Yes, this will be old hat to some, but you can definitely do more with cryptocurrency than letting it sit in a digital wallet. And you don’t even have to use a chain of different websites to do so. Online, local services exist that let you spend Bitcoin and its progeny directly, including playing bills.
The strangely-named Living Room of Satoshi is one service that allows you to pay your bills via BPAY using various cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. Amounts are limited to $1000, though you can issue multiple payments for bills greater than the limit.
What’s interesting (or disturbing, depending on your point of view) is that LROS tracks the type of payments made and where they go. Information that it makes publicly available.
Unsurprisingly, around 50 per cent of payments are for credit cards, with phone/internet and electricity/gas both coming in at roughly 10 per cent. NAB, Westpac and St George appear the most popular banks, with the majority of payments occurring on a Thursday.
So, if your comfortable with adding your (anonymous) data to these statistics and you have cryptocurrency burning a hole in your electronic pocket, Living Room of Satoshi provides a practical way of using those coins.