Cypherpunk Valentine: Why Shoppers Spend Bitcoin on Lingerie

The most cypherpunk way to celebrate Valentine's Day may be to buy lingerie with bitcoin.

Panties.com founder Lila Williams told CoinDesk that she receives "a handful" of bitcoin payments every month since she started accepting bitcoin in March 2017.

Some bitcoin fans might be reluctant to spend their crypto on apparel.

If bitcoin is an investment, then spending bitcoin on lingerie from women-led companies that accept crypto - like Naja and Kala, both of which pay garment makers above-average wages and use fair-trade materials - is a way to invest in women.

That's why Rick Shaddock, a member of the Digital Currency Association, said he used bitcoin he acquired during the market peak in December 2017 to buy his wife panties for their anniversary because there's no volatility in lacy underthings.

"Panties were a much better investment than bitcoin in 2018.".

Migirov said the lingerie industry could benefit from censorship-resistant platforms with smooth bitcoin payment options.

"One of the problems with bitcoin is when you push that button it is gone, gone, gone, there is no recourse," Williams said, adding she occasionally holds some bitcoin savings rather than immediately converting it to fiat.

Beyond payment processors like Bitpay and Shopify, which offer the comforting guarantee of recourse if something goes wrong, several plug-and-play bitcoin node devices have emerged over the past six months that leverage the lighting network's to reduce network fees to unprecedented lows.

"More people ask to use bitcoin over the phone than ask to use Discover card," Williams said.