MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

Post by averynicepen » Thu, Feb 11, 2021, 9:22 PM UTC

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #289

maxkwallace wrote: post #75

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.

> "my credit card pays me 2% to use it", no, your credit card charges the merchant 2.3%+ to use it, Consumers do not care about anything other than the net price they pay. Stores that take Bitcoin payments flip this around, passing the transaction cost to consumers. If I'm ordering a $50 thing online and the store takes Bitcoin, I have two options: 1) Pay with my credit card, for a net cost of $49 to me and a guarant…

  Commerce on the Internet has come to rely almost exclusively on financial institutions serving as trusted third  parties  to process electronic payments.   While the  system works  well enough for most   transactions,   it   still   suffers   from   the   inherent   weaknesses   of   the   trust   based   model.Completely non-reversible transactions are not really possible, since financial institutions cannot avoid   mediating   disputes.     The   cost   of   mediation   increases   transaction   costs,   limiting   the minimum practical transaction size and cutting off the possibility for small casual transactions,and   there   is   a   broader   cost   in   the   loss   of   ability   to   make   non-reversible   payments   for   non-reversible services.  With the possibility of reversal, the need for trust spreads.  Merchants must be wary of their customers, hassling them for more information than they would otherwise need.A certain percentage of fraud is accepted as unavoidable.  These costs and payment uncertainties can be avoided in person by using physical currency, but no mechanism exists to make payments over a communications channel without a trusted party.

  What is needed is an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust,allowing any two willing parties to transact directly with each other without the need for a trusted third  party.    Transactions  that  are  computationally  impractical  to   reverse   would  protect  sellers from fraud, and routine escrow mechanisms could easily be implemented to protect buyers.

Post by lottin » Thu, Feb 11, 2021, 9:25 PM UTC

lui8906 wrote: post #522

systemvoltage wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> Crypto's volatility deters me from using it, simply put. There is stable coins which have held a consistent peg against the US dollar for a couple of years now. You get all the benefit of high APY yield (relative to a bank account) and none of the volatility of a Doge or a BTC.

Post by qqii » Thu, Feb 11, 2021, 9:29 PM UTC

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #483

pragmaticCrypto wrote: post #448

People often think crypto == bitcoin. I think there are 4 categories that people should think about: 1. Crypto as asset class (BTC/ ETH) 2. Crypto for transactions - usually pegged to a dollar or other fiat eg. USDC 3. Crypto as a utility/ asset backed token - filecoin etc 4. fraud. I think mastercard visa etc will focus on #2 above and it will bring extremely powerful dynamic to these ecosystems

#2 (crypto transactions backed by traditional currency) is far and away the most useful of these categories. Unfortunately, it doesn't offer the speculative upside of something like Bitcoin. People don't actually care if their transactions are carried across a blockchain or a database, as long as it gets done. Bitcoin is hot specifically because it's so detached from any real-world use cases or metrics that might put…

Post by koonsolo » Thu, Feb 11, 2021, 9:31 PM UTC

Sargos wrote: post #338

koonsolo wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, maybe I'm just ignorant, but since when do Mastercard and Visa handle taxes and everything you describe?

In this case it would be their ability to prevent you from having to deal with crypto taxes since you just receive USD like normal.

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Feb 11, 2021, 9:34 PM UTC

sorbits wrote: post #342

tenaciousDaniel wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's sad that this aspect of the conversation so often gets replaced by everything else. This is (IMO) the most important point about digital currency - the promise of providing consumers in unstable economies the chance to convert to a more stable currency without government intrusion. We're still not there, but that should be the north star for crypto (again, in my opinion).

Normally the government leverages its power to keep its currency stable. If a country fails at that, the residents tend to switch to another country’s currency, for example USD is widely accepted in countries with unstable currencies, and this makes sense, since a lot of commodity prices are set in USD. What we have seen with crypto currencies are extreme volatility, not useful to base a country’s economy on, and bec…