Thirteen years following their creation, what can you buy with bitcoins in Canada? The best-known cryptocurrency continues to make its mark, and not just as a source of investment: the solutions for spending these speculative digital assets on a daily basis are multiplying. However, tax returns may also be more complicated.
When Benjamin Perrin wants to buy a cappuccino, he pulls out his phone and pays for it with a prepaid bank card connected to Shakepayhis virtual wallet holding his bitcoins.
Each month, this Calgarian sells some of his cryptocurrencies to meet his daily expenses. The 30-year-old admits, however, that this way of life still has progress to make.
Before going to a mall, for example, I have to pre-purchase gift cards on the Internet. It’s not as easy as with a traditional bank card or cash, especially when paying in physical stores“, he explains.
Pay bills
For ideological reasons, he wishes to break away from the banking system and agrees to fundamentally change his habits.
Benjamin Perrin also pays his electricity or Internet bills in seconds with his cryptocurrencies through specialized websites, such as the Canadian leader Bull Bitcoin.
© Axel Tardieu/Radio-Canada
Using his phone and a computer, Benjamin Perrin pays his credit card balance in bitcoins using the Bull Bitcoin site.
Users pay in bitcoins an amount that Bull Bitcoin will then send in Canadian dollars to companies such as Hydro-Quebec, Bell or Scotiabank. Transaction fees apply from $100.
From Quebec, its president, Francis Pouliot, does not hide his pleasure to see his activity grow. We are riding the bitcoin trend. We have 10 times more commercial activity every two years“, he specifies.
This success, he attributes to the development of the cryptocurrency industry: At first, bitcoin was much more difficult to use. The apps weren’t great. Today there are a lot more tools, information and knowledge regarding it. It’s much more mainstream.»
On Bull Bitcoin, the most popular product is credit card balance payment. The second, it’s probably the rent payments», continues Francis Pouliot.
Gift cards and prepaid cards
In 2021, tens of thousands of bitcoin owners in Canada bought Uber, Amazon or Walmart gift cards on the Bitrefill site, assures Sergej Kotliar, head of this Swedish company present on Canadian soil for three years. Our sales are multiplied by three every yearhe says.
Canadians increasingly want to use their digital currencies, confirms company co-head Dave Bradley Bitcoin Wellin Edmonton. The number of users increases, there are more options to spend them and more desire to use them“, he deciphers.
© Screenshot
The Bitrefill site offers gift cards in a hundred stores in Canada.
According to the Bank of Canada, the adoption rate of bitcoin remains low in the country. About 5% of Canadians would hold this currency, but curiosity is growing within households.
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To make its use simpler and more attractive, cryptocurrency exchange platforms now offer a new generation of Visa or Mastercard prepaid card.
They offer to convert cryptocurrencies into Canadian dollars so that they can then pay for goods in any store. To attract customers, some offer to refund the Spotify or Netflix subscription and to donate up to 8% of customer spending.
At the start of 2022, some sixty platforms are offering the Visa card to their customers. Nearly $4.5 billion was spent with these Visa prepaid cards worldwide in 2021.
Pay directly, the niche in the niche
Payment directly in bitcoins is still rare and unpopular in Canada. About 300 businesses would accept it.
The dog grooming salon Paws Dog Day Carein Calgary, has been offering this service since September, but no one has wanted to try it so far.
“It’s still new in people’s minds. Taxation is, for the moment, not favorable to daily transactions, ”says Eric Yeung, the owner.
This new way of consuming on a daily basis will notably change future tax returns. In the eyes of Canadian law, cryptocurrencies are not currencies, but commodities.
© Axel Tardieu/Radio-Canada
Eric Yeung became interested in cryptocurrencies during the historic decline in March 2020.
Pay attention to taxes
Whether it is to invest once more or spend in a shop, the simple exchange of one cryptocurrency once morest another or once morest a monetary currency is likely to generate a capital gain or loss.
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) encourages investors to keep records for each of their transactions.
This is also the advice of Alexandre Ferreira-Silva, president of the accounting firm Crypto Impôt, seeing that many of his clients are starting to use one of the best-known rechargeable cards, that of Crypto.com.
Any transaction is taxable, so it is sure that it can become very complex for any individual to calculate its tax impacts.he says.
Unlike the traditional stock market which generates reports for you, T5 or T4, none of these cryptocurrency platforms generates any automatically. It might cost you dearly in professional fees.»
This accountant, expert in cryptocurrencies, also advises Canadians to be well informed regarding the costs of prepaid cards offered by specialized platforms.
Mastercard, Shakepay and Crypto.com did not respond to our interview requests.
