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Visa Plans to Enable Bitcoin Payments at 70M Merchants

btctimes.com

491–500 of 530 posts

Re: Visa Plans to Enable Bitcoin Payments at 70M Merchants

#491
post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Excellent question, why haven’t tether holders lost confidence? Part of the answer I think is that you can lock up Tether at 12+% interest. So the system encourages withdrawing tethers from the system, at unsustainable savings rates. https://bitcompare.net/coins/tether/savings-interest-rates The other part is that it is not easy to directly trade USDT for USD. Kraken is the only place you can do so directly, it is th…

>The other part is that it is not easy to directly trade USDT for USD. Kraken is the only place you can do so directly, it is the only place the peg is directly tested. Apart from that to get USD you need to trade to something else, like BTC or ETH, and then sell that for dollars. What do you mean? I trade USDC and USDT from and to Fiat using Binance, and it's a breeze. I get the funds directly on my bank account in…

Interesting I was under the impression you couldn’t. Does Binance have a USDT/USD trading pair? If not, what are the mechanics of trading from USDT to fiat?

Re: Visa Plans to Enable Bitcoin Payments at 70M Merchants

#492
post #363
post #359

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What is a tech stock's inherent value? They typically lose money and have a ton of employees. How is bitcoin different? You are investing in a technology with a group of people who are supporting it. As more people agree it is useful, the price goes up. Same thing as a stock.

Tech stocks aren't stores of value either. They're investments. No matter how speculative they are, the company is expected to return its profits back to the shareholders.

Now we are just playing with semantics.

Re: Visa Plans to Enable Bitcoin Payments at 70M Merchants

#493
post #492
post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tech stocks aren't stores of value either. They're investments. No matter how speculative they are, the company is expected to return its profits back to the shareholders.

Now we are just playing with semantics.

From an purchaser's perspective, Bitcoin may be indistinguishable from a meme stock, but behind the scenes it's entirely different. You can't store wealth in a company because the company requires wealth the operate.

Re: Visa Plans to Enable Bitcoin Payments at 70M Merchants

#494
post #445

The number of people commenting who completely misunderstand Bitcoin and crypto is astounding. Bitcoin will never be used directly for payments, it's a value store. Immutable deflationary digital gold. I wrote it off for years too because it was too slow and the fees were too expensive. That was the dream they had, but they couldn't realize it at the base layer. I was still walking around last year believing that's t…

Why do people still claim Bitcoin is a store of value? It has none of the properties of a good store of value IMO. - Boom/bust cycles means you’re at high risk of not being able to withdraw without losing most of your value - There’s no regulation of reserves in other more tangible values behind the currency - Bitcoin has no value to others not holding Bitcoin. Gold and art still has value to others not holding it. T…

> I’d be willing to buy gold or art at a certain price for their practical or esthetical use

For esthetical use, wouldn't an inexpensive fake gold work just as well, as long as its appearance was substantially the same? Not many people are interested in buying fake gold, of course, but I think that's a matter of wealth/status rather than aesthetics.

I think the demand for white gold and rose gold also suggests that interest in gold jewelry is largely about wealth/status. Even "gold gold" jewelry is usually mixed with lighter metals in order to intentionally change its appearance. (Of course it's also to strengthen the material, but that could be done while maintaining the approximate color if people truly liked the color.)

Re: Visa Plans to Enable Bitcoin Payments at 70M Merchants

#495
post #486
post #360

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The truth is complete opposite. Fiat currencies have created insane amount of wealth inequality, because they benefit those who have the power to borrow cash and own assets. With bitcoin, people can maintain their purchasing power and wealth. Bitcoin isn't pegged to CPI which means that it increases in value when economic productivity increases. CPI pegged currencies move purchasing power from labor to capital.

How do you obtain 1 btc if you are poor? Doing work for well-off holders? Sounds identical to regular life and inequality is baked in

Smallest unit of bitcoin is satoshi, which is 0.00000001 bitcoin. Everyone can earn that. And yes, you have to work to earn it, but it won't lose value like regular money. Which means that the value of their work doesn't vanish.

Re: Visa Plans to Enable Bitcoin Payments at 70M Merchants

#496
post #495
post #486

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you obtain 1 btc if you are poor? Doing work for well-off holders? Sounds identical to regular life and inequality is baked in

Smallest unit of bitcoin is satoshi, which is 0.00000001 bitcoin. Everyone can earn that. And yes, you have to work to earn it, but it won't lose value like regular money. Which means that the value of their work doesn't vanish.

//And yes, you have to work to earn it,

Like how all the existing owners earned it?

Re: Visa Plans to Enable Bitcoin Payments at 70M Merchants

#497
post #487
post #467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't mean inflation. Even if inflation was 0%, it means that money didn't change value relative to CPI . CPI tracks the value of customer goods, which depreciate in value because productivity increases. Essentially, the value of dollar is tied to the value of bread. Assets, such as stocks, real estate, gold and bitcoin maintain their value better. That's why those assets seem to go up measured in dollar value. Tho…

Wealthy people who use leverage actually are very likely to enjoy shrinking assets, there is no magic bullet to risk management

In a fair world this would be true. You shouldn't get reward without risk. But because the monetary system is broken, this bet is asymmetrical and you are guaranteed to get rich.

Re: Visa Plans to Enable Bitcoin Payments at 70M Merchants

#498

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are tax tools now. They cost $200+/year.

Isn't cryptotrader.tax free, or at least freemium?

A convincing argument would be a javascript app or a mobile or desktop app. I don't think the average person should be giving their address and personal information to a third-party.

Re: Visa Plans to Enable Bitcoin Payments at 70M Merchants

#499
post #495

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Smallest unit of bitcoin is satoshi, which is 0.00000001 bitcoin. Everyone can earn that. And yes, you have to work to earn it, but it won't lose value like regular money. Which means that the value of their work doesn't vanish.

//And yes, you have to work to earn it, Like how all the existing owners earned it?

Currently we're in a price discovery phase, so those who take the risk can benefit more. This phase will end soon though, and the price will stabilize. Everyone still has to buy it for the market price, as no one gets it for free. Also, most of those who got in early, have sold already.

Re: Visa Plans to Enable Bitcoin Payments at 70M Merchants

#500
post #122

Maybe I don't understand it correctly, but after having recently done my taxes, it seems to me you'd generate a capital gain or loss that has to be captured on IRS Form 8949 every time such a thing triggered bitcoin to be converted to USD, goods or services. Or is it some nudge-nudge-wink-wink situation where everyone, including the IRS, ignores such a thing unless the sums involved are large.

My CPA added up all my yearly Bitcoin transactions and only filled in one line on that form.. he wrote the dates as "various".

One idea is to average out a bunch of small trades to one made up large trade with the same overall gain. I think it's very unlikely if investigated they'd say we're doing you because you declared a £10k gain when really you made a £10k gain but with slightly different details. At least in the UK. Other places may be more uptight.
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