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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]

#111
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

In some cases you can end up paying a charge for using a credit card. Low cost airlines are an example. EasyJet adds a 2.5% surcharge for credit cards. People still use them.

http://www.easyjet.com/book/paymentoptions

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

#113
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.

bitcoin-B would not be bitcoins, nobody would use them, and they would at best be tulip bulbs.

Unless you are using them to do something different then currency.

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

#114
post #108
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

Many economists believe that the gold standard contributed to several depressions during those centuries. Gold "worked" because nothing better was known, but modern fiat money works better.

There is a lot of disagreement among modern economists. I definitely don't subscribe to the account you're giving.

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

#115
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The amount of gold in circulation has never stopped increasing.

If the bitcoin protocols changed to allow divisions to 9 decimal places instead of 8, would that be viewed as an increase in the money supply, or no change, in traditional economics?

Would re-introducing a half-penny coin increase the money supply? No. Basically, as long as you maintain proportionality, you can re-denominate currency (or shares for that matter) at will.

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

#116
Anything that increases bitcoin liquidity is good for bitcoin. Anything that increases PayPal's market opportunity is good for PayPal.

A lot of people want to purchase bitcoins with their PayPal accounts, and since PayPal is already licensed as a MSB, this just requires technology. They can build or buy (Coinbase), and make a pretty significant revenue on conversion fees. They could also charge a small fee for bitcoin transactions over a certain amount, in exchange for convenience, or, for example, transaction insurance, which can be underwritten, eliminating the risk.

PayPal can do a lot for Bitcoin, and vice versa. If Bitcoin continues to be successful, PayPal can continue to have a significant portion of the online transaction pie.

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

#117
post #91

Paypal would do very well buying and selling Bitcoins. Buying bitcoins with Paypal is a very common request, which most sellers won't do because Paypal makes it very easy to rip off the seller.

>Buying bitcoins with Paypal is a very common request, which most sellers won't do because Paypal makes it very easy to rip off the seller. Where are you observing that it's a common request? Could it be a common request because it's easy to rip off the seller, in the same way that assistance transferring a dead relative's funds out of Nigeria is a common request?

Go on any Bitcoin forum and the newbie section will be filled with people wanting to buy Bitcoin with credit cards, usually via Paypal. Some of those will be scammers but not all of them.

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

#118
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Buying bitcoins with Paypal is a very common request, which most sellers won't do because Paypal makes it very easy to rip off the seller. Where are you observing that it's a common request? Could it be a common request because it's easy to rip off the seller, in the same way that assistance transferring a dead relative's funds out of Nigeria is a common request?

Go on any Bitcoin forum and the newbie section will be filled with people wanting to buy Bitcoin with credit cards, usually via Paypal. Some of those will be scammers but not all of them.

Seems hard to gauge the proportion of real newbies vs. scammers, though.

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

#119
post #65
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.

Wallets are never going to be mainstream the way they work right now, so for most people, online wallets are the way to go - at least until hardware wallets are a common thing, like say in the form of a ring. If that ever catches up, I think it will be the way to go for people who want to have personal wallets.

Why not have it on a card in a wallet? I still expect to carry some dead tree money in this scenario.

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

#120
post #93
post #8

"We're thinking about it" - They better be, because if decentralized payments hit the mainstream, PayPal's 3.9% fee is going bye-bye.

Paypal takes 3.9% ? No, you have to see how much credit card companies take and how much paypal takes. They likely get less than half that.

For international sales PayPal takes 3.9% plus a flat rate fee ($1-$5) plus a poor exchange rate which adds in a hidden 2-3%.

In total they can end up taking $12 on a $100 purchase.

But you're right, most of that probably goes to the credit card company.

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