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Ending Bitcoin Support

stripe.com

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Re: Ending Bitcoin Support

#551

Post by undoware »

fastball wrote: post #533
undoware wrote: post #227

A lot of the chatter in this post is about the underlying value of Bitcoin (and blockchain currency generally) as an asset class. I keep telling folks: yes, it absolutely does have value apart from sentiment; holding a blockchain currency gives you access to all the infrastructure built on that product -- regardless of whether that infrastructure is for exchange, or storage, or smart contracts, or whatever. It follow…

Your sentiment and your plan do not align. Ethereum is so far head and shoulders above other cryptos in the "coolness" factor that it's unreal. Do you realize how many popular tokens are ERC20 tokens?

Yes, that's why I bought it! But it's still proof-of-work-based. The future is proof-of-state. I know folks are trying to retro PoS into Ethereum, but I'll believe it when I see it. Many others are already there. I'd say: Bitcoin is first gen, Ethereum is second gen, and there are a variety of third-gen coins with good UX and proof-of-stake already on the market. I expect one (and probably only one) of these latter to become 'the Google of blockchain' and, eventually, become the backbone of the Internet of Value. My money is literally on Cardano, but the race has just begun.

Also, w/r/t ETH: gas prices are sky high, and getting higher all the time; and I can use it in even fewer places than I can use Bitcoin; and it's energy-hungry to mine. But you're right; there's a lot of shit built on top of it, which is why, for the moment, I'm holding ETH, and think that it's safe (but boring) to hold ETH medium-term.

Re: Ending Bitcoin Support

#553

Post by dingo_bat »

vkou wrote: post #525
nol13 wrote: post #481

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So all the spammers/scammers can't see what car you just bought and how much you paid for it and use it for spear phishing?

They can't see how much I paid for a car when I paid with a cheque either. This is not a problem that I, or 99% of human beings have. Again - what is the darknet supposed to protect me from?

Seriously, I have yet to hear a single legal use case that Bitcoin improves.

Re: Ending Bitcoin Support

#554

Post by wmf »

nikcub wrote: post #477
hmcdona1 wrote: post #428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lightning network will be far less effective than people are hoping. You have to a) pay to open up a channel with each person you wish to use it, and b) each stake capital in that channel for it to be functional. This is useful only in specific scenarios like exchange-to-exchange transfers. Exchanges are going to be very unlikely to ever set up channels to customers. They haven't even implemented segwit yet, ther…

> You have to a) pay to open up a channel with each person you wish to use it This simply isn't true. You open one channel and then payments are routed over channels to your destination. It's no different to TCP/IP in this way and the reason why that analogy is used a lot in describing the network Having a one channel single destination can be done with Bitcoin alone and the new timelock transactions - the purpose of…

Thanks for posting those infographics; they answer some lingering questions that have lain unanswered for years. I still see one problem, though, which is that the few on-chain transactions that are required (such as topping up a channel) will be far more expensive than in those other blockchains. Like $20 vs. 20 cents. So there are plenty of scenarios where LN fees will still be higher overall.

Re: Ending Bitcoin Support

#555

Post by clarkmoody »

jnbiche wrote: post #360
clarkmoody wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Bitcoin isn't functioning correctly Please unpack this statement. Which part of the Bitcoin system is functioning incorrectly?

> Please unpack this statement. Which part of the Bitcoin system is functioning incorrectly? The payment system part. One of the main reasons why Satoshi created Bitcoin in the first place. As someone who got into Bitcoin in early 2011 (but left when things got crazy around 2014), it's utterly laughable to me that Bitcoin now can't even be used as a payment system. And that the fees per transaction are roughly the sa…

I have also been in Bitcoin since early 2011. I once thought as you did until I realized that the most important part of Bitcoin is censorship resistance. It's not about storing your latte payment on the immutable ledger forever.

> Bitcoin now can't even be used as a payment system

What about the part where the blocks are full of tons of payments?

The fork drama proved the most important part of Bitcoin: it's immutability even in the face of great pressure to change.

If the Bitcoin Cash blocks get full, then we'll see how things go. Until then, there is no comparison.

Re: Ending Bitcoin Support

#557

Post by ceejayoz »

fpgaminer wrote: post #373

It is amazing the number of shallow comments shouting doom and gloom over news like this and others (Steam, etc). Must be the end of Bitcoin because transaction fees are too high! And more generally everyone shouting doom and gloom over high transaction fees. Let's stop and think about this critically for once. Transaction fees on Bitcoin are high. And that's somehow a bad thing? By that same logic it's bad that Appl…

"Fees are good!" from an account named "fpgaminer" is a bit on the nose, don't you think?

Re: Ending Bitcoin Support

#558

Post by eric_cc »

WorldMaker wrote: post #439
milcron wrote: post #432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your payment is denominated in BTC, you can't pay it with BCH even though they're a fork of the same blockchain. BTC proper is scarce, regardless of how many times the chain is forked.

The distinction between "BTC" and "BCH" (and "BTCS" and "BCD" and so on ad infinitum) is cultural convention. There's no inherent technical merit (or alchemical nature) to one ledger over all other contenders, it's entirely a state of mind of its users.

What you’re saying makes no sense and is in no way shape or form accurate.

Re: Ending Bitcoin Support

#559

Post by ceejayoz »

Jommi wrote: post #379
vec wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I run a midsize ecommerce site and, from where I'm sitting, Stripe looks at least as essential in a crypto economy as they are now. We don't want to handle the mechanics of refunds. We don't want to handle the mechanics of disputes. We don't want to get scammed because we screwed up some small detail of our payment layer. We certainly don't want to do our internal accounting in more than one currency, crypto or other…

Wow. The short-sightedness in this comment is astounding. Check out on some of those "advantages" that trusting those thirdparties can mean for you: https://www.google.fi/search?q=paypal+destroyed+my+business&... https://www.google.fi/search?q=amazon+destroyed+my+business&...

You probably should've checked https://www.google.fi/search?q=bitcoin+destroyed+my+business before posting that, considering there's twice as many results as the other two combined. Not to mention things like entire exchanges evaporating...

Re: Ending Bitcoin Support

#560

Post by SubiculumCode »

Aunche wrote: post #508
csomar wrote: post #488

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason is that life is not really that simple. People pick people/assets/things based on reputation and popularity and not technical or practical merit. Gold is used as a store of value despite the fact that it is 1. volatile 2. hard to store 3. hard to buy/sell and 4. hard to transport.

Gold at least has some unique purposes besides a store of value. Over half of it is used for jewelry and commercial reasons, so at worst it can be considered an over-speculated commodity. Bitcoin literally has nothing going for it besides being the current market leader.

Hardly anyone uses gold as a storage of value.
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