For all of bitcoin proponent's talk about "cryptocurrency," relatively very very few placers actually treat bitcoin as a currency. Overwhelmingly, countries treat bitcoin as a commodity, more like corn or gold than something to be traded on the everyday marketplace for goods and services. That is, it might be fine for speculation or socking away value, but is far from ideal for paying the gas bill.
To be sure, BTC evangelists have inspired an increasing number of businesses in the US to accept BTC as a payment method. Yelp Inc. (YELP) recently added a search function allowing people to search for businesses that accept BTC as payment. However, a reality where BTC can be used in every day transactions on a consistent level is still far, far away, and a person today trying to live on (virtual) currency will encounter more than a few (real) problems.
Mashable decided to illustrate this conundrum with their latest satirical video, in which a bitcoin aficianado (Nick Mandernach) attempts to spend bitcoins on everyday things. He finds that in many cases, trying to use BTC as an actual currency works about as well as trying buy a morning paper with a bushel of corn or a gold doubloon.
That is, if those people even know what a bitcoin is in the first place.
