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Ending Bitcoin Support

stripe.com

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Re: Ending Bitcoin Support

#71

Post by ActsJuvenile »

vec wrote: post #18

For what it's worth, we just spent two weeks trying and failing to get Stripe's Bitcoin integration working on our site. The short version is that Stripe guaranteed a USD BTC exchange rate for an hour, after which they would automatically cancel the transaction. Given that most transactions now take well over an hour to be verified on the blockchain, that means basically every transaction fails.

I am curious why you wanted Bitcoin on your site. It has been dead as a payment mechanism for a long time. BitPay is a dead man walking, save for all the mining hardware purchases denominated in Bitcoins.

Re: Ending Bitcoin Support

#72

Post by bactrian »

Stripe’s entire business is built on credit card transactions. They added half assed bitcoin support and then killed it.

This makes sense for a company that has every incentive to prolong a move away from credit cards.

As soon as we switch to a decentralized “currency” stripes business will begin its decline.

Re: Ending Bitcoin Support

#73

Post by nxsynonym »

0xcafecafe wrote: post #60
nulagrithom wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What future does an asset have if people don't actually buy stuff with it? I look at it (maybe naively) like a solid gold bar. You're not going to walk in to a convenience store and pay with a bar of solid gold; you might flee the country with one though. Beyond that, I totally agree with your read on the post. Linking the pull request[0] was especially backhanded. It feels like there's some underlying frustration…

Gold as a metal has an inherent value though. If not only for jewelry, it also has important uses in electronics. The value associated with bitcoin seems purely sentimental.

This is why I hate the comparison of crypto to gold or any other "value asset'.

Houses are lived in. Stocks act as a cashflow for companies. Even if the world economy collapses you can still use a solid gold bar as a blunt instrument to kill an animal and eat it.

Cryptocurrencies have exactly 0 secondary uses.

Re: Ending Bitcoin Support

#74

Post by bitoneill »

pitaj wrote: post #56

BCH fees are in the $0.25 range right now. I wonder if they considered BCH. They could probably pretty easily implement it with their existing BTC infrastructure.

He says in the article they are considering Bitcoin Cash as well as Litecoin

Re: Ending Bitcoin Support

#75

Post by gizmo385 »

fastball wrote: post #35
gizmo385 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Given that bitcoin isn't a medium of transaction anymore and a store of value this makes a lot of sense. Can someone bother explaining what this actually means? 3 weeks ago everyone is hype about how Bitcoin is going to be the future of currency and now that it's tanking and vendors are dropping it like a hot potato, its no longer a transactional currency and it's now a "store of value".

Bitcoin is currently the crypto equivalent of gold. It's not reasonable to use it to buy a coffee. However, Bitcoin is trying (but many would argue, failing) to upgrade the network with something that will allow cheaper/faster transactions and make it a reasonable currency again. However, (imo) in-fighting has seriously hampered this. That being the reality, many people hope that Bitcoin will remain a store of value…

> Bitcoin is currently the crypto equivalent of gold.

Why is this a good thing? Nobody uses gold as a store of value anymore because it just wasn't viable going forward. Why would Bitcoin be any different?

Re: Ending Bitcoin Support

#76

Post by faragon »

In my opinion, Bitcoin trading is about trading bad money for good money. When the bubble burst, the good money will be in the pockets of former Bitcoin "market makers", while the loses will be in the side of the enthusiasts/idealists/naive.

Re: Ending Bitcoin Support

#77

Post by nkkollaw »

0xcafecafe wrote: post #60
nulagrithom wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What future does an asset have if people don't actually buy stuff with it? I look at it (maybe naively) like a solid gold bar. You're not going to walk in to a convenience store and pay with a bar of solid gold; you might flee the country with one though. Beyond that, I totally agree with your read on the post. Linking the pull request[0] was especially backhanded. It feels like there's some underlying frustration…

Gold as a metal has an inherent value though. If not only for jewelry, it also has important uses in electronics. The value associated with bitcoin seems purely sentimental.

How about stock.

Re: Ending Bitcoin Support

#78

Post by bradleyjg »

opportune wrote: post #43
viach wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What future does an asset have if people don't actually buy stuff with it? The same as gold does?

Or lead

Lead is useful. Even gold is somewhat useful.

Bitcoin is an asset that’s neither productive (stocks, bonds, land) nor useful (oil, wheat, lead). That’s quite unusual.

Re: Ending Bitcoin Support

#79

Post by UnbornSoul »

0xcafecafe wrote: post #60
nulagrithom wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What future does an asset have if people don't actually buy stuff with it? I look at it (maybe naively) like a solid gold bar. You're not going to walk in to a convenience store and pay with a bar of solid gold; you might flee the country with one though. Beyond that, I totally agree with your read on the post. Linking the pull request[0] was especially backhanded. It feels like there's some underlying frustration…

Gold as a metal has an inherent value though. If not only for jewelry, it also has important uses in electronics. The value associated with bitcoin seems purely sentimental.

That's the case now, but that was certainly not the case in the late 19th century when gold fever struck. The only use back then was jewelry and the fact that is was rare.

Re: Ending Bitcoin Support

#80

Post by wand3r »

moduspol wrote: post #46
montrose wrote: post #15

This reads a bit like the sort of things people say when breaking up so as not to upset the other person too much. You're a great person, but you're just more of an asset than a medium of exchange, and what I need in my life right now is a medium of exchange. What future does an asset have if people don't actually buy stuff with it? That is not a purely rhetorical question; cryptocurrencies change things a lot. But t…

> What future does an asset have if people don't actually buy stuff with it? Lots of assets have value without people buying things with them. Gold, houses, stocks, etc. The more interesting question is how long Bitcoin will remain top dog merely as a store of value if other cryptocurrencies solve this on-chain / off-chain scaling problem better / faster. There's definitely some amount of value in the name alone, and…

While the parent's statement is wrong; it essentially makes the correct point. Gold has value as it is a store of wealth and maybe a case could be made that Bitcoin is that; though it is tougher now. Gold is used as a medium of exchange and the underpinnings historically for currency as some currency is literally minted out of it or was backed by it.

However, other assets have value because they are useful. Per your examples a house is shelter and a stock is a virtual representation of the physical assets and receivables of a corporation which I should add has extreme market liquidity. Other assets like vehicles provide transportation and heavy machinery make products. I like Bitcoin and it may become/stay an asset class like gold; very illiquid and a store of wealth, but if that fails to materialize or continue after this speculation Bitcoin will be a lot more the AltaVista/Yahoo/Dogpile to Google search than the Gold to Cash analogy.

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