Nittany here, I just dropped a new video that hits super close to home.
This past weekend, I took my mom to Manzara Cafe in Rochester, NY — one of the few spots around me that accepts Bitcoin. I wanted to show her firsthand how easy it is to spend Sats in the real world.
We grabbed coffee and dessert, and I paid over the Lightning Network in seconds. She was honestly surprised how fast and painless it was. She even admitted it seemed quicker than using Apple Pay. Sheesh!
Small wins like this remind me how important it is to show everyday people that Bitcoin can work as money.
We also talked in the car afterwards about whether she’d ever try paying with Bitcoin herself one day. Her curiosity is growing, and that’s a huge win in my book.
Big shoutout to Mama Nittany for coming along and being such a good sport.
If you’re curious, here’s the video: https://youtu.be/uFqpI0Bg5SQ.
Would love to hear from you guys:
- Have you ever paid for coffee (or anything else) with Bitcoin?
- What was your family’s first reaction to seeing Bitcoin in action?
Let’s keep stacking. Cheers!
I am seeing the amount of places I can spend bitcoin grow rapidly in real time. Last week I paid for lunch at steak and shake and a couch in person with bitcoin. I also bought, soap, electrolyte mix, and other health related products online. I am hopeful that the next 5-10 years the trend continues. Every time I am considering a major purpose I always ask if they accept bitcoin. If they do I almost always purchase.
I love your approach, spend where Bitcoin is accepted. 9 times out of 10 it’s a mom and pop shop or someone into Bitcoin. It naturally creates circular economies. I’m glad you’re seeing the growth first hand, makes me smile ear to ear.
It’s still hard to find shops that accept lightning but it’s getting easier every year. I use a Coinbase debit card with some small amount of custodial Bitcoin which solves the issue until more merchants adopt Lightning.
Of course its not easy, but with time it willl get better. Keep on making small talk, offering to pay in Bitcoin, share stories, all while painting the bigger picture. Thanks for the comment!
Last year I went on a 6 month vacation in North India and demo'ed Wallet of Satoshi (and just how fast lightning transactions are compared to even India's UPI digital payment system) to over 100 people. Sadly I now regret having spent way too much and giving away way too many sats to complete strangers. I got carried away in the hype of spreading the word about bitcoin. I could have easily given away just a 100 sats instead of 1000 or 10,000 to so many people.
I also paid using Bitcoin for almost EVERYTHING on my trip. How? Well, everyone accepts UPI digital payments in India using a QR code. What I would do is, whenever I had to make such a fiat payment, I would go to my exchanges (paxful, noones and binance) and sell the equivalent amount of bitcoin and give the seller the QR code/UPI ID of the merchant shop where I was standing. This process of selling btc > fiat payment checkout usually took no more than 5 minutes.
Hey, you put in the work! You’ll be rewarded or have already been rewarded. No worries at all! The whole process is different but much better for both parties. You get to spend your Bitcoin and the party gets to saving in Bitcoin, ideally. Ha!
This is such a wholesome and powerful story, Nittany. Showing your mom how Bitcoin works in real life especially in such a simple, human moment like grabbing coffee is exactly the kind of adoption we need. It breaks the “Bitcoin is too technical” myth and replaces it with lived experience.
The fact that she compared it to Apple Pay and found Bitcoin faster? That’s a major win. Sometimes it's these quiet, everyday moments that make the biggest impact.
Salute to Mama Nittany for keeping an open mind. Would love to see more stories like this. Thanks for sharing and inspiring!
There's a great BahnMi Vietnamese Bread roll shop here in Christchurch that takes BTC and at every opportunity I take friends and family there for lunch. They make the best BahnMi pulled pork filled bread roll and Iced coffee. It is currently the only restaurant for hundreds of miles accepting BTC. It is fun to take people there and show how easy paying with Bitcoin is especially if they are skeptics, like most people I know irl. In my experience food and hospitality outlets that accept Bitcoin are tend to be well above average in terms of quality so always and especially when traveling I give them high preference. If we preference the currently very few BTC accepting bars and restaurants we are at least supporting those businesses and encouraging Bitcoin MoE utility to expand...and it is a great way of showing family and friends how capable LN has become.
Love that! I have a couple go-to's depending where I am. I tend to think food/dining does the absolute best with Bitcoin. Honestly not sure why, but I love it!
Agree on 100% food hospo being a great fit with Bitcoin- with food and bars there is a strong social and human element- sharing food is (or should be) a joy and paying with Bitcoin makes the whole thing feel more special - I have a theory that in food/hospo feeling and care are very important and that Bitcoin accepting venues are probably more passionate about what they do and it shows in their food/service...for most businesses to offer Bitcoin payment requires a level of commitment above the average imo. When I go to a Bitcoin accepting bar or food outlet I feel at home and among like minded people!
You hit it, I always notice things like that. If they care about one thing that not many people care about, that usually means they care about a lot of things. So far every place I’ve spent Bitcoin, has been great and would recommend to keep going back! I never thought of this theory until you mentioned it, so thank you!
to this day, only for things online. one disadvantage of living in a small city is the scarcity of bitcoiners.
a family member of mine expressed awe and some anxiety when i showed him how i use SN to zap people.
"I don't know if I'm ready for that," he said.
it made me realize how much mental work this involves.
There is definitely work to do, they never said it was going to be easy. Sure in my video I say it’s easy, but that’s due to the fact I’ve shown and shared my experiences with my family for almost 3 years now.
Time will tell, it’s good to hear that a family member expressed interest. That’s always a great sign!
Very cool, cheers to showing your mom!
Yes in El Salvador I have paid with bitcoin, and many found it frictionless for the most part :)
Thanks! I have always wanted to visit El Salvador, especially the Bitcoin Beach area. Glad the initiative is still going!
Just took my mom to Manzara Cafe in Rochester—one of the rare spots nearby that accepts Bitcoin. We grabbed coffee and dessert, and I paid using Lightning in seconds. She was shocked at how fast it was—faster than Apple Pay, even.
It sparked a cool convo in the car about her maybe trying it herself one day. Felt like a small, meaningful win.
Video’s here if you're curious: https://youtu.be/uFqpI0Bg5SQ
Ever paid for something with Bitcoin? What did your family think when they saw it in action? Let’s keep stacking ⚡
Thank you for sharing your story with all of us. I am so glad you were able to introduce your mom to the world of Bitcoin. I personally use the Lightning Network to pay for a Bitcoin tutoring program I receive.
No problem! I love sharing and seeing how it’s going. I’m very lucky to have such a wonderful mother. Who not only supports me but cares about it almost as much as I do!
I love hearing how you use it too, keep it up.
Cool
I definitely think using lightning for something in the real world is a powerful way to convert someone. I'm still hoping to have this experience!
It makes the most sense and feels closet to the current system of paying for everyday items. I sure hope more options roll out to help onboard “normies” to using Bitcoin and lightning with everyday spend. But we also need more merchant adoption, it would be great to test of Square’s POS terminal whenever that rolls out!
As long as you put some work in, plan a bit, are open and flexible, you will have this experience in no time.