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MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

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81–90 of 910 posts

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#81
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.

As a point of order, tax avoidance is perfectly legal and encouraged by the IRS. Tax evasion is illegal.

There are many legitimate and ethical reasons why someone would want to avoid taxes they're not obligated to pay.

To your second point about calculating and tracking these expenses, it gets messy really quickly. Certainly do-able, but messy nonetheless. Imagine having a 1099 that is dozens of pages long because it's basically your yearly credit card statement. Imagine having to pay a capital gains tax of like 5 cents on a starbucks purchase. Interestingly enough, this isn't a requirement when paying for things using foreign exchange. You don't have to track gains if you take a vacation to Europe and pay for things using Euros. So I think the goal is to have crypto transaction treated like a Forex purchase.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#82

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. That's a misunderstanding of how these things work. If selling drove the price down, then the price would never go up! Why? Because nobody can buy without a sale on the other side of the transaction. The common belief that selling lowers the price comes from…

A system for spending Bitcoin would inherently put sell orders in at market price (directly or indirectly). This consumes the highest priced bids and moves the price down.

It’s the same story with any currency. Basic foreign exchange concepts.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You are only forced to pay taxes in USD.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#84

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…

What's the point of an unstable, volatile, frantically manipulated currency that is susceptible to social media pump and dump schemes (Elon + Doge)?

Currency and its exchange rate needs to be relatively stable for the world to put trust into it. Saying that BTC is stable, but the rest of the world's fiat currency is fluctuating makes no sense.

US dollar provides stability and security, I feel confident that a cappuccino will cost me $4. Crypto's volatility deters me from using it, simply put. There is no buffer that you would have with a Treasury. Converting from BTC to coffee makes BTC exchange rate go down.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#85

To everyone saying "my credit card pays me 2% to use it", no, your credit card charges the merchant 2.3%+ to use it, that gets bundled into the price, and they give you 2% of that as a kickback.

I'm not sure how that's different? When a merchant accepts cash, they have to pay for physical security and pickup, it's prone to theft or miscounting, etc. So cash isn't free. Accepting card payments is also not free. Merchant pays visa for convenience (to both merchant and customer); visa kicks some back to customer.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#86
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bitcoin is only good for large transactions, but there are 1000000 cryptocurrencies that solve this problem such as BCH, USDT, and LTC. Use one of them.

Honestly, why? My credit card pays me 2% to use it. If there’s a problem with my transaction, I click some buttons and the card company reversed the charges. If I lose my card, I call them up and get another one overnight without losing all my money. Why would I give all of that up, pay exchange fees on both ends of a transaction, pay transaction fees (however small), and wait longer for my transactions to clear?

The parent comment is making a philosophical/ethical point - there is a lot of power concentrated into two private companies (Mastercard and Visa). They are the gatekeepers to being able to take payments, without them you can't have consumer income, and they make moral judgements that make it hard to operate certain kinds of (legal) businesses.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#88

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…

Bitcoin is used as a speculative investment today only because it is so underpriced. Once its value stabilizes, its use in day to day transactions will grow.

> Should also note that MasterCard crypto transactions almost certainly won’t be settled on the blockchain.

And neither are USD transactions. In fact, USD doesn't even have a blockchain! The great thing with Bitcoin is once you want to cash out your Bitcoin, you can take it with you "on chain" without any intermediary (and it's a bit more convenient than carrying bags of cash).

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#89

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…

What's the point of an unstable, volatile, frantically manipulated currency that is susceptible to social media pump and dump schemes (Elon + Doge)? Currency and its exchange rate needs to be relatively stable for the world to put trust into it. Saying that BTC is stable, but the rest of the world's fiat currency is fluctuating makes no sense. US dollar provides stability and security, I feel confident that a cappucc…

These currencies will inflate in value as their network grows wider. Each new user adds value like a telephone network. Eventually, there will be a point where everyone who wants to be connected is connected, they have bought the bitcoin they want and bitcoin prices reach an steady state. At that point, it should be stable enough to use as a currency.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#90

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…

I'm a cryptocurrency holder and I would love it if it were easier to spend.
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