Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) have made it easier for us to send money around the planet, but is it easy to use them when travelling?
PayPal is an online wallet that’s been around for a lot longer, but does that mean that it’s easier to use?
With the number of cash transactions in Ireland declining in recent years, it’s worth taking a moment to consider whether one of these digital payments suits you better than the other.
The legal situation − can you use Bitcoin or PayPal easily while travelling in Ireland?
At the time of writing, there are no regulations concerning the use of cryptocurrencies in Ireland.
This means that no specific laws are telling you what you can or can’t do, which has led to around 10% of all Irish adults holding digital currencies.
A little over a third of them have chosen BTC, with Dogecoin and Ethereum as the next most popular tokens.
The number of people holding these coins has dropped slightly from 2021 to 2022, coinciding with a difficult period of falling prices across the crypto market.
The Central Bank has issued warnings in the past, pointing out the risks of investing in these volatile currencies, but there are currently no signs of any laws being proposed.
With PayPal, the company is properly registered in Ireland, so there’s no problem with using your account.
However, you’ll want to check the list of their transaction fees before doing this, as it’s possibly going to be an area where Bitcoin’s peer-to-peer transactions model works out better for you.
Where can you spend Bitcoin and PayPal? − your best options
The first point to note is that there are some crypto ATMs around Ireland where you can withdraw cash or buy cryptos, with most of them found in and around Dublin.
Early in 2022, Wexford received its first Bitcoin ATM, which was installed in Gorey. In terms of where you can spend your BTC, you can find a relatively limited range of coffee shops, restaurants and other places to spend these tokens.
As with the ATMs, most of these businesses are in Dublin or other major cities, such as Cork or Galway.
Online purchases are also possible, with online casinos providing an example of sites that accept a broad range of payment methods.
This looks at PayPal casinos in Ireland and lets us see sites such as KingBilly, LuckyDays and Arcanebet.
They all accept BTC as well as PayPal, and a selection of other methods, as well as offering welcome bonuses for new players who join them.
PayPal is best known as a wallet that lets us send money to other users or pay for goods and services online. Yet, the PayPal Ireland site also lets us see how it’s possible to use this account to pay on a touch-free basis with a QR code when shopping.
Both are good options that can help you pay while in Ireland and having access to both of them would give you a lot of flexibility.
However, if you need to decide between one or the other, you might want to take into account factors such as the volatility of Bitcoin and the cost involved in using PayPal, which are arguably the two most important areas where they differ.
