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MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

reuters.com

31–40 of 910 posts

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#32
Bitcoin = store of value. Network effect is reducing the chance of government intervention, as well as blockchain tail risks.

Getting 1 of the 21 million bitcoins is like decentralized proof of saying "I had 48k worth of value in Feb 2021!"

It locks in the value that you created forever. Otherwise governments will just keep printing money, and your value gets diluted arbitrarily.

Assuming the mechanisms of protection for the blockchain holds, it should work out exactly as that.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#33
post #23

Unclear what this actually means. Can I pay my credit card bill using crypto? That's a taxable event and a pain in the butt to track. Can I buy stuff from merchants using crypto, and they receive crypto? Useful, but most merchants will want fiat currency, so someone on the chain will have to convert it to dollars, which again would be a taxable event.

I don't get it - you're trying to avoid paying tax into the society that you're using, benefitting from? Edit to add: Many replies are acting as if it's difficult to automatically, digitally track conversions and taxes, to then pay your taxes? It's a digital "currency" we're talking about here.

It's not about paying taxes, it's about not wanting to have to declare the cheeseburger you bought for lunch as a line item on your year-end taxes.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#34
post #23

Unclear what this actually means. Can I pay my credit card bill using crypto? That's a taxable event and a pain in the butt to track. Can I buy stuff from merchants using crypto, and they receive crypto? Useful, but most merchants will want fiat currency, so someone on the chain will have to convert it to dollars, which again would be a taxable event.

I don't get it - you're trying to avoid paying tax into the society that you're using, benefitting from? Edit to add: Many replies are acting as if it's difficult to automatically, digitally track conversions and taxes, to then pay your taxes? It's a digital "currency" we're talking about here.

It's much easier to pay taxes for transactions on crypto exchanges. They have APIs for tax software to call into.

I don't trust a traditional bank, or much less some random retailer accepting crypto, to get this right. Huge headache.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#35

I thought the whole idea of Bitcoin was to get out of the financial system that Mastercard is a central piece of.

Bitcoin transactions cost $8 each and that’s exactly what the Bitcoin miners want The idea that Bitcoin was going to become a new currency was never true with the low transaction limit and Hugh transaction cost.

A hardfork to algorand consensus would solve this

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#36
post #21

These stories usually spur more enthusiasm for buying cryptocurrency, but ironically those buyers aren’t interested in spending cryptocurrency using their MasterCard. They’re hoping other people will buy cryptocurrency from these announcements, driving the price up. Or, more likely, they’re just hoping other people will buy cryptocurrency and not use it in these spending systems. Spending cryptocurrency would result…

> Spending cryptocurrency would result in selling that cryptocurrency, which would drive the price down. That’s not what cryptocurrency investors actually want. Is this necessarily true? If you have a merchant that accepts cryptocurrency why would that drive down the price? (e.g. Tesla [1]) [1] https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/08/tesla-buys-1point5-billion-i...

because price is currently calculated similar to how stocks are calculated. While not entirely accurate, it essentially goes down when there are more sellers than buyers, and up when there are buyers but little sellers. What drives prices up, is more people buying than selling at market rate, which requires the market rate to go up, in order to find more sellers.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#37
post #23

Unclear what this actually means. Can I pay my credit card bill using crypto? That's a taxable event and a pain in the butt to track. Can I buy stuff from merchants using crypto, and they receive crypto? Useful, but most merchants will want fiat currency, so someone on the chain will have to convert it to dollars, which again would be a taxable event.

I don't get it - you're trying to avoid paying tax into the society that you're using, benefitting from? Edit to add: Many replies are acting as if it's difficult to automatically, digitally track conversions and taxes, to then pay your taxes? It's a digital "currency" we're talking about here.

[deleted]

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#38

I don't want mastercard supporting crypto. I want the merchants and payment providers supporting crypto so I do not have to use mastercard and their "rules". If I want to pay for porn or send a donation to wikileaks I do not want mastercard/paypal or anyone else other than the government (if it's legal I should be allowed to pay for it) deciding if that is ok.

Bitcoin transaction fees are currently around $8. My credit card pays me 2% to use it. No one wants to use the Bitcoin blockchain for average transactions. No one is buying Bitcoin as anything other than a speculative investment right now.

Hardfork BTC to use Algorand consensus. Put stablecoins on the same chain. See the magic happen.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#39
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it’s in your best interest to buy and never sell, why would anyone want to use it for exchange? Bitcoin’s deflationary nature discourages spending and selling, by definition. The high transaction costs discourage it even further.

How is bitcoin deflationary when it (currently) has a fixed inflation?

got em

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#40
post #23

Unclear what this actually means. Can I pay my credit card bill using crypto? That's a taxable event and a pain in the butt to track. Can I buy stuff from merchants using crypto, and they receive crypto? Useful, but most merchants will want fiat currency, so someone on the chain will have to convert it to dollars, which again would be a taxable event.

I don't get it - you're trying to avoid paying tax into the society that you're using, benefitting from? Edit to add: Many replies are acting as if it's difficult to automatically, digitally track conversions and taxes, to then pay your taxes? It's a digital "currency" we're talking about here.

Let's be a bit more charitable interpreting what they said: "a pain in the butt to track". Lots of little profit taking events to report on your tax form, yeah it's painful. But also means that you intend to pay the tax, not avoid it.
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