Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 910 posts

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#51

Post by runeks »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #2

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…

> Should also note that MasterCard crypto transactions almost certainly won’t be settled on the blockchain. Not with $8 Bitcoin transaction fees.

They could easily settle merchant balances on the blockchain. An $8 fee is nothing compared to the revenue of a merchant.

Assuming e.g. a 1.5% credit card fee, a merchant pays $8 in fees when receiving ~$500 in payments.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#52

Post by TobySKT »

Digital learning offers a productive alternative to conventional classroom-based learning. With eLearning solutions you can access learning materials at any time and on any device. Have a great idea for a custom education software? Steelkiwi offers educational innovators a full-cycle eLearning software development strategy featuring advanced technologies, lean design, and an emphasis on learners https://steelkiwi.com/expertise/elearning-software-developme...

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#53

Post by [deleted] »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #2

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…

[deleted]

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#54

Post by throwawaysea »

The last thing I want is to help the MasterCard and Visa duopoly persist, given how many times these companies have polices others by instituting payment blocks on people like Wikileaks. I view cryptocurrency as an alternative to the current financial system and not something meant to be leveraged by these incumbents.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#55

Post by temp8964 »

tehlike wrote: post #11
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #2

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…

A friend of mine basically put it this way: bitcoin can't become medium of exchange before it becomes medium of value. You can read this as: if you are holding btc, it's in your best interest to hold more without selling.

How do you apply this logic to USD? You either want to hold it or want to use it? Since everybody need to use USD, so nobody should hold USD?

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#56

Post by soheil »

nhumrich wrote: post #36
soheil wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Exchanging != selling cryptocurrency

If I buy a Tesla with bitcoin and Tesla keeps recirculating the same bitcoin or at least majority of it to purchase raw material without selling it why does that must drive down the price of bitcoin?

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#57

Post by Consultant32452 »

runeks wrote: post #51
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #2

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…

> Should also note that MasterCard crypto transactions almost certainly won’t be settled on the blockchain. Not with $8 Bitcoin transaction fees. They could easily settle merchant balances on the blockchain. An $8 fee is nothing compared to the revenue of a merchant. Assuming e.g. a 1.5% credit card fee, a merchant pays $8 in fees when receiving ~$500 in payments.

It won't take long before Visa/MasterCard either adopt the Lightning network or create their own layer-2 service to alleviate transaction fees.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#58

Post by hackinthebochs »

tehlike wrote: post #11
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #2

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…

A friend of mine basically put it this way: bitcoin can't become medium of exchange before it becomes medium of value. You can read this as: if you are holding btc, it's in your best interest to hold more without selling.

Absolutely. Bitcoin as a store of value had to come before its use as a medium of exchange. Why would anyone exchange a currency for a product when you didn't expect its value to hold until you could use it? If its only value was driven by the demand as a medium of exchange, its value would fluctuate with this demand. In the early days this would be detrimental to its ability to serve the role as a medium of exchange. How long would you need to hold your coins before there was enough demand for exchange again?

It is the speculators buying and holding that create the expectation that its value will hold over time, thus making it viable as a medium of exchange.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#59

Post by adam_arthur »

T0Bi wrote: post #26
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #17

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?

Deflationary relative to the USD and other fiat currencies. The world is never going to run primarily on BTC, so talking about inflation purely in terms of number of BTC is a bit pointless :)

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#60

Post by hackinthebochs »

temp8964 wrote: post #55
tehlike wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A friend of mine basically put it this way: bitcoin can't become medium of exchange before it becomes medium of value. You can read this as: if you are holding btc, it's in your best interest to hold more without selling.

How do you apply this logic to USD? You either want to hold it or want to use it? Since everybody need to use USD, so nobody should hold USD?

It's an entirely different beast when everyone is forced to use USD as a medium of exchange.
Post reply on HN