This is a special trip report, because I'm not exactly on a trip. I live in Vancouver, and after writing so many trip reports from overseas I felt the need to share a bit about the community that I am a part of. Vancouver, BC is the only city in North America that has any sizable Bitcoin merchant adoption, and it's quite significant. A lot of the work goes back to early 2023, when the bar at the regular BTC Vancity meetup no longer wanted to open for events and we had to organize our own. We moved from fiat-only to bitcoin-only self-service without warning, and within three events 90% of our guests had a Lightning wallet on their phone. This inspired some energetic discussions, and soon the first coffee shop in the city began accepting Lightning payments. Within a few months it was five shops, and now there are over 100 pins on BTCMap, thanks also to the enthusiastic work from Cole at Coinos. For a community of this size, BTCmap can become hard to use, especially since many businesses on the map are open only by appointment or provide services you might have no interest in. I maintain my own list with recommendations, but I have never documented my experiences interacting with merchants in Vancouver before.

I compiled this list over the past four weeks. I went to sixteen different merchants. Some I go to multiple times a week, others are a bit more out of the way for me. I ordered them geographically instead of chronologically, so I hope this can be useful for visitors.

🚬In the heart of the city's entertainment district lies Mr. Vape, a vape, tobacco and convenience store open 24/7. They accept sats through Coinos, and the process can be a big difficult to navigate for those from out of town. First, locate the Coinos QR code near the register and navigate to the shop's Coinos checkout page. Ask for your total and enter that amount into the checkout page, decline the tip and pay the Lightning invoice you're given. Once the invoice is paid, tell the cashier so they can locate the Coinos printer hidden somewhere underneath the counter and find the payment receipt, which will list, in Canadian dollars, how much you paid. There's a chance the printer isn't plugged in or out of paper, in which case the owner has to be called to confirm the payment. In the past, when the owner was not there, they would often just trust me with small amounts. I find this user flow far less than ideal, but it does push a lot of the complexity of a payment towards the customer and away from the shop, and as a result this shop accepts Bitcoin payments quite reliably.

🌈Funk Coffee has become a fixture in the community, regularly hosting Bitcoin events such as Bitdevs, talks, film screenings and regular meetups. They have excellent coffee and also roast their own beans. People also come here for a beer or wine, and if you spend an hour or two here it's quite likely you'll see some Bitcoiners walking in! You can get a 5% discount for paying with Bitcoin here, which is processed through Coinos running on a tablet.

🥪Mangez Mangez is a place popular for lunch and sandwiches, very close to Funk Coffee. The first two times I came here I was told that "the tablet is not available" and "the system is down," but the third time there was a new sticker on the door advertising Bitcoin payments, as well as a Coinos QR code by the till. I scan the QR code, enter the amount and tip and show my "payment success" screen to the cashier, who doesn't seem to have a way of confirming the payment independently.

☘️Mahony's is a pub right by the waterfront. It has incredible views over coal harbour, where you can see the cruise ships pass by and the seaplanes take off. It feels a bit touristy in the summer season, but it provides the most professional Bitcoin experience in Vancouver. The place is relatively large and has a lot of staff, which change frequently, but everyone knows about Bitcoin payments and how to handle them. I sit by the bar and ask to pay with Bitcoin, and the bartender doesn't flinch, pulls up the Clover payment terminal they also use for card payments, closes the Clover app, opens Eukapay and types in the amount. I select the tip, the payment network (onchain, Lightning and a bunch of altcoins), pay the Bolt11 invoice and wait for the green tick to appear. Another staff comes by, checks the transaction history and confirms I paid.

🍦Uno Gelato might not sound appealing to a native Italian speaker, but their gelato is quite decent. Like Mahony's, they also use Eukapay. There are two locations, one by False Creek along a very popular walking and biking route, and another right by the Convention Centre. Luckily there was nobody behind me when I placed my order. The server had never processed a Bitcoin payment and had to call their boss, who gave quick instructions. When selecting Lightning I only got the error "rate unavailable," and when making an onchain payment instead the payment wasn't picked up by the system, so the server canceled the payment and I paid with card instead and double-spent my onchain utxo. I later email Eukapay support and they wrote back within a week telling me they fixed the issue. I go back to Uno Gelato and indeed I am now given a Lightning invoice, but the green tick never appears as I pay it. The manager says they can see the transaction in their transaction history and let me go, but I'm not so sure if they really can. A third time I go the employee very confidently reaches for the tablet and creates an invoice for me, and doesn't even wait for the green tick to appear on their screen, but let's me go as soon as they see the transaction being successful on my phone.

🥫The Bepsi machine is a classic. It's a beautiful 70s vending machine and fully operational. It's inside of DCTRL on West Pender Street, a legendary crypto hackerspace, almost twelve years old. The Bepsi machine used to accept zero-conf Bitcoin transactions, now it accepts Lightning payments and USDC on various networks. Check out the calendar on their site to see if events are going on, because the machine is not generally open to the public.

🌴Al Madina is a convenience store right across the street from DCTRL. It's quite well stocked and also has a Bitcoin ATM. At the checkout scan the QR code on the counter, enter the amount, pay your invoice and ask the cashier to check the printer to the right of the point of sale terminal. It should list the amount you paid.

☕Near the beach and the city's prime park is Milano's Coffee. The company is a franchise, and only this location accepts Bitcoin. The experience can differ, some staff will show you the static Coinos QR code while others will generate an invoice on the tablet. Previously staff had complained to me they do not receive the tips paid in Bitcoin, so I leave some cash instead.

🍣VanLove Sushi is a small sushi restaurant on Robson Street, just around the corner from Denman. There used to be more Bitcoin stickers here, now there is just a tiny one by the till. I order, eat my food and walk up to the cashier. At first they cannot hear me when I ask to pay with Bitcoin, but then they promptly locate their tablet and issue me an invoice, clicking the tipping option away.

🍬City Park Express is a short walk from the waterfront, right next to a big bicycle rental. I haven't spent Bitcoin in a while here and was worried they wouldn't accept it anymore, especially since all the stickers are gone. The owner says they do still take Bitcoin, and pulls up his Coinos wallet. He asks me to guide him through it on how to create an invoice. He tells me they are about to get a new Bitcoin ATM in the store, too. I wonder how this works when the owner is not here.

🥗Salad House lets you mix your own salad in a bowl, and pay per kilo. As a first-time customer you get to guess the weight of your salad, and believe it or not, I managed to do that. I still had to pay for my soup and my drink over Lightning. The merchant has their Coinos QR code displayed by the register, and uses a smart phone to check whether the payment was received, somewhat an improvement over the printer. As I came back, I asked the owner to generate an invoice for me on his phone instead, which worked much smoother but required some training.

🫘There's a coffee roaster at an artist hub in an old industrial area near Downtown. The roaster, Honest to Pete serves coffee and sells ground and unground beans. They use IBEX Pay and I always find the checkout experience very smooth, you just select a tip, scan the QR code on the display of the mounted tablet and pay. The owner wasn't there on the day I bought coffee, but enough people seem to come here for all the staff to be very comfortable with the process.

🐖Butcher's Block BBQ only began accepting Bitcoin recently. There is no sign on the door or in the restaurant indicating they accept Bitcoin, which is a shame, but I heard from multiple people in the community they do. The BBQ platter I order is indeed great, probably as good as it gets outside the southern USA. As the bill arrives I ask about Bitcoin, and am promptly handed a laminated Coinos QR code. I scan the QR code, enter the amount into the web page, take the Lightning invoice and pay it. I tip in cash and wait for the waitress to confirm the payment on their smart phone. On a second visit another waitress said she prefers the tip over Lightning, as tips are shared among all staff and having it in a common account is easier.

🍺Container Brewing is a wonderful brewery in an industrial outskirt only thirty minutes walk from the city center. They serve a wide variety of high quality West Coast craft beers indoors and outdoors. They also regularly host live musicians. Like at most breweries, you pay for each beer separately, then carry it yourself to your seat. I like this kind of "service" best and think it's most suited for accepting Bitcoin payments. They have a single point of sale, a regular Square terminal on which they can also run the CoinOS web app. They will type in the amount, swing the PoS around, you decide on the tip and pay the Bolt11 invoice. One of the better Lightning experiences in Vancouver.

🐦‍⬛Park Drive is a sports bar along the lively Commercial Drive. They have a good selection of beers and simple dishes. I asked to pay with Bitcoin at the end of my round, and the waitress seemed a bit confused. I suggested somebody else can help with it, and quickly a tablet arrived at my table. It's internet connection had to be refreshed, then they pulled up their Coinos profile, entered the amount, slid it over for me to select a tipping percentage and make the payment. Definitely one of the smoother experiences.

🫘Laughing Bean Coffee started accepting Lightning payments in early 2023, the first shop to do so in the entire city. It's located in the east, near the off-ramp of highway 1, which crosses Canada from BC to Newfoundland. It's a wonderful coffee shop, independently owned and operated with a lot of personal charm. I recommend the cinnamon rolls when you're here! The process is a bit different than at other places. The QR code on the counter contains an LNURL which you can scan with any wallet. That means your local wallet will do the conversion from dollars to sats, which can be a bit awkward when that conversion is off from the Coinos rate, which is displayed on a receipt that a little printer under the till prints out. There's also no clear indication how tipping works. You can overpay, but there doesn't seem to be an accounting mechanism that keeps track of the tips, so maybe it's more appreciated to leave some fiat in the cup.

Other recommendations:

🥞Ross Crepes, Lonsdale 🧜‍♂️Poseidon, Langley 🐋Killer Ice Cream, Kitsilano ✂️Alter Ego Barbershop, Yaletown 🍕4 Brothers Pizza, Downtown

Lessons learned:

The Coinos QR codes may appear difficult to use and needlessly complex, but they have proven to be very useful in retaining merchants that have a lot of staff or high turnover. They move the complexity of accepting Bitcoin payments from the merchant to the user. This works under the assumption that there are very few users, who are savvy and willing to spend Bitcoin to support the network and their community. The process they developed is also primarily catering to Coinos users, while disadvantaging users of other wallets.

As the community grows, users are demanding not just the ability to pay with Bitcoin. I do have a few friends who do not care much about Bitcoin, but they all have a Lightning wallet. We are using Lightning to share dinner or pay each other back for tickets. Some of these friends regularly use Lightning to buy eSIMs or top up their VPNs. When I am out with these friends I notice they are happy to pay with Bitcoin when it's convenient, but they would never go through some of the flows described above, not even for a five percent discount.

Ultimately user experience will matter, and we should better think of it early.

Another complexity is that of tipping. I personally think tipping culture makes your dining experience worse and can even directly be blamed for poor food quality in North America, but it does exist, business models depend on it and people demand to tip almost as much as they demand to be tipped.

There are very few payment processors that have a functional tipping flow: IBEXPay, Coinos and LNbits come to mind. Others, such as Neutronpay, OpenNode, BTCPay or Coingate either do not have the functionality at all, or it's lacking in fundamental and basic ways. There is no system that allows tips to be collected, accounted for and distributed along pre-defined rules. Often enough in Vancouver, Bitcoin tips are not welcome, because they are either "lost," difficult to track or straight up not accounted for.

You'd think that Bitcoin payments are best suited for e-commerce, but there are very few businesses where you can spend your Bitcoin online. I can't exactly explain why this is, but the cost to set up and maintain a proper e-commerce integration may not be worth the benefit of a few orders paid in sats per month. In-person, the cost of accepting Bitcoin is much lower, and issues can be resolved on the spot.

Please come visit Vancouver if you get a chance! Use Bitcoin every day whenever you can!