Personal Experience: Part 9 – Bitcoin vending on the Clearnet
Posted by: Joseph Meehan
January 20, 2015
This a post in series of posts describing a personal experience from learning about the DNM’s to becoming a vendor – all the parts of this series will be available to here: ExperienceTag
I want to take this in a slightly different direction. I have not found a home yet for my freelance writing on the Darknet. Many marketplaces have a very narrow focus. Those that have a wider variety are still in a certain category: goods and services that fall into a legal gray area.
There’s definitely a lack of freelance writing offered on the Darknet, but after poking around the marketplaces, forums and different listings I don’t know if I see a real demand for it. Since freelance writing doesn’t fall into that gray area, it is hard to think of the Darknet marketplaces as a good home. The consumer base there is not looking for things they can easily find on the clearnet. The people that I want to market my services to simply are not looking on the Darknet. Content writers, editors, ghostwriters, and other freelancers can offer their services in the open without worry of the authorities coming down on them.
There are still a few benefits to doing legitimate business on the Darknet. Tax-free income gives users the ability to feel like they can conduct business without giving a portion of their income to something in which they don’t believe. The anonymity allows users to enjoy things like tax-free income without government interference and without having to worry about their livelihood and quality of life being threatened.
So this column, while it started off as exploration of the Darknet markets, is going to evolve into an exploration of all things related to Bitcoin on the Clearnet. New places to spend Bitcoin, Bitcoin yellow pages and directories, weekly updates on what new websites are accepting Bitcoin as payment, the best ways to offer Bitcoin as a payment option for your own goods or services, how to get your business or service listed as accepting Bitcoin. There are a growing number of places to spend your Bitcoin. Well-known digital businesses including Newegg, WordPress, Overstock and Expedia accept BTC as payment for their services. All around the world brick-and-mortar shops are starting to accept Bitcoin as well.
Bitcoin is going to stick around for the moment. It’s a smart choice for businesses to accept. There is no downside. Accepting Bitcoin as payment only brings in new business and doesn’t drive away any of your existing customers. It gives people another option in how they pay for the goods they want.
Every Bitcoin transaction is an important vote. Each transaction is a vote against traditional currencies and against a centralized banking system. Every time you spend Bitcoin it is a vote against the fraudulent and corrupt big banks that have driven our country into economic decline and taken advantage of everyone they could sink their teeth into. Every single Bitcoin is a vote against these things and a vote for reform, a vote for a different future.
The shift in subject matter in this column is going to cover those votes and how the people and places around us in everyday life are making those votes possible. Bitcoin is poised to revolutionize the currency and payment system and we are here to bear witness. We will vote, we will fight and we will find a better economic future.
Updated: 2015-01-20