure over a long period of time.

How to get started with Bitcoin

There are three main ways you can use Bitcoin.

1. Through an exchange.
2. With a hot wallet.
3. With a cold wallet.

The easiest way to get started is with an exchange. You can send Bitcoin from the exchange and receive to your account on the exchange.

That way, you don’t need to worry about private keys and keeping them safe.

Hot wallets

Once you are more comfortable with Bitcoin, you should consider using your own Bitcoin wallets instead. When an exchange has all of your Bitcoin, they ultimately have control over it and can restrict your access to it - just like banks.

For small amounts, you’ll do fine by downloading a Bitcoin wallet app on your phone.

To have full ownership of Bitcoin, you must have access to a private key. Usually this takes the form of 12 or 24 random words - remember (or write down) those and that’s all you need to use any Bitcoin sent to that wallet.

That’s why phone wallet apps will make you go through the process of putting the words somewhere safe before you can use them. Don’t worry though, it’s easy enough. Just follow the instructions.

It is critical that you don’t lose your private key. It’s the only way you can access your funds if something happens to your phone.

Most of these apps are called hot wallets because they can connect to the internet to let you spend your funds.

Cold wallets

One problem with hot wallets it that anything connected to the internet has a chance to get hacked. If somebody manages to steal your private key, you are in trouble.

The solution? Get a cold wallet - one that never connects to the internet. In reality, this means getting a specialized gadget that has only 1 purpose - keeping your private key as secure as possible. We call those gadgets hardware wallets.

If you have more than $1,000 worth of Bitcoin and want to sleep soundly at night, I strongly recommend picking up one of these hardware wallets. My favorite is the Ledger. It’s sleek, convenient and secure at a reasonable price.

Conclusion

Bitcoin is really cool technology and I am looking forward to being able to use it more often in the future. I hope I’ve inspired you to check it out (if you haven’t already) and start taking advantage of it.