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Stripe: Bitcoin Sign-up

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Re: Stripe: Bitcoin Sign-up

#161

Post by Nursie »

mbesto wrote: post #57
tomasien wrote: post #4

The concept that Stripe may be moving away from strictly supporting Credit Card payments (which are awful, but necessary for now) and into alternatives is so exciting to me that I am literally shaking. We're building infrastructure to make bank-to-bank transfers palatable to consumers and drive their cost toward zero, but it's only if thought leaders like the Collisons embrace the move away from CC's that the move wi…

I've seen a lot of replies to this comment that are missing the point tomasien is trying to make. BTC can actually completely wipe out the need for VISA, MC, etc. as it can serve for the underlying technology for transactions. The only thing stopping this from happening today is illiquidity of the BTC (insert fiat currency) market. Once we see more liquidity, this dream can become a reality.

Transactions are not reversible. This feature is important. No, BTC cannot replace Visa/MC etc.

Re: Stripe: Bitcoin Sign-up

#162

Post by Nursie »

eof wrote: post #150
rebelidealist wrote: post #48

I wish all these resources spent & millions of investment dollars would go to a better version of Bitcoin. BT is a major breakthru but it is still in an alpha stage. The main problem is that it is deflationary, to support a global economy it needs to slightly inflationary. This is because for hundreds of millions of people to use BT, the supply of the coins need to gradually increase to support the flow of spending.…

if bitcoin weren't deflationary, it never would have been bootstrapped from zero. why would i buy a worthless bitcoin in 2010 if it was going to be worh the same or less in 20xx? This applies to all other cryptos as well; without central backing there is only supply/demand. No one wants to be the first to take a risk if there is no upside.

Why should anyone use a currency that others are holding in an effort to cash out though?

My economic activity in that currency would enrich others who have done nothing but havng on to it. Not really an attractive feature.

Re: Stripe: Bitcoin Sign-up

#163

Post by pwim »

gioele wrote: post #149
antr wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i'm going to guess that they will exchange at spot and take a small transaction fee. having bitcoin on your balance sheet (volatility-wise) is not the wisest move for a startup.

> not the wisest move for a startup. Is Stripe a "startup"? Founded in 2009, they "process billions of dollars a year for thousands of companies of all sizes." and they are a "startup"?

With a payment gateway, processing billions of dollars per year is still peanuts. For instance, PayPal processed $52 billion in Q4 2013.

Re: Stripe: Bitcoin Sign-up

#164

Post by RoboTeddy »

hendzen wrote: post #76

Awesome. Now to see how their integration works with regards to confirmation time. The best solution IMO is to use a risk analyzer to determine the number of needed confirmations. 0 conf for small payments for a merchant with a low fraud rate, with increasing confirmations needed as the size of the payment grows. I would look at BitPay's checkout flow to see the state of the art here. Also hoping they implement the p…

Merchants that don't deliver their goods/services immediately (e.g., those that ship things) can accept transactions immediately in the UI, but wait for some number of confirmations to actually deliver.

Re: Stripe: Bitcoin Sign-up

#165

Post by srdev »

ycombasks wrote: post #152
srdev wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on a lot of other factors. Are my bitcoins on the card insured against loss or theft? Can I reverse the transaction if I get stiffed? If the answers are "no" and "no", then I'd probably still prefer my credit card for peace of mind. 3% isn't a huge discount in the grand scheme of things, and I get 1-3% rewards on my credit card for most purchases.

> Are my bitcoins on the card insured against loss or theft? Can I reverse the transaction if I get stiffed? Depends. Are you using a service that provides it, and are you willing to pay for it?

I already pay for it one way or another (credit card fees, bank fees, fractional reserve, etc), so yes, if its affordable. Bitcoin currently has a dearth of such services, but competent companies (I consider literally none of the Bitcoin service companies operating at this time competent, btw) offering them would get me to reconsider using it

Re: Stripe: Bitcoin Sign-up

#166

Post by collision »

rebelidealist wrote: post #48

I wish all these resources spent & millions of investment dollars would go to a better version of Bitcoin. BT is a major breakthru but it is still in an alpha stage. The main problem is that it is deflationary, to support a global economy it needs to slightly inflationary. This is because for hundreds of millions of people to use BT, the supply of the coins need to gradually increase to support the flow of spending.…

We're not opposed to supporting other cryptocurrencies in future. We're cryptocurrency nerds, not Bitcoin nerds specifically.

Re: Stripe: Bitcoin Sign-up

#167

Post by tomasien »

Thrymr wrote: post #156
gnaritas wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lower prices due to decreased risk on the merchants. If it's better for merchants, it's better for consumers too.

Higher risk for consumers, your credit card company can't back you up if you never receive what you paid for.

The concept that credit cards are lower risk to consumers than ANYTHING is laughable to me, but I can stop laughing long enough to consider it for BTC. BTC has a lot of consumer risk right now, anything OTHER than BTC is better than CC's though.

Re: Stripe: Bitcoin Sign-up

#168

Post by cbr »

aestra wrote: post #142
hnnewguy wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't want to tap my card and leave. Then don't. No one forces you. Use signature only, or "chip and pin".

No, but I'd rather not have my credit cards have that option in them. Basically, I do not like the fact someone can tap my card and then get money from it. I just am not a fan of that type of payment, because it is too easy. I don't like the argument "don't use it" because it isn't an optional "feature," if your card has it, it has it. You cannot turn it off. http://www.mymoneycoach.ca/credit_rating/how-to-protect-se…

Perhaps you should wrap your card in tinfoil? Or get something like http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/8cdd/ ?

Re: Stripe: Bitcoin Sign-up

#169

Post by ycombasks »

srdev wrote: post #165
ycombasks wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Are my bitcoins on the card insured against loss or theft? Can I reverse the transaction if I get stiffed? Depends. Are you using a service that provides it, and are you willing to pay for it?

I already pay for it one way or another (credit card fees, bank fees, fractional reserve, etc), so yes, if its affordable. Bitcoin currently has a dearth of such services, but competent companies (I consider literally none of the Bitcoin service companies operating at this time competent, btw) offering them would get me to reconsider using it

Cool. Bitcoin is still young, so there's a lot of room for growth. I personally think Coinbase is doing a good job (though having growing pains), and others are quickly coming to join in.

Re: Stripe: Bitcoin Sign-up

#170

Post by danielweber »

gnaritas wrote: post #146
danielweber wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if I use bitcoins to buy something and then the vendor doesn't ship it to me? I fully expect this is part of the user experience Stripe will sell. If I buy something through Stripe using bitcoins and get stiffed, is Stripe going to tell me "too bad" when I complain to them? No, they won't, because Stripe isn't suicidal.

Stripe isn't the vendor, they're the payment processor for the vendor; that decision isn't up to Stripe, it's up to the vendor. Your relationship isn't with Stripe, it's with the vendor. Your recourse is with the vendor as well, not Stripe. The solution to this is block chain escrow through a third party.

Wait, so you really think that if I use Stripe to pay for something, and don't get it, that Stripe will tell me it's not their problem?
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