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A London pub now accepts payment in Bitcoin

individualpubs.co.uk

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Re: A London pub now accepts payment in Bitcoin

#31

Post by sliverstorm »

Spittie wrote: post #14
fqsxr wrote: post #6

Isn't one idea behind Bitcoin anonymity? Then I would blow my identity when I pay in a pub right?

While bitcoin can be anonymous (buy with cash, use a mixing service, change your bitcoin address every time, only pay over tor/i2p), they aren't made for that. Also keep in mind that every transaction is public, even if it can't be traced back to you. See https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Anonymity for more informations

Not only is every transaction public, but the record of that transaction will stay around forever. Or, at least as long as Bitcoin exists, that is.

Re: A London pub now accepts payment in Bitcoin

#33

Post by laumars »

dasil003 wrote: post #11
CiaranR wrote: post #2

The pub is in Hackney - http://www.individualpubs.co.uk/pembury/ I haven't tried it yet but keen to head up there, there is a meetup of the London Bitcoin Group on there this Sunday - http://www.meetup.com/London-bitcoin-meetup/events/122553592...

Looks like an excellent beer selection as well.

And a "lesser spotted" bar billiards table: http://horshambarbilliards.co.uk/Quickstart/ImageLib/best.jp...

To say I'm tempted to pay a visit to this pub would be an understatement.

Re: A London pub now accepts payment in Bitcoin

#34

Post by astrodust »

samweinberg wrote: post #32

Not only will accepting Bitcoin help this pub save some money on fees, it is very likely attract some new customers who happen to be Bitcoin enthusiasts. Win-win!

Not only do you get dinged when you exchange Bitcoins peer to peer, but you get hit again when you go to cash out through a broker.

It's an interesting experiment, but don't think there aren't any fees. The nominal amount a credit card company collects is lower.

Re: A London pub now accepts payment in Bitcoin

#35

Post by Nursie »

samweinberg wrote: post #32

Not only will accepting Bitcoin help this pub save some money on fees, it is very likely attract some new customers who happen to be Bitcoin enthusiasts. Win-win!

Did you read the bit about 7% fees, so they charge around an 8% premium?

I don't deny they'll get some new trade, but it's not really saving anyone anything.

Re: A London pub now accepts payment in Bitcoin

#37

Post by oleganza »

Nursie wrote: post #8

With only an 8% surcharge! What was that about low/no processing fees?

A lot of Bitcoin holders bought/mined them at much lower prices than current $100. Compare this 7% premium when buying things to a potential 20-30% capital gains tax you'd have give up when cashing out via exchange.

Re: A London pub now accepts payment in Bitcoin

#39

Post by dmix »

samweinberg wrote: post #30
ig1 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bitcoin is the opposite of anonymous, every transaction is available in the public ledger. You can build anonymity on top of it by using throw away accounts, but it's not an inherent part of the system.

Exactly, paying with a credit card is more anonymous than paying with Bitcoin. With the former, only the CC company, the merchant, and presumably the government can see what you purchased. With Bitcoin, anyone with a blockchain explorer can see your when and how much you transacted.

That's a bit inaccurate, your identify isn't attached toe the Bitcoin public ledger. It also has to be inferred through 3rd parties such as your wallet or some BTC exchange.

Re: A London pub now accepts payment in Bitcoin

#40

Post by zende »

It's interesting to hear about offline merchants accepting bitcoins. I wonder how much of it has to do with the fixed card processing fees as a component of the small transaction size.

The goal would seem to be when the restaurant can pay their bills in bitcoins, so they never have to convert it to a fiat currency at all.

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