Many of the critics of cryptocurrency asset like Bitcoin and Ethereum argue that nobody spends them as they are intended to be, and even less accept it as payment making everyday tasks like shopping or traveling extremely challenging if only using cryptocurrency as a means to pay for goods and services.
However, a Gold Coast, Australian vlogger created a 12-week “crypto challenge” where she set a goal of traveling to Europe to attend the annual London Blockchain Week to learn more about what cryptocurrency and blockchain offered the young woman for career opportunities.
Jaide Barclay Ditches Career for Cryptocurrency, Launches 12-Week Challenge
Crypto vlogger and co-host of the Youtube show ‘Crypto With Jess & Jaide,’ Jaide Barclay left her regular life on the Gold Coast of Australia to pursue a career in cryptocurrency.
After investing in the digital asset class in 2017 like so many others, Barclay became infatuated with the emerging technology and disruptive financial asset. Recently, she decided that she wanted to get more involved in the cryptocurrency sector, and set out on a plane to Europe with the goal of attending London Blockchain Week.
Before the trip, Barclay claims she had never “had never actually purchased anything with” her cryptocurrency, but through her interest in the digital asset class and through her love for travel and passion for learning more, she decided to challenge herself and see if she could “live on crypto” throughout her travels.
Related Reading | Social Media Outage Highlights Why Facebook Libra Cryptocurrency Puts Personal Privacy At Risk
The vlogger shared the idea on Instagram, and the cryptocurrency community instantly supported the positivity.
Spending Crypto is Hard Because HODL, Not Because You Can’t
The tour took Barclay across seven different countries and a grand total of 16 different cities living only on nothing but cryptocurrency to pay for goods and services. The passionate crypto advocate documented her entire journey through – to no surprise – a vlog.
Barclay just completed her challenge, and says that the key to finding locations that accepted cryptocurrency was simply Googling for the information.
Related Reading | Bitcoin Price Action: Volatility is Back in a Big Way, Tom Lee Says To Buy and HODL
“I Googled places that accepted cryptocurrency in the different places I was visiting,” she said, adding that the businesses were “were either physical shops or websites that I could pay for things with crypto.”
Towards the end of her 12-week challenge, though, Barclay admits that she stopped spending as much of her crypto holdings because the price of Bitcoin was going up so much towards the end of her journey. Despite curbing her own spending due to the HODL effect, Barclay does believe that each passing year “we will see more and more places accepting it and more people knowing what it is,” and that as the “market matures and prices become less volatile, more people will start spending it.”
We look forward to those days, Jaide.