Also: The opportunity cost of spending bitcoin rather than fiat.
Of course one can always spend and refill, but that can be (1) relatively cumbersome and (2) come with unwanted tax implications.
not to mention it costs money---fees to wire money to an exchange, trading fees, or the premium you pay over spot price on LBC. and while you're waiting or going through the process to rebuy, the price could edge even higher.
this is why we see what bitpay likes to call a "wealth effect" with bitcoin usage. after a significant rise in price, people love to spend their bitcoin as a way to lock in those capital gains. this was in 2017:
The more valuable bitcoin has become, the more people are using it to buy stuff. We have definitely seen a wealth effect pattern when the bitcoin price increases, says James Walpole, BitPays marketing manager. In other words, if you already owned bitcoin and it rose in value, selling some bitcoin would give you more dollars to spend.
The bitcoin wealth effect is also evident in the buying patterns of customers at CheapAir, which sells plane tickets, hotel reservations and car rentals online. CheapAir was one of the earliest merchants to accept bitcoin payments in November 2013, and founder Jeff Klee says his bitcoin customers are now feeling flush. With bitcoin we tend to generate more sales in premium cabins like business class or first class, he says. Certainly the average spend for the bitcoin customer is higher than a non-bitcoin customer.
https://qz.com/931810/cheapair-and-bitpay-data-show-rising-bitcoin-btc-payment-volumes/i 100% agree with the points about tax incentives and credit card incentives too. you could get 2-3% cash back using a credit card, whereas using bitcoin might just incur costs (to replace it) and unwanted taxable transactions.