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SALT LAKE CITY — 2017 has been interesting.
One of the year’s biggest surprises was bitcoin’s seemingly spontaneous and meteoric rise when the cryptocurrency quickly became worth more than it ever has been. Even Google searches for the word bitcoin spiked in the last couple of months.
Bitcoin’s value reached its peak Dec. 17, stopping just short of $20,000. One bitcoin is currently worth nearly $16,000.
Bitcoin is a decentralized, digital currency — meaning bitcoin and the bitcoin network just consist of people using bitcoin with no banks, governments and boundaries. There are websites and apps to help people buy, sell and manage their bitcoin, and most people do so by using an exchange website.
Those who bought bitcoin back when it wasn’t worth too much are sitting pretty now — unless the market crashes, which many think it might. Some warn that the market may even be a bubble. If bitcoin owners want to sell their cryptocurrency before it loses value, they can cash it in for regular currency.
And though everyone might be on the bitcoin craze, there still aren’t a ton of businesses and organizations that accept it as payment. Those that do are few and far between.
Dr. Harrison Salisbury, a chiropractor at his own clinic in Orem, is one of the few. Salisbury has been a cryptocurrency fan since the beginning and even paid for his schooling with the money he accrued from bitcoin.
“We started accepting it as a way to kind of promote it and let people know about it,” he said. “I think it’s like knowing about the internet before it came to be. So in (accepting it), I would attract unique customers — people who are looking for local businesses where they can spend their bitcoin.”
For Utahns who are looking for places to spend their bitcoin, here are 15 local businesses that currently accept the cryptocurrency as payment:
- Coral Springs Resort: The St. George resort just recently started accepting bitcoin from customers after teaming up with BitPay, a popular bitcoin service provider. The hotel has two- and three-bedroom suites designed to accommodate up to 12 guests.
- Pie Hole: The pizza restaurant in Salt Lake has long accepted bitcoin as payment.
- Village on the Parkway: This UVU student housing complex in Orem will accept bitcoin from residents.
- Edge Creek Property Management: Edge Creek is a residential and commercial real estate company in Provo that will accept bitcoin from clients.
- Wallaroo Media: Provo social advertising and digital marketing service Wallaroo Media hasn’t had anyone try to pay in bitcoin, but they accept it!
- RHS Consulting LLC: This is a multidisciplinary consulting engineering firm that also accepts bitcoin.
- Brain & Spine Upper Cervical Chiropractic: Dr. Salisbury is happy to accept bitcoin from patients who come into his private chiropractic practice in Orem.
- Mission Belt: This Orem company sells no-holes belts and has recently caught the attention of Shark Tank investors. It also accepts bitcoin.
- Experience the Difference: Provo bodywork and massage company Experience the Difference accepts bitcoin and has had one person pay with the cryptocurrency.
- Rugged Grounds: Provo coffee shop Rugged Grounds accepts both bitcoin and Litecoin — an alternative cryptocurrency that's rocketed along with bitcoin.
- Castle Park Wedding and Events Center: Castle Park is a full-service venue in Lindon that will accept bitcoin from customers.
- Love Bodywork LC: This Centerville company offers deep-tissue and hot-stone massages and will accept bitcoin as payment.
- Bernie & Brothers Barber Co.: Midvale barbershop Bernie & Brothers is the first and only barbershop in Utah to accept bitcoin.
- Guru Technologies: Layton-based Guru Technologies is a custom software development company that accepts bitcoin from clients.
- Overstock.com: Overstock is a Utah-based internet retailer headquartered in Midvale. The company accepts bitcoin for purchases and installed a bitcoin ATM at its corporate headquarters in 2015.
Find other businesses that accept bitcoin on coinmap.org, a bitcoin business directory. However, coinmap.org may have some outdated information.
Does your business accept bitcoin? Let us know in the comments.
