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A16Z is re-registering as a financial advisor, renouncing its status as a VC

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Re: A16Z is re-registering as a financial advisor, renouncing its status as a VC

#301

Post by alphast0rm »

arcticbull wrote: post #269
Semaphor wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well… Cost: a) BTC-BTC Transfer: Only BTC transfer fee. Beats TransferWise by a large Margin. b) BTC-USD: Depends on many variables, including if the receiving country taxes BTC to fiat. Considering how expensive transferwise is, it's probably a wash. Speed depends on if GP literally meant Cash. If so, BTC is obviously far faster and easier as you still need to get you cash into your bank account. Otherwise… Transfer…

Nobody takes BTC in exchange for goods and services, absolutely nobody. In this context it's at best an intermediate representation with huge FOREX risk. That means (a) is a false equivalence as unlike (b) it only represents a small slice of the transaction.

That's not true, there are large retailers that directly accept BTC, like Newegg [1] and Overstock [2]. There are also services like Bitrefill to purchase gift cards using various cryptocurrencies for use at places that don't directly accept BTC: Amazon, Ebay, Walmart, Best Buy, and Target to name a few of the 750+ supported [3].

[1] https://promotions.newegg.com/nepro/16-6277/index.html

[2] https://help.overstock.com/help/s/article/Bitcoin

[3] https://www.bitrefill.com/?hl=en

Re: A16Z is re-registering as a financial advisor, renouncing its status as a VC

#302

Post by arcticbull »

thinkmassive wrote: post #296
arcticbull wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lack thereof is currently working for 7.5 billion people. Bitcoin works for basically nobody.

If you think present financial systems are working well for every inhabitant on the planet, you probably spend a lot of time in a very comfortable bubble. Besides, talking worked well for thousands of years, what use would humanity have for the Internet? /s

Well, that depends, is the internet worse than writing letters? Because bitcoin is worse than money.

The reality is that for the rest of the world bitcoin is missing the initial distribution problem. Nobody in Venezuela has bitcoin. How are they going to get it? If they can trade with other countries, they would just get USD and be better off. If not, then net, it's zero sum. That's really all there is to it. Even after that, it's like cash if cash had a $1.50 transaction fee for handing it to your buddy. Not exactly tenable in countries where thats basically a daily wage.

Re: A16Z is re-registering as a financial advisor, renouncing its status as a VC

#303

Post by nradov »

luckydata wrote: post #295
nradov wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What other architecture would you recommend? There's no single entity which can be trusted to maintain a centralized database.

I challenge that requirement. Why no single entity can be trusted? It's like saying the banking system doesn't work because no single entity can be trusted with maintaining a database of transactions. That's self evidently false.

Which single entity can be trusted? None beyond the US federal government exists today, and they don't want to do the job.

I suppose in theory all of the industry players could get together and establish a joint venture or nonprofit company specifically for the purpose of creating and maintaining an accurate database of provider contact information. But that seems a lot more complex.

Re: A16Z is re-registering as a financial advisor, renouncing its status as a VC

#304

Post by arcticbull »

alphast0rm wrote: post #301
arcticbull wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody takes BTC in exchange for goods and services, absolutely nobody. In this context it's at best an intermediate representation with huge FOREX risk. That means (a) is a false equivalence as unlike (b) it only represents a small slice of the transaction.

That's not true, there are large retailers that directly accept BTC, like Newegg [1] and Overstock [2]. There are also services like Bitrefill to purchase gift cards using various cryptocurrencies for use at places that don't directly accept BTC: Amazon, Ebay, Walmart, Best Buy, and Target to name a few of the 750+ supported [3]. [1] https://promotions.newegg.com/nepro/16-6277/index.html [2] https://help.overstock.co…

There are more that did and stopped than do. And to your own point of the ones that do, the vast majority do so via intermediary like bitpay because they dont want BTC they just want money. The trajectory of acceptance has a negative slope. Even Overstock doesn't accept BTC on mobile according to their help page.

Further, since you've got to foot the transaction fee (~$1.50) instead of the merchant and the merchant has already padded their prices for a 3% credit card fee, you're getting royally screwed. I pay with my 2% cash back credit card, get all sorts of warranties and protections, and you pay 3% + $1.50 and get nothing but losing your ability to file your taxes with TurboTax because they dont support crypto on Form 8949.

Re: A16Z is re-registering as a financial advisor, renouncing its status as a VC

#305

Post by arcticbull »

xtracto wrote: post #294
arcticbull wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally can, FairFX and TorFX (both UK-regulated money transmitters) will safely and securely make an MXN to GBP transfer for right around 2.5% and believe it or not Western Union is usually quite competitive. Next time check out cuex.com which compares options for you. BTC is a nightmare. You have to find an exchange in Mexico (which won't run away with your money a la Quadriga) and they'll take 1-2% and sit on the…

> Totally can, FairFX and TorFX (both UK-regulated money transmitters) will safely and securely make an MXN to GBP transfer for right around 2.5% and believe it or not Western Union is usually quite competitive. Next time check out cuex.com which compares options for you. I tried both of them and I can't (I am living in Mexico). I don't understand why you think BTC is a nightmare. For me, living in Mexico, and dealin…

I'm not sure what you mean by it not working. I haven't tried but they're a regulated system, are you sure it's not on your end? Have you been reporting your capital gains and losses over the course of the transaction on both sides? If not the tax authority may have some serious questions for you.

And why wouldn't I make negative assumptions of crypto [1], [2], [3], [4]. There's a scammer at every single level and being intentionally resistant to censorship, control and authority makes that impossible to stop. It's designed to support scams.

Remember the man who lost $420,000USD while attempting to use Quadriga to exchange USD for CAD when moving to Canada using exactly the approach you're describing? [0] It's like asking me why I've got negative associations with the "Titanic II." Something about what happened to the first Titanic.

Last, based on my research, it appears Mexican crypto exchanges aren't regulated yet, and that regulators are about to shut them all down [5]. "Because cryptocurrencies are such complicated technologies, the argument goes, average citizens can’t understand how they work and should not, therefore, be allowed to buy them." I'm 100% with your regulators.

[0] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-09/software-...

[1] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-gerald-cott...

[2] https://www.chepicap.com/en/news/4366/roubini-on-tether-it-s...

[3] https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/22/17151430/bankruptcy-mt-go...

[4] https://www.forbes.com/sites/cbovaird/2019/03/22/95-of-repor...

[5] https://coincenter.org/entry/new-regulation-would-effectivel...

Re: A16Z is re-registering as a financial advisor, renouncing its status as a VC

#306

Post by thinkmassive »

arcticbull wrote: post #302
thinkmassive wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think present financial systems are working well for every inhabitant on the planet, you probably spend a lot of time in a very comfortable bubble. Besides, talking worked well for thousands of years, what use would humanity have for the Internet? /s

Well, that depends, is the internet worse than writing letters? Because bitcoin is worse than money. The reality is that for the rest of the world bitcoin is missing the initial distribution problem. Nobody in Venezuela has bitcoin. How are they going to get it? If they can trade with other countries, they would just get USD and be better off. If not, then net, it's zero sum. That's really all there is to it. Even af…

You might have a point if that were true, but it’s not... https://twitter.com/btcven

Edit: ...and LN transactions are essentially instantaneous and free. Also you can’t program cash without a middleman.

Re: A16Z is re-registering as a financial advisor, renouncing its status as a VC

#307

Post by smallgovt »

smallgovt wrote: post #231
ar7hur wrote: post #49

a16z ("our" partner was Chris Dixon) led our seed round at Wit.ai. Working with them on a day-to-day basis was an incredible experience. They never asked for anything, but were always ready to jump in instantly when we needed anything from sales intros to offices in Palo Alto. When we got an offer from Facebook we founders wanted to accept it. They initially disagreed with us, but once we confirmed our decision they…

It's interesting this is the top voted comment when it isn't really substantive to the article's subject matter.

Haha, OK, I'm doubling down on upvote fraud here. Someone is clearly artificially upvoting sibling replies to my parent comment to displace it.

My parent comment received 14 upvotes and was ranked as the top response for the 4 hours after posting it.

Then, in the span of one hour, every other comment reply received enough upvotes to displace my parent comment. Even, "Thank you for sharing this".

Is there a way to call @dang over? It makes me sad that HN is being gamed.

Re: A16Z is re-registering as a financial advisor, renouncing its status as a VC

#308

Post by alphast0rm »

arcticbull wrote: post #304
alphast0rm wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not true, there are large retailers that directly accept BTC, like Newegg [1] and Overstock [2]. There are also services like Bitrefill to purchase gift cards using various cryptocurrencies for use at places that don't directly accept BTC: Amazon, Ebay, Walmart, Best Buy, and Target to name a few of the 750+ supported [3]. [1] https://promotions.newegg.com/nepro/16-6277/index.html [2] https://help.overstock.co…

There are more that did and stopped than do. And to your own point of the ones that do, the vast majority do so via intermediary like bitpay because they dont want BTC they just want money. The trajectory of acceptance has a negative slope. Even Overstock doesn't accept BTC on mobile according to their help page. Further, since you've got to foot the transaction fee (~$1.50) instead of the merchant and the merchant h…

> Nobody takes BTC in exchange for goods and services, absolutely nobody.

I was simply trying to show that your original statement was hyperbole, as there are clearly notable retailers that do.

Also as a consumer, I don't see why your point about intermediaries is relevant (barring the marginal price difference between them). If you are planning on purchasing something from a business you don't really care if they are using Intuit or Square to process credit cards transactions, just that they accept credit cards for payments.

Re: A16Z is re-registering as a financial advisor, renouncing its status as a VC

#309

Post by stale2002 »

arcticbull wrote: post #285
stale2002 wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are lots of perfectly legal things that get censored all the time, by both the government and private companies. Adult content is one area that comes to mind. If you run a business in this area, on the internet, which is perfectly legal, you will quickly find that every major financial institution refuses to do business with you.

There are payment processors that cater to that market. They charge large fees (up to 20%) for card transactions, though that's actually due to the crazy-high chargeback risk. People's spouses tend to discover their subscriptions, then they declare it wasn't them, their card was stolen, and a chargeback follows.

Indeed, that's my point.

If you do business in one of these controversial areas, then you will quickly find that you are being charged extremely high costs and/or kicked off of their network.

Re: A16Z is re-registering as a financial advisor, renouncing its status as a VC

#310

Post by dd36 »

gruez wrote: post #229
dd36 wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What free speech is he referring to? The only speech I know of that has been censored is terrorist groups. It makes me uncomfortable when I see people here complaining about that.

Daily stormer and Alex Jones? ...unless you think they are terrorists.

The KKK certainly is a terrorist group. Alex Jones is being sued and whatever platforms don't stop him from spreading malicious lies could be liable as well.
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