Bitcoin expands to daily, in-store purchases

A Bitcoin ATM sticker is posted to the window of a coffee shop in downtown Vancouver, Monday, Oct. 28, 2013. The ATM, which will be officially unveiled on Tuesday, will allow consumers to exchange Canadian cash for digital cash. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, JONATHAN HAYWARD)

JONATHAN HAYWARD, ASSOCIATED PRESS

For this Saturdays Georgia Tech home football game against Duke, fans should bring their team jersey, face paint, beer-resistant poncho and smartphone, but forget the wallet. Theres a new way to pay for concessions at Georgia Tech: bitcoin, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Bobby Dodd Stadium at Georgia Tech is only one of a growing list of places integrating the use of digital currency.

"Bitcoin is described by bitcoin.org as 'an innovative payment network and a new kind of money.' It is a peer-to-peer payment network with no middleman. Users send and receive bitcoins within the (digital) network of those honoring the system," reports a Deseret News article from April.

Companies like Dell, Dish Network, Expedia, Overstock, Amazon and, most recently, PayPal are a few big names accepting bitcoin as payment for online shopping, reports the International Business Times. PayPal-using merchants, like eBay, Uber, Airbnb and TaskRabbit, will soon also begin taking the currency.

But Bitcoin is also being used beyond cyberspace. It is entering the real world.

Some 3,000 businesses around the world accept bitcoin for payment, according to coinmap.org, says the Wall Street Journal.

"Brick-and-mortar stores including Home Depot, CVS, Kmart and Sears" accept bitcoin at their check-out stands, reports Forbes.

Local mom-and-pop stores and restaurants are upgrading to the digital currency, too. Right now, only a handful of retailers in each big city are taking bitcoins, but that number is growing. Coinmap provides an interactive worldwide map to click and zoom to find nearby bitcoin-accepting retailers and restaurants.

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Bitcoin expands to daily, in-store purchases

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