Live data from Hacker News

PayPal to support Ethereum and Bitcoin

newsroom.paypal-corp.com

151–160 of 409 posts

Re: PayPal to support Ethereum and Bitcoin

#151

Holding money (or crypto) in PayPal is a terrible idea. They are not a bank, they do not abide by banking regulations. They can lock you out of your account and your money at any time and leave you going in circles with their offshore support. Yes, they are somewhat of a necessary evil if you do any online peer-to-peer buying/selling, since they are the only money transfer service that provides some level of "buyer p…

I always keep a few bucks on the PayPal card to forget about until the next time I don't have my card and I'm like, "oh shit I have enough for a beer on this bastard" and it's like a mini-Christmas.

The thing that gets me is the 40% cash back on Walmart purchases up to 500$. It's such an incredible incentive it has to be shady af. Are the Rand oligarchs trying to buy out the poor? We'll never know because poor people don't have PayPal accounts.

"A something-or-another big enough to give you everything you want is a something-or-another big enough to take from you everything you have." -Voltaire

Re: PayPal to support Ethereum and Bitcoin

#153
post #53
post #40

When Bitcoin first hit public consciousness the knock from economists was that it had a built-in deflationary spiral and that seems to be true. The price keeps going up and up with a few noted bumps. Rising value is great for speculators but it's a death knell for an actual spending currency. You'd be nuts to spend it if you expect it to appreciate. That's why central banks aim for low but positive inflation.

I think the difference here is that Bitcoin is predictable deflationary vs fiat being unpredictable. If you can know in advance the rate, it becomes sorta like an investment vehicle, where instead of dividends you get appreciation of the assets. To look at it another way - why one would spend $100 from their brokerage account if they know a year later they can spend $110?

Bitcoin is not remotely predictable. The value has swung wildly over the past 5 years. Dropping more than 50% then gaining 200%. By comparison, USD has been rock solid even with the recent run of inflation. An actually circulating currency causes a panic at an 8% drop in value and yet there was zero macroeconomic impact from BTC dropping 50%. BTC is less stable than Turkish Lira.

Re: PayPal to support Ethereum and Bitcoin

#154

real question because i don't know, what do people actually buy with crypto other than other money or illegal stuff? i presume paypal won't be happy with you buying/selling drugs with it

A long time ago someone bought a pizza.

Most large company entries into the crypto space seem to fizzle out and disappear due to lack of use, and how annoying it is to deal with currencies which fluctuate in value between the time you've spent them and the time the transaction is approved (I understand there are lightning networks), and then there's the issue with maintaining wallets.

It really just adds nothing but extra complexity to the existing electronic payment methods. And takes away tons of things like regulators, regulations, consumer protections, strong case law.

Re: PayPal to support Ethereum and Bitcoin

#155

I thought the whole point of a decentralised ledger was not needing companies like PayPal…

Or Coinbase, or Cash App, or Venmo, or any of the other random places you can buy cryptocurrency. If it's not on the blockchain, it's not cryptocurrency; it's just an IOU until you withdraw to a private wallet.

Which can still be useful. Just like banks used to issue "IOUs" in exchange for depositing your gold coins, so that it was easier and safer to transfer small amounts.

Re: PayPal to support Ethereum and Bitcoin

#160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If only there was a technology which fixes this...

It would have to handle chargebacks and resolve disputes.

That's what escrow is for?

Places like swapd that operate on crypto escrow every transaction to lessen these crypto problems.

Post reply on HN