Buy Comics with Bitcoin?

Comics are more popular than they have ever been, especially with more and more characters making the transition to the screen thanks to publishing giants Marvel and DC. But this is not the only change that is affecting the comic book industry; some comic book stores both worldwide and in the United States are now accepting the cryptocurrency Bitcoin as payment for comic books.

So, what are Bitcoins?

Bitcoin is a decentralised cryptocurrency that exists within a peer-to-peer network worldwide. It is not tied in with any country’s economy or government. This also means that bitcoins are independent of banks and similar financial institutions. Transactions occur directly between parties without the need for an intermediary and each transaction is digitally and publicly recorded in such a way as to provide transparency and prevent counterfeiting.

Bitcoin has become very popular for online transactions, such as purchasing goods online and especially for playing games at online casinos, most of which have a small selection of slots that can be played with the currency. However, some websites, like Bitcasino, the first licensed gaming site to accept the token, have now adopted bitcoin at the expense of all other currencies, so you can play all games with bitcoin, including “live” variants that have a human dealer on webcam.

More recently, bitcoin has appeared in the physical world as is starting to become accepted alongside regular forms of payment such as cash and credit/debit cards, as well as traditional forms of payment like cash or credit and debit card payment. However, unlike conventional payments the transaction does not go through a third party such as bank or card merchant).

Bitcoin has recently taken off in Canada with a variety of brick-and-mortar retailers now accepting bitcoin such as grocery stores, restaurants, coffee shops, and electrical retailers. There are even bitcoin ATMs where you can exchange local currency for bitcoin and vice versa (a great way to access funds when on your travels).

Buying Comic books with Bitcoin

So, where can you buy comic books with bitcoin? So far in the United States there are comic book stores that accept bitcoin such as; Toonseum in Pittsburgh, Meltdown Comics and Collectibles in Los Angeles, Nattosoup in Nashville and Death Ray Comics in Logan. For example, Meltdown Comics has been using bitcoin since August 2013 in partnership with gogocoin and their bitcoin giftcard which could be loaded with anything from $25 to $500 which can then be redeemed online for bitcoin. The idea being to make simple and fast cash to bitcoin transactions with the help of local stores. They even have news about a comic book based upon bitcoin, Bitcoin Comic: The Hunt for Satoshi Nakamoto.

In comic books, we have access to worlds that can be vastly different from our own whether they are worlds where heroes make things better, worlds where technology is futuristic, worlds where even society and civilisation can be more advanced than our own. It may be that bitcoin will become a part of shaping those worlds in our reality after all, technology that was only dreamed about mere decades ago has become a part of our daily lives, maybe a single decentralised currency will replace the various currencies we currently use.