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Paypal President: We're thinking about adding Bitcoin (2:50) [video]

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Re: Paypal President: We're thinking about adding Bitcoin (2:50) [video]

#71

Post by baddox »

rsofaer wrote: post #60
javert wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The built-in deflation is a fatal flaw Yeah, I mean, gold didn't work as a currency all those hundreds of years. /sarcasm

The amount of gold in circulation has never stopped increasing.

The amount of effort required to find gold has more or less increased over time, and barring an unpredictable discovery of a huge amount of gold somewhere, the mechanics of increasing the gold supply aren't all that different than bitcoin. Or, to put it another way, I don't think the steady but slow increase in the gold supply is a substantial contributor to the current gold market.

Re: Paypal President: We're thinking about adding Bitcoin (2:50) [video]

#72

Post by YokoZar »

draugadrotten wrote: post #64
rsofaer wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The amount of gold in circulation has never stopped increasing.

Nothing prevents you from creating a "bitcoin-B", "bitcoin-C" and so on. There will be enough bitcoins for everybody. Disclaimer: I believe bitcoins are tulip bulbs.

More relevantly, nothing stops you from creating a tradeable note that says "redeemable for 1 bitcoin from " and then using those as currency.

This happened with gold, and also would happen if we saw a true bitcoin bank rather than bitcoin wallet -- they'd pay a bit of interest, and in return would pool their deposits and use some fraction of them to generate revenue through other channels.

Re: Paypal President: We're thinking about adding Bitcoin (2:50) [video]

#73

Post by cecilpl »

codeulike wrote: post #69
lolcraft wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, not really. Economists would call a currency deflationary if it causes deflation, that is, if it inflates slower than demand does. Bitcoin is massively deflationary, and only inflating in a very pedantic sense. I think assuming that Bitcoin will be (for practical purposes) eternally deflationary is the safest bet that could be made today. The world economy has been growing by triple digits every century. Not even…

Does the divisibility of bitcoin make any difference? If they changed the protocol now and then so that the number of decimal places (currently 8) increased to 9, then 10, etc, would that be viewed as increasing the supply of bitcoins?

If the US government started minting 0.1 cent coins and 0.01 cent coins, would that be viewed as increasing the supply of dollars?

Re: Paypal President: We're thinking about adding Bitcoin (2:50) [video]

#74

Post by jellicle »

codeulike wrote: post #69
lolcraft wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, not really. Economists would call a currency deflationary if it causes deflation, that is, if it inflates slower than demand does. Bitcoin is massively deflationary, and only inflating in a very pedantic sense. I think assuming that Bitcoin will be (for practical purposes) eternally deflationary is the safest bet that could be made today. The world economy has been growing by triple digits every century. Not even…

Does the divisibility of bitcoin make any difference? If they changed the protocol now and then so that the number of decimal places (currently 8) increased to 9, then 10, etc, would that be viewed as increasing the supply of bitcoins?

If Zimbabwe adding extra zeros before the decimal point to its money doesn't cure inflation, then Bitcoin adding extra zeros after the decimal point won't cure deflation.

Re: Paypal President: We're thinking about adding Bitcoin (2:50) [video]

#75

Post by vlasta2 »

clueless123 wrote: post #66
vlasta2 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the advantages of bitcoin is that you do not need a middle man to do a transaction. Some people may choose one for whatever reason, but would they be OK with paying the transaction fees? Would you use a credit card if you had to pay 4% more than if you paid in cash? I do not think many people would be OK with that. It may sound as if I am a PayPal lover and bitcoin hater, which is NOT the case. I just do not s…

You write: "Would you use a credit card if you had to pay 4% more than if you paid in cash? " That is exactly what happens today on the real world. If you make it convinient for me to use your "credit card", I will use it, and because of that, vendors pay the 4% fee. All paypal needs to do is to make it easy (at non bitcoin vendors for example) for me to spend my bitcoins and I will use it. Vendors will fall in line…

Today, the buyer does not experience the fee. Sellers accept it, because the middle man gives them no other choice. With bitcoins, the middle man has no leverage anymore as the buyer and the seller can interact directly. That was my point.

Re: Paypal President: We're thinking about adding Bitcoin (2:50) [video]

#76

Post by illuminate »

umsm wrote: post #47
vlasta2 wrote: post #35

Oh, dear. If I were the president of PayPal and wanted to make quick buck, I would buy some bitcoins, released news like this, and sold my bitcoins the next day with a nice profit. And then, I could just deny the news, sending bitcoin value back where it was so that it is ready for the next exploiter... Heh. But seriously, PayPal and Bitcoin are by nature rivals. If PayPal wanted to have a crypto-currency, it would d…

I think everyone is over-reacting... He clearly states that they're thinking about it just like everyone else...

And the free publicity gets whatever else he was talking about heard.

Re: Paypal President: We're thinking about adding Bitcoin (2:50) [video]

#77

Post by blake8086 »

Drakim wrote: post #63
khet wrote: post #54

If Bitcoin does succeed, I don't see a regular person wanting to manage his own wallet and security let alone understand all the complexity that is bitcoin. I see Bitcoin becoming the underlying infrastructure on which companies like Paypal, Square, Banks and other financial institutions trade. If Paypal does invest in adding Bitcoin, it would be right step ahead for Bitcoin and for Paypal.

The real win is that if it becomes the underlying infrastructure, it is still possible for the common man to have a "manual wallet". You won't end up in walled garden situations where a single vendor controls with massive fees and restrictions, but you have no choice but to use them, because hey, that's all everybody accepts and uses. If an online wallet service/paypal/visa is gonna keep your business, they have to m…

What if you have large vendors like PayPal only offering transfer to other institutionally-controlled wallets?

for example: "Since your funds are transferred only between other PayPal users, PayPal can always reverse a fraudulent transaction."

Then you would have a veritable roach motel of bitcoins.

Re: Paypal President: We're thinking about adding Bitcoin (2:50) [video]

#78

Post by illuminate »

drcode wrote: post #17
chiph wrote: post #7

Doubtful. I expect this is a tactical marketing play to associate themselves with the current hipness of Bitcoin.

I disagree: If they had no interest in integrating with bitcoin, the smart move for paypal would be to just spread FUD about bitcoins at every opportunity.

It's in their best interest to ramble about any of the current hipness and simply wait out to see about the viability of integrating it into their business. If it takes off in a non-niche way, they can claim that they were "first" thinking about it today, if BTC collapses for mainstream adoption, they can adopt the next and forget about their nonexistent "plans".

Re: Paypal President: We're thinking about adding Bitcoin (2:50) [video]

#80

Post by codeulike »

cecilpl wrote: post #73
codeulike wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does the divisibility of bitcoin make any difference? If they changed the protocol now and then so that the number of decimal places (currently 8) increased to 9, then 10, etc, would that be viewed as increasing the supply of bitcoins?

If the US government started minting 0.1 cent coins and 0.01 cent coins, would that be viewed as increasing the supply of dollars?

If the USD was deflationary, then maybe it would?
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