Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a completely random sample the Italian restaurant I'm in right now is going to cost about 4000¥ each and doesn't take card payments ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
That just means it's authentic Italian. :)
It was fantastic actually :-)
Japanese Can Soon Pay Their Utility Bills with Bitcoin
81–90 of 125 posts
Re: Japanese Can Soon Pay Their Utility Bills with Bitcoin
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
It would be convenient if you have an income or savings in Bitcoin. Some people are attracted to using Bitcoin as a day to day currency and payments system, to reduce their dependence on mainstream banking. The "be your own bank" philosophy. Admittedly right now Bitcoin seems like a novelty, but it will never reach wider use without small "pointless" steps like this.
It would be convenient if you have an income [...] in Bitcoin. Miners, drug dealers, and who else exactly?
Software developers.
Re: Japanese Can Soon Pay Their Utility Bills with Bitcoin
#83What is the advantage of this? Here in Japan every creditcard is giving you some kind of bonus program and encourages you to use that card for your bills so you automatically aggregate amazon / rakuten (japanese amazon competitor) / ANA / etc points. I mean, I guess I could exchange every month my yen into bitcoins and then pay with it, but why?
Your credditcard/bank account can be frozen by the government. Bitcoin can't.
Re: Japanese Can Soon Pay Their Utility Bills with Bitcoin
#84A friend of mine who lives in Tokyo told me that in Japan it's near impossible to transfer money from one bank to another. He told me the way Japanese people transfer money between banks was to draw the cash out in one and pay it in to another. I'm prepared to be corrected if this tale isn't true. However, with this in mind, it seems like quite a leap from a non-electronic intra-bank system to Bitcoin. On the other h…
A friend of mine who lives in Tokyo told me that in Japan it's near impossible to transfer money from one bank to another
Go to any of your bank's ATMs with your ATM card and/or passbook. Select 振込. Input amount. You will be asked the bank, bank branch, and 7 digit account number of the person you are sending it to. You will then be (typically) shown a screen which shows you the fee (100 to about 500 yen depending on bank and size of transaction) and lets you adjust your telephone number or name if required for the convenience of the firm receiving your payment. Hit OK. If done within banking hours, the payment is effectively instantaneous. If you cannot follow these instructions, you can ask a teller to assist.
If you're doing the transfers between your own accounts and they're at different institutions then one will occasionally see people withdraw to cash and then immediately redeposit in a second account, to save the ~300 yen or whatever.
In related news, Japan is a major Western country and banks do not communicate via couriers and smoke signals, contrary to impressions your friend may have.
Re: Japanese Can Soon Pay Their Utility Bills with Bitcoin
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
If your income is foreign (like in EUR or USD), exchanging to bitcoin and paying with it is much cheaper than directly exchanging to yen or whatever the local currency is.
Not my experience. For two years, I received my salary in EUR and lived in the US. I tried to transfer money using Bitcoin instead of wiring it the traditional way but the Bitcoin exchange fees were actually only slightly smaller than the wiring fees. The additional hassle wasn't worth it.
I got between 1-4% over spot while getting paid in USD and transferring to THB through bitcoin exchanges.
It was a difference of hundreds of dollars; well worth the effort.
Re: Japanese Can Soon Pay Their Utility Bills with Bitcoin
#86I keep hearing about Bitcoin being used to pay for commodities, but will this actually ever scale? With a maximum transaction rate of ~3.5 transactions per second, won't any practical application of Bitcoin for the masses eventually have to be implemented by a bunch of trusted third parties operating off the blockchain and bundling transactions? At that point, we seem to be back to using credit card companies who jus…
Are there any faster alternative cryptocurrencies on the horizon?
Re: Japanese Can Soon Pay Their Utility Bills with Bitcoin
#87Re: Japanese Can Soon Pay Their Utility Bills with Bitcoin
#88I keep hearing about Bitcoin being used to pay for commodities, but will this actually ever scale? With a maximum transaction rate of ~3.5 transactions per second, won't any practical application of Bitcoin for the masses eventually have to be implemented by a bunch of trusted third parties operating off the blockchain and bundling transactions? At that point, we seem to be back to using credit card companies who jus…
Are there any faster alternative cryptocurrencies on the horizon?
Many. They're all scams
Re: Japanese Can Soon Pay Their Utility Bills with Bitcoin
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
You really do have to trust your payment method provider to protect you against fraud. You have to trust it not to committing fraud. Your payment method provider does not 'trust' you to pay the bill. They trust that they have the bigger stick and better lawyers.
>You really do have to trust your payment method provider to protect you against fraud. You have to trust it not to committing fraud. Any major credit card provider in the US provides this with no hassle. I've had people steal my number with 4 different credit card providers and the only thing I've had to do is call them and identify the bad charges. The only inconvenience is the 3 minute phone call and waiting a wee…
Credit cards are always preferable over bitcoin. You only use bitcoin because you have to. Not because you want to
Re: Japanese Can Soon Pay Their Utility Bills with Bitcoin
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are scaling solutions like lightning network being built and the blocks are not full. Also for a cup of coffee you don't need so much security so go use litecoin or something, why not.
Why wouldn't I just use some trustful centralized solution for a cup of coffee? In fact, I myself prefer to use credit card for these, where I don't actually have to trust the payment method provider, but the payment method provider trusts me to pay the bill one month later. I don't see how bitcoin can compete on this sector, except for privacy issues.
I live in a small town and Every time Mr. Shreak of Shreak's IGA sees me pull out my credit card he gives me a bit of a look and has complained several times to me about the fees he pays. If I could have the convenience of electronic (credit card) payment but without the guilt trip form Mr. Shreak I'd use it.