Turns out that paying for your rent and other utilities with bitcoin is every easy with a private and simple method that has been right under our noses.
Paying rent
If you are a hardcore Bitcoin fan, then Satoshi's brain child is much more to you then just a speculative investment, or a cool new kind of database. It is akin to a new country, the country of the sovereign international people of the Internet, or something like that. As such you want to get paid and pay for everything only with your crypto coins.
Or maybe you are traveling to a third world country and want to minimize your exposure to the local currency.
Well, there is a solution that’s been largely overlooked for paying rent or even your utility bills with bitcoin. This solution does not require you to "convince your landlord to accept bitcoin,” and has been flying under the radar of Bitcoiners, until now.
The following method should work anywhere LocalBitcoins exists and where there's some kind of legacy payment system, be it M-pesa, Mexico's Spei, SWIFT etc.
1. Learn about your landlord
If direct bitcoin deposit is a no-no for your landlord, then the next step is to ask them if you can pay them through a bank deposit. Chances are that your landlord has some kind of digital banking account, wherever you are, and if so, you can probably use this to pay him with bitcoin.
Once you know his preferred payment method, say through a bank deposit in the US, then you can move to the next step - finding the right bitcoin to fiat exchange.
2. Choose your bitcoin exchange
Most countries have at the least a LocalBitcoins community, which exchanges bitcoin for fiat through the use of various legacy payment methods like PayPal or Western Union. In most relatively developed countries there will be some kind of banking system which is being using to trade the currency and thus there is probably an exchange or two that trade bitcoin.
If using LocalBitcoins, make sure to research the payment method and educate your self on the precautions you need to take to avoid chargebacks and other risks.
Find your exchange of choice, one that can do deposits into your landlord's preferred payment method and…
3. Create a bitcoin exchange account for your landlord
Here's the magic: if your landlord does not want to bother with bitcoin, that's OK! They don't have to. This does not mean you have to carry the burden of KYC regulations and its intrusive questions. Let those that want to use fiat and legacy banking give up their personal information, but you don't need to.
Find out what authentication documents are required by the exchange to link the deposit account from your landlord. This will likely include some kind of bank to bank special account number as well as a copy of their government approved identification papers. Maybe it’s a picture of a passport or a driver's license.
Ask your landlord for this information over Facebook if you need to, and given how normal it is for people to give their personal information, they'll probably hand it over. With this information, you can now host a bitcoin-to-fiat account for them on your chosen exchange.
Also note that this information will likely be enough to only deposit funds into their account. Withdraw details tend to be even more secure, requiring pins, in person withdraw requests, debit card numbers or other details, depending on your jurisdiction.
4: Pay with bitcoin!
Once you've created a bitcoin-to-fiat account on behalf of your landlord and verified it, you can easily pay with bitcoin without sacrificing your personal information or even touching fiat.
In fact, you may even be able to sway your landlord into paying all of your utilities with this method. This means you could pay for Internet, electricity, water and all that directly with bitcoin, through your landlord.
Now deposit some bitcoin into that exchange, convert to fiat and deposit into their bank account!
Congratulations, you've reached Bitcoin wizard status.