Black Friday is an unofficial “shopping holiday” that traditionally takes place the day after Thanksgiving Day in the United States. While the tradition originated in the U.S., it has since spread to all corners of the Earth and always takes place on the fourth Friday of November.
The event involves retailers across the country slashing prices on a variety of goods in a bid to kickstart the Christmas shopping season. Due to the multitude of discounts on offer, the day has become the busiest shopping day in the United States, with many stores opening at midnight and facing hordes of shoppers.
The term is believed to have originated in Philadelphia to describe the heavy road traffic experienced on the day but has since been co-opted to mean the day when retailers turn a profit and go from being “in the red” to “in the black.”
Crypto and Black Friday
Over the past few years, the tradition of Black Friday has found its way into the cryptocurrency industry, with several retailers and blockchain businesses putting on special discounts and accepting crypto payments.
One of the earliest crypto-related Black Friday events was Bitcoin Black Friday, which ran six successful events over seven years before recently coming to an end. Event organizer Jon Holmquist feels he has completed his “mission” with the event, but is open to someone else taking it over. However, many other crypto-related Black Friday events and specials continue as usual.
Major crypto hardware wallet suppliers Trezor and Ledger have historically held annual Black Friday specials, with the Ledger Nano S selling for half price last year. Several cryptocurrency exchanges and trading platforms have also run sales, with Coinigy offering a 75% discount on its annual package, Tradingview giving 60% off on its premium package, and CoinCorner offering £20 worth of Bitcoin to new customers.
Black Friday 2019
This year’s Black Friday event sees leading crypto exchange Binance doubling its referral reward to $30 for each new registration and Binance.US offering trading fee discounts of up to 75%.
Hardware wallet providers Trezor and Ledger are offering 30% discounts on certain products until Dec. 3, and Tradingview is again offering 60% off its premium subscriptions. All of the above accept payment in a variety of cryptocurrencies. Similar to last year, cryptos themselves appear to be on sale, with Bitcoin (BTC) and the majority of altcoins down 15–20% this week.
Related: IRS Vs. Bitcoin ATMs: Industry Says There Is Already Enough Regulation
Black Friday shoppers in the U.S. will now be able to buy Bitcoin more easily while out shopping thanks to a collaboration between Miami-based Bitcoin ATM firm Bitstop and leading shopping mall operator Simon Malls. The joint initiative will install Bitcoin ATMs at several locations in California, Florida and Georgia. Bitstop hopes to have 500 of its Bitcoin ATMs installed across the country by the end of next year.
Where to spend crypto this Black Friday
Crypto-friendly online stores
Overstock
The long-standing, crypto-friendly online store Overstock is once again hosting a range of Black Friday specials, with up to 70% off select products. Through a partnership with Coinbase, Overstock customers can pay in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dash and Litecoin, among other coins. The online store sells everything from electronics and furniture to clothing, jewelry, and kitchen appliances.
RedBubble
RedBubble is an online store that supports independent designers and artists, and has a wide range of Bitcoin and crypto-themed art, clothing and merchandise among other contemporary designs. While it doesn’t directly accept crypto payments, customers can pay via Amazon Pay, which accepts Bitcoin via a Lightning Network plugin.
RedBubble is running a 25–60% off Black Friday sale and has released a blog post advising its designers on how to best prepare for the holiday, so expect a wealth of discounts on offer.
All Things Decentral
All Things Decentral is an online store that promotes all things related to blockchain, crypto and decentralization in general. The store ships to 100+ countries worldwide and accepts multiple crypto payments via BitPay and Coinpayments. As well as crypto clothing, art and other merchandise, the sites sell a variety of blockchain-related hardware products like mining rigs and hardware wallets.
Fangamer
Fangamer is a haven for gamers, and is running a Black Friday sale until Dec. 2 including free shipping to the U.S. The site features official video game merchandise from legendary studios such as Capcom, Konami and SNK with a range of clothing, collectibles, card games, art and music.
Kryptoes
Kryptoes sells crypto-themed socks and cufflinks and offers free worldwide shipping and up to 60% off its products this Black Friday.
Customers can pay with BTC, DigiByte, Doge, Ether, LTC, XMR, and Steem or via Google Pay and Apple Pay.
Kiosk
Kiosk is an independent online book store “with a focus on self-published zines and artist books.” It’s currently running a sale with 50% off everything and accepts crypto payments via its own BTCPay full node.
NewEgg
Online tech store Newegg has hundreds of Black Friday deals currently on offer, including MSI laptops, Samsung 75” displays, GeForce graphics cards, Pioneer sound systems and various gaming consoles.
NewEgg accepts payments in Bitcoin directly on its website via BitPay using a local wallet, QR code or digital wallet address.
Rakuten
A huge Japanese online retailer, Rakuten, is offering double cashback deals on Black Friday for several of its partner stores including Groupon, JCPenney, Samsung, Macy’s, Walmart, Ugg, Michael Kors and many others.
In August this year, Rakuten launched its own cryptocurrency wallet, Rakuten Wallet, following last year’s purchase of crypto exchange Everybody’s Bitcoin. Customers can not only make online purchases but also buy, sell and trade cryptocurrencies through the Rakuten Wallet platform.
Reeds Jewelers
Jewelry outlet Reeds has already begun its Black Friday sale, offering discount codes of up to $300 on purchases through Nov. 29. Customers can pay in Bitcoin and shipping is free to anywhere in the continental U.S.
Bitcars and Bitdials
For big spenders looking to buy their first Lamborghini or Aston Martin and all related accessories with Bitcoin, Bitcars says it’s the “world’s first Bitcoin-only automobile boutique.” The online store ships worldwide and features both premium sportscars and old-time classics.
Its sister site Bitdials sells classic watches, jewelry, and gold coins and features several Black Friday specials with up to 15% discounts.
The Cointelegraph Online Store
Cointelegraph’s Amazon-hosted online store features a range of cryptocurrency-themed fashion items and accessories such as mugs, phone cases, and wall art.
The store ships free worldwide and is now running a sale with up to 50% off the 2019 fan favorites, including t-shirts, socks and even Bitcoin slippers. Customers can pay with Bitcoin, Paypal, Apple Pay and major credit cards. Furthermore, those who purchase Cointelegraph merch with 0.1 BTC and over will get a 10% cashback.
Online crypto directories
There are several websites that act as crypto merchant directories and aggregate services, listing stores online and around the world that accept cryptocurrency payments.
SpendBitcoins
SpendBitcoins is one such site, featuring over 100,000 merchants across 28 shopping categories including software, gaming, arts, health and beauty, tourism and Bitcoin services.
Spendabit
Spendabit is another crypto directory aggregating sales from thousands of stores around the world that accept crypto payments. Specials can be filtered by discount so anyone can quickly find products on sale for up to 35% off during Black Friday.
Coinmap.org
To help find the best crypto-related Black Friday deals nearby, Coinmap.org provides a convenient heatmap of all the places in the world that accept cryptocurrencies, with over 15,700 locations currently listed.
Listings fall into several filterable categories including ATMs, cafes, groceries, lodging, nightlife, sports, and transport, making it easier to find exactly what is needed.