One day, as you’re busy surfing on one of your favorite online stores, you stumble upon a pair of chic shades … they’re the very ones you’ve been looking for, for quite some time. And that’s not it. Best of all, they are really cheap. So you add the sunglasses to your shopping cart, proceed to payment and choose to pay … wait for it … with Bitcoins. Sounds like some techie’s fantasy? It’s not − at least for 6.9% of Russians, who are opting to use the cryptocurrency ever since their country’s financial system has come under pressure.

Bitcoin’s popularity in Russia has been documented in a recent ESET survey, which examined the online shopping habits of people in the US, the UK, Germany and Russia.

The poll also found that for Americans, this type of approach is less popular, with many staying on the “conservative” side of online payment. Almost half (49.44%) are still purchasing their goods online with their credit card, despite the new payment frontiers out there.

Read the full article here.