Bitcoin Merchant Map: Introducing Coinmap, The Interactive Map Of Retail Stores Accepting Bitcoins

The value of bitcoin has increased more than $1,000 on the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange since Oct. 1 (currently worth about $1,155 per bitcoin), making a lot of money for some of the early investors. If you happen to be one of them, that extra money could be an excellent bonus for the upcoming holiday shopping season.

The problem is that it can still be tough to find retail shops that accept bitcoin. A helpful new interactive map solves that by showing locations around the globe where customers can pay in bitcoin.

Called Coinmap, the bitcoin map was made with OpenStreetMap and encourages users to add locations to the map. That means that even though there are only 1,475 businesses currently on the Coinmap, bitcoin is likely accepted my many more around the world.

The majority of the businesses are in Europe and the U.S. There are about 30 or so in New York City, including a fashion boutique, an art shop and an electronics store.

So if you’re looking to spend some of those bitcoins this holiday season, check out the full map here and get shopping. After all, the more bitcoin is used in practical applications, the more its value will grow.

Will you be doing any of your holiday shopping with bitcoins this year? Do have some favorite stores where you enjoy spending bitcoins? Let us know in the comments.