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Buy a car with Bitcoins, save $5,000

theregister.co.uk

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Re: Buy a car with Bitcoins, save $5,000

#31

Post by oillio »

epscylonb wrote: post #12
taligent wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The new economy is not supposed to form around purchases as expensive as cars. It is still optimised for micro-transactions where that 4% fee isn't a significant cost.

It's actually not really optimised for micro transactions. The popular gambling site satoshidice is responsible for the rapidly increasing size of the blockchain, now around 3GB. Bitcoin has two main utilities, firstly it is very hard to prevent a bitcoin transaction from taking place, it can potentially be tracked after the fact if you aren't careful though. Secondly the fixed limit means that it should become a saf…

Bitcoin can scale to VISA level transactions[1]. The software is still BETA, the optimizations required for this scalability have not yet been implemented (they are being actively worked on). The primary one is support for pruning the block-chain. This will drastically reduce the current 3GB blockchain size.

You are right though, in it's basic form, Bitcoin will not work for micro-transactions where you want to transfer a few cents a few times a second. However, there are strategies [2] to support some forms of micro-payments.

[1] https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Scalability

[2] https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Contracts (see example 7)

Re: Buy a car with Bitcoins, save $5,000

#32

Post by ams6110 »

taligent wrote: post #7
guelo wrote: post #2

My main problem with bitcoin is that there's no way to buy them. I've tried using Dwolla and Bitinstant and other methods and so far have failed after jumping through all kinds of hoops including entering bank info and uploading pictures of IDs and utility bills to shady websites. And everyone wants their 4% transaction fees, so if you want to buy this $20k car you'll be paying hundreds of dollars in fees. I don't un…

The new economy is not supposed to form around purchases as expensive as cars. It is still optimised for micro-transactions where that 4% fee isn't a significant cost.

4% is 4%. How is it ever more or less significant?

Re: Buy a car with Bitcoins, save $5,000

#33

Post by ams6110 »

J_Darnley wrote: post #29
Cushman wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes? How did you assume a check worked?

Not the parent, but... You write a cheque to X. X hands it to their bank A. A asks your bank B for the amount on the cheque. B asks A for the cheque to check its valid. B sends money to A. Done. Which is why I thought they take days to be processed.

Used to work that way. Not anymore. Routing number and account and amount are sent electronically to a check clearinghouse and the money is transferred sometimes the same day or even close to real-time. The paper itself gets scanned, and the original shredded.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Check_21_Act

Re: Buy a car with Bitcoins, save $5,000

#34

Post by discountgenius »

guelo wrote: post #2

My main problem with bitcoin is that there's no way to buy them. I've tried using Dwolla and Bitinstant and other methods and so far have failed after jumping through all kinds of hoops including entering bank info and uploading pictures of IDs and utility bills to shady websites. And everyone wants their 4% transaction fees, so if you want to buy this $20k car you'll be paying hundreds of dollars in fees. I don't un…

localbitcoins.com enables cash-to-bitcoin trades with private people who live near you. It would be difficult to buy $20,000 worth of Bitcoins in one shot for a favorable rate, but you can get significant amounts without going through too much hassle.

Re: Buy a car with Bitcoins, save $5,000

#35

Post by sukuriant »

aricg wrote: post #10

I think if that car was real, there would be a video of it running or something.

me too, so I started perusing their website and found a link to their next website, where I saw...

http://main.wikispeed.softlaunch.352media.com/car

Personally, I'm not liking the chassy and it looks a bit shaky for my interests. That said, if everything is interchangeable, maybe I could get some better suspension in there.

It's an interesting first design and I'd like to see where it goes. Surely there's a way to design this to be more luxurious without sacrificing too much in terms of performance.

Re: Buy a car with Bitcoins, save $5,000

#37

Post by rdl »

taligent wrote: post #6
hnolable wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

coinbase.com. Link your bank account and then you can buy them with a single click. Same way you get money onto paypal.

Given the appalling lack of basic security across many of the Bitcoin services there is no way on earth I would be trusting them with bank account details.

From what I've seen of their security, it's better than most of the bitcoin services, and in this case, due to YC and some other known investors, I think the risk of insider fraud is far less than with most other bitcoin services (run by pseudonyms).

Re: Buy a car with Bitcoins, save $5,000

#38

Post by mahmud »

icyfenix wrote: post #26

"For those unfamiliar with American customs, Black Friday in the US refers to the day after Thanksgiving Day, which is traditionally considered the first day of the holiday shopping season. It's generally the busiest shopping day of the year, resulting in huge profits for retailers – thus, putting them 'in the black.'" This is not why it's called Black Friday. It's called Black Friday originally by the retail workers…

Never heard of this theory. Black refers to ink color. Line items in red are loses, black are break-even or profit. Black-friday is when retailer make so much profit they get back in black.

Business type-writters had red and black ribbons.

Re: Buy a car with Bitcoins, save $5,000

#39

Post by blake8086 »

taligent wrote: post #6
hnolable wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

coinbase.com. Link your bank account and then you can buy them with a single click. Same way you get money onto paypal.

Given the appalling lack of basic security across many of the Bitcoin services there is no way on earth I would be trusting them with bank account details.

How are you going to buy Bitcoins without trusting anyone?

Re: Buy a car with Bitcoins, save $5,000

#40

Post by epscylonb »

oillio wrote: post #31
epscylonb wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's actually not really optimised for micro transactions. The popular gambling site satoshidice is responsible for the rapidly increasing size of the blockchain, now around 3GB. Bitcoin has two main utilities, firstly it is very hard to prevent a bitcoin transaction from taking place, it can potentially be tracked after the fact if you aren't careful though. Secondly the fixed limit means that it should become a saf…

Bitcoin can scale to VISA level transactions[1]. The software is still BETA, the optimizations required for this scalability have not yet been implemented (they are being actively worked on). The primary one is support for pruning the block-chain. This will drastically reduce the current 3GB blockchain size. You are right though, in it's basic form, Bitcoin will not work for micro-transactions where you want to trans…

The pruning stuff looks great, at the moment the time it takes to download the blockchain (and the disk space requirements to a lesser degree) is creating a disincentive to run a full verifying node.

I suspect bitcoin blockchain transactions will never be very useful for micro payments, because of the confirmation delay.

If you use bitcoin as a clearing house though, which means you aren't broadcasting a blockchain transaction for every payment then micro transactions could work very well.

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