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Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases

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Re: Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases

#361

Post by bduerst »

VMG wrote: post #312
Forbo wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I follow what you mean. I didn't mean that this be used for mining bitcoin, but rather that there are other cryptocurrencies that have useful by-products. Am I misunderstanding your comment?

These other cryptocurrencies are less secure than bitcoin. For them, the cost of attacking the network by mining on an orphaned chain is lower, because by definition the PoW has a useful by-product. The more useful the byproduct, the less secure the coin. Edit: to illustrate, imagine a PoW that computes cures for cancer. Somebody can now mine on whichever block of the chain he wants forever, since he's producing a ca…

A cure-cancer PoW where each block fixes all of cancer is ridiculous.

A more apt analogy would be that each block would solve a protein folding or active site matching problem for cancer. Then each solution would be public, and useless to mine over again.

Re: Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases

#362

Post by fjidodhofjf »

Grue3 wrote: post #20
StavrosK wrote: post #12

I was really surprised that the announcement that Steam may support Bitcoin made waves a while ago, yet the announcement that it actually does did not. I used it to buy a (horrible) game last night, and it worked beautifully. Contrast with PayPal, with which Steam is always confused about where I am and whether it should charge me in GBP or EUR. I'm never not using Bitcoin again.

What about refunds? With Paypal you know you're getting the same amount back, in the same currency, as if you haven't bought anything at all. Given the fluctuating nature of Bitcoin, surely that's not possible?

Another example of how economicly illiterate anti Bitcoin Advocates are.

Go look at USD/YEN movement, 1-3% movements occur daily, if you were to purchase YEN with USd and later refund to USd you could end up significantly up or down.

But the wealth YEN represents is many many magnitudes greater than Bitcoin. When YEN appreciates by 2% that influences hundreds of millions of people and business, and guess who is pulling that lever, a small cabal of corrupt bankers.

Re: Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases

#363

Post by notahacker »

digi_owl wrote: post #310
vectorpush wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll offer a controversial explanation: bitcoin enthusiasts have exhausted most of the oxygen in the room with regard to rational bitcoin discussion. The never-ending adulation of bitcoin as the greatest invention since the internet, the hyperbolic claims that bitcoin will do things like revolutionize payments, end global war, eliminate the need for banks, liberate the people from bondage, the litany of bitcoin and b…

You get this because the properties of bitcoin attracts two kinds of people. Goldbugs, because of how bitcoin is "mined" and is inherently deflationary. And gold is the one true currency, m'kay. Cypherpunks, because it is built around cryptographics. And cryptographics makes anything double plus good. Never mind that both kinds have a strong anti-establishment streak. That said, if they could get away form their anti…

The pretty strong anti-establishment streak held by goldbugs and cypherpunks is largely shared by HN though. I think much of the sneering comes because there's a third type of person that influences discourse around Bitcoin to some extent: shills.

Obviously a lot of Bitcoin evangelists have large BTC holdings because it's entirely in keeping with their belief that it's a brilliant idea, and many if not most exchanges, altcoins and even blockchain based trading schemes weren't conceived as ways of persuading fools to part with their money. But many Bitcoiners are speculators and some of the schemes dreamed up around Bitcoin were scams or might as well have been, which hasn't really been the case for flavours of Linux. FOSS evangelists might have made similarly grandiose claims about their project and the philosophy behind it, but they weren't trying to pump the price of their commodity holdings at the time or running get rich quick schemes - they usually weren't even expecting to get paid!

Something of a tangent I know. I largely agree with you on the virtues of some inflation in an economy as a whole, but I think it's pretty evident now that Bitcoin is neither replacing currency as a whole nor representing a sufficiently stable store of value to encourage hoarding on any scale. Frankly Steam accepting BTC is no more economically destabilising than Steam deciding to accept inflationary-by-design Linden Dollars.

Re: Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases

#365

Post by ryanlol »

easuter wrote: post #322
ryanlol wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> without having to worry about confirmation times Card payments take far longer to process than bitcoin payments > exchange rates Just as much as with bitcoin. > getting scammed Why?

> Card payments take far longer to process than bitcoin payments I can't remember the last time I stood in line at the supermarket for an hour because VISA was clogged with "dust" transactions. Hmm.

I'm not sure what you're getting at? This isn't something that'd happen with bitcoin either.

Re: Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases

#366

Post by wyck »

fjidodhofjf wrote: post #360
wyck wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why many bitcoin proponents comes across as naive, broad political statements bordering on false beliefs come across as juvenile and in many cases fanatic. Stay with the facts and reality, a.k.a. the technology, statements like the above create a toxic environment in which the bitcoin community currently finds itself deeply mired in.

How false is it criticize central bank policy? They are dragging the world into another great depression, destroying the lives of billions along the way. At some point it gets tiresome to speak with those who have no understanding of economics nor history. Can you defend the last 8 years of Central Bank policy, are you even schooled in this area of study? Your criticisms are naïve.

I will be the mature one here in hopes you understand the problem with the "bitcoin" attitude.

If you want bitcoin to succeed talk about the technology and adoption, this is a complex enough topic in of itself with many real issues. The success of bitcoin depends on this 100%.

If you want to talk about economic saviorism cut the bullshit, it has a nagtive effect on bitcoin. Putting people down you don't know is a sure sign of immaturity that will get you no where and you have exemplified what is wrong with the bitcoin community 2x in this very thread.

Re: Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases

#367

Post by CyberDildonics »

aliakhtar wrote: post #356
CyberDildonics wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like getting your money out of Venezuela, Argentina, Cypress or Greece before its gone or you can't get to it? Those are all illegal. Legality and morality are not the same thing and not all of world lives in cozy security.

How would converting all your money into magic beans help in that situation? How would you pay for your groceries in magic beans in that country?

> Like getting your money out of ...

If you re read my comment you can see I explicitly said getting money out of those countries, which have been infamous for capital controls.

Also - Magic Beans - accepted at 48 locations in Athens https://coinmap.org/#/map/37.99873292/23.73853683/12

Look up the ideal properties of money and you might understand the big picture better, but it may mean challenging your deeply held beliefs and not everyone is ready for that.

Re: Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases

#368

Post by markeroon »

fjidodhofjf wrote: post #355
vectorpush wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll offer a controversial explanation: bitcoin enthusiasts have exhausted most of the oxygen in the room with regard to rational bitcoin discussion. The never-ending adulation of bitcoin as the greatest invention since the internet, the hyperbolic claims that bitcoin will do things like revolutionize payments, end global war, eliminate the need for banks, liberate the people from bondage, the litany of bitcoin and b…

Funny how the anti Bitcoin crowd respond with baseless ad hominem attacks. Bitcoin solved a problem, whether that problem needed solving or will be extremely fruitful is for the future to determine. The fact that a 4+ billion dollar stateless currency exists is pretty amazing to me. Personally I think the anti Bitcoin crowd is also the pro government crowd. You know, the people who support torture of innocents, assas…

That's quite a straw man, bud.

Re: Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases

#369

Post by imrehg »

Splendid! Been doing game purchases for Bitcoin through Humble Bundle, and Kindle Books through Gyft, I hope more providers of electronic resources will get onboard. It even works out better financially, as credit cards charge such a high "foreign currency conversion fee" here in Taiwan.

Re: Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases

#370

Post by jacobwcarlson »

Houshalter wrote: post #342
digi_owl wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You get this because the properties of bitcoin attracts two kinds of people. Goldbugs, because of how bitcoin is "mined" and is inherently deflationary. And gold is the one true currency, m'kay. Cypherpunks, because it is built around cryptographics. And cryptographics makes anything double plus good. Never mind that both kinds have a strong anti-establishment streak. That said, if they could get away form their anti…

>And in the end, all currencies are tokens of account. Meaning that they exist in the end to make sure nobody double spends. But to be effective in doing so, the token material must the worth less then the face value. If not, people will have an incentive to hoard. And that will drive an economy into the ground. Lots of goods tend to increase in value over time. Land, gold, stocks, etc. How is bitcoin any different?…

> And hoarding isn't a bad thing. If you aren't spending your money, then you aren't taking resources out of the economy. That means more resources for everyone else. Spending money, consumption, is what should be discouraged.

I'm usually pretty good at detecting irony, so I apologize if I've been bested here. But are you honestly suggesting that reductions in consumption and spending are favorable to nation's economy?

If you are being ironic, I don't think I understand your message. Would you mind explaining it to me?

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