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Stripe: Bitcoin

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Re: Stripe: Bitcoin

#211

Post by j_lev »

colechristensen wrote: post #72
josu wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It may not be that appealing for a dollar/euro economies, but for emerging markets where their currency is not that stable and average inflation is around 3-5% it could have great potential.

To be fair and somewhat blunt with facts: * Today's bitcoin / USD High/Low trading price shows a swing of a bit more than 3% * Today's Argentine Peso (ARS) / USD High/Low trading price shows a swing of 0.1% (Argentina being a country with high inflation problems)

https://www.google.com/search?safe=off&&q=argentine+peso+blu...

I believe you are looking at the official rate.

Having said that, even if I was Argentinian I wouldn't hold any significant wealth in Bitcoin.

Re: Stripe: Bitcoin

#212

Post by aminok »

Joeboy wrote: post #120
jusben1369 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Bitcoin is the Linux of payments. Everyone always talked about the potential to completely change the desktop (consumer use) but the real impact was the network/backend (Sun/NT machines) So Bitcoin is exciting to me but not as a payment method. But as a backbone it gets really interesting.

I like the analogy, but not being a finance person I have no idea - is Bitcoin particularly compelling "as a backbone"?

For international fund transfers, yes. It doesn't require using correspondent banks. It's a direct, point-to-point transfer of value.

Re: Stripe: Bitcoin

#213

Post by balladeer »

deweller wrote: post #30
patrickaljord wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the crutch now is not that it's hard to acquire bitcoins (thanks to coinbase and friends) or pay with bitcoin (thanks to stripe and friends), no, the only crutch is why should I buy bitcoins with my dollars when I can just pay with my dollars directly? It can be useful for people who either don't have access to credit cards but have access to bitcoins, people who already have a lot of bitcoins and curious tec…

> should I buy bitcoins with my dollars when I can just pay with my dollars directly? Cheaper fees (0.5% vs 2.9%) can be potentially passed on to consumers. And anonymity.

Cheaper fees are moot points in the context of what costs the end user will incur at the end of the day. Anonymity? Are we still keeping our talk limited to "BC payments for VPNs" and "BC payment for those seedboxes in the DMCA agnostic parts of the EU" (not that it's not a valid use case)? I guess not, at least that's not the popular argument around.

Volatility of Bitcoin prices puts stock market rate fluctuations to shame. Think of it from the market price point of view and from the point of view of an end user, like me - who'll buy Bitcoins (yes, one who didn't win the gold rush lottery or couldn't afford the mean machines or wasn't just aware) to buy a pair of jeans which has its price fixed at, let's say, $59.99 since last 7 months. When I bought the Bitcoins it cost me $1200/b.c, but the next day when I went to buy that jeans with my Bitcoins - or maybe I just wanted to convert it back to dollars, it was at $800/b.c or let's just say $1100/b.c if you find the former rate too far fetched.

Trust me, it just doesn't make any practical financial sense to me and no, I am not in the minority, I am part of the majority. If you say that "Bitcoins were never meant for the majority in the first place" then it's a different story altogether.

Also, if I would have had the 1000s or even 10s or maybe 100s of Bitcoins from the initial gold rush (given I was able to afford an able and mean mining rig) it would have been a different story - I mean my "different" point of view then.

And just to be clear I value my privacy just like I know my affordability and financial limits too.

Re: Stripe: Bitcoin

#214

Post by austinstorm »

larrys wrote: post #176
andrewfong wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it legal to pass the discount onto customers? The only businesses I've seen giving a discount for paying in cash are (some) gas stations.

"pass the discount" You can say "if you are dressed like a clown today we will give you a 10% discount". Point being that there is nothing to prevent you from giving someone a discount as long as it doesn't break any laws and as long as you are offering it to everyone that falls into the same category (or the discount has been negotiated).

It was illegal until recently.

Re: Stripe: Bitcoin

#215

Post by sanswork »

undefined0 wrote: post #195
thucydides wrote: post #141

Who wants to use this most? Porn companies. Their chargeback rates are obscenely high. And Bitcoins can't be "clawed back," as grubles put it. ed: "wants to" instead of "will"

"Their chargeback rates are obscenely high". I've always understood that porn companies have difficulty finding a friendly payment processor, but I've never heard that they recieve a high chargeback rate before. Do you know why that is? What do users gain from chargebacking porn websites over chargebacking dropbox, for example?

Their partner sees "XYZ.com" on the bill and goes to look it up. "Why are you buying porn?" "Oh that wasn't me! Someone must have stolen our card" and they submit a chargeback.

Re: Stripe: Bitcoin

#216

Post by ikeboy »

Retra wrote: post #144
ikeboy wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are benefits to anonymity, which arguably outweigh disadvantages. I was just pointing out that bitcoin is anonymous when used by someone with a brain. (I.e not Ross Ulbricht, who apparently sent money to an assassin from his personal wallet, without using a mixer.)

I understand that there are benefits to anonymity, but I don't think anonymous transactions are really a priority at this time, except for people doing illegal business. I certainly don't want politicians to be able to receive anonymous funding. It's different with something like speech, where we have a rational principle that says "people can speak as a general proxy for hypothetical positions." But you can't make h…

But what about when someone wants to donate to wikileaks, which supports free speech (say), but they don't want governments to know that?

People need money to speak freely (especially when they are persecuted for it), and those donations should be anonymous.

Re: Stripe: Bitcoin

#217

Post by ufo »

StavrosK wrote: post #199
etchalon wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bitcoin is none of these things: faster cheaper easier.

How is it not faster and cheaper?

speed: The blockchain is updated only every 10 minutes and you need to wait for even longer if you want to be 100% sure a longer fork won't show up.

cost: bitcoin miners must spend enormous amounts of energy in an inefficient process in order to keep the network running. Right now, most of the mining costs are covered by the bitcoin bounty that is awarded to miners that successfully mine a block but this reward decreases with time and eventually and transaction fees will have to increase to compensate.

Re: Stripe: Bitcoin

#218

Post by fidz »

vacri wrote: post #173
joncalhoun wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you said is 100% correct, which is why companies accepting bitcoin need to give the entire ~2-3% discount to customers. Very few credit cards will match 2-3% rewards, and from the sellers perspective bitcoin is better than credit cards payments. To name a few benefits: - There are no chargebacks - Funds are available immediately (though transferring from BTC to USD may take a day) - You can accept payment from a…

- There are no chargebacks This is a huge negative for the customer, though

In addition: When you implement 3D Secure (Mastercard's Mastercode or VISA's VBV), you are also not liable for chargeback. In Asia, most payment gateways implement 3D secure.

Re: Stripe: Bitcoin

#219

Post by mikekchar »

patrickaljord wrote: post #27
adriancooney wrote: post #17

What a fantastic product page. After less that 30 seconds, I knew exactly what Stripe was doing with Bitcoin, how to use the new feature and integrate it. This is great news for Bitcoin. If all it takes is one extra line of code for online retailers to start accepting the currency, widespread adoption could sky rocket. That's always been Bitcoin's crutch, simple integration. Others like Coinbase and Bitpay have made…

I think the crutch now is not that it's hard to acquire bitcoins (thanks to coinbase and friends) or pay with bitcoin (thanks to stripe and friends), no, the only crutch is why should I buy bitcoins with my dollars when I can just pay with my dollars directly? It can be useful for people who either don't have access to credit cards but have access to bitcoins, people who already have a lot of bitcoins and curious tec…

This is potentially amazing for me. I just started a consulting business in Japan. Credit cards are hard to come by, especially for foreigners. I need to pay for various services: domain name registration, etc, etc. At the moment I'm constrained to using Japanese companies who will accept bank transfer payments. If this becomes popular, I could buy services anywhere. There service fees are very reasonable. This is what I have been waiting for with Bitcoin (and wondering if it would ever emerge).

Re: Stripe: Bitcoin

#220

Post by nickodell »

celticninja wrote: post #203
bduerst wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both involve theft, except one is insured. You don't insure money that you give to an investor (Madoff), which is why it's disingenuous to compare Mt. Gox to an investment scam.

why is it disingenous to compare mtgox to madoff? both were run as ponzi schemes in the end which led to losses for investors,whether that was investing in bitcoin or madoffs funds.mtgox money was not insured either.

If we're talking about MtGox's decision to keep operating after they'd become insolvent, then it's not disingenuous to compare it to Madoff.

However, comparing them as a whole is disingenuous. MtGox had a legitimate business plan, but screwed up by letting their Bitcoins get stolen. Madoff planned to defraud his investors from the start.

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