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Dwolla Raises $16.5M from Andreessen Horowitz

blog.dwolla.com

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Re: Dwolla Raises $16.5M from Andreessen Horowitz

#21

Post by mschonfeld »

platz wrote: post #18
mschonfeld wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dwolla never had native support for bitcoin transactions. We've always been used as a gateway between USD -> BTC by exchanges such as MtGox, BitInstant, etc. This is still the case, and is still very much possible and active.

Sorry, I should've been more clear; I didn't intend to talk about native support. I was referring to the "gateway" service explicitly. The only reason I brought this up was because Dwolla was missing from BitInstant last week, but now Dwolla appears to have resurfaced back on BitInstant's form.

Right... I've been working with the BitInstant guys to bring back Dwolla support, and make it better than before :)

Re: Dwolla Raises $16.5M from Andreessen Horowitz

#22

Post by nym »

How is Dwolla better than bitcoin? It seems like it has the same drawbacks of credit cards (chargebacks), without very much benefit.

Maybe I'm missing a killer feature, but Dwolla doesn't seem all that interesting, just another paypal competitor.

Re: Dwolla Raises $16.5M from Andreessen Horowitz

#23

Post by yebyen »

platz wrote: post #19
yebyen wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't want to flame the shit out of you, but I don't think you know what you're talking about. Did Dwolla ever support Bitcoin transactions directly? (I only ever did personal trading with Dwolla/Bitcoin, and transactions with Mt.Gox) The ability to send and receive USD from Mt.Gox with Dwolla is still there (although MtGox USD codes are gone from what I've heard), and you can use Dwolla to fill up your Mt.Gox acco…

You didn't miss anything. I was referring to the gateway service; not native service. BitInstant had supported Dwolla in the past, and then it went missing from their site, and now it appears to be back.

Oh. That's why I didn't notice, because I don't use BitInstant. TY.

Re: Dwolla Raises $16.5M from Andreessen Horowitz

#25

Post by reaclmbs »

nym wrote: post #22

How is Dwolla better than bitcoin? It seems like it has the same drawbacks of credit cards (chargebacks), without very much benefit. Maybe I'm missing a killer feature, but Dwolla doesn't seem all that interesting, just another paypal competitor.

Dwolla better than Bitcoin? Way, way better marketed. Better UX.

Dwolla can improve its tech stack and have it be the UX layer on top of Bitcoin if it chooses. I guarantee you there are folks at Dwolla working on this. Dwolla = front end of payment protocol. Dwolla = bank?

Competing payment protocols = Bitcoin; Bank routing/Swift + Forex. There were efforts to abstract gold into a payment protocol in the 90s but they failed.

Bitcoin or one of its numerous derivatives (feathercoin, litecoin, terracoin, ppcoin, ixcoin, novacoin, namecoin, freicoin, "govcoin") will likley win as a payment protocol.

The bitcoin investors have zero incentive to spend the money marketing it and building a sexy interface on top of it. There is money in interface.

BTW, a paypal competitor IS interesting! It's a 10bn+ market. but dwolla could be the "bank". it could be the secured storage. ....

note: andreesen has also invested in ripple/opencoin. reminds me of their simultaneous bets on dalton cadwell (immeem)'s picplz, and instagram.

Re: Dwolla Raises $16.5M from Andreessen Horowitz

#26

Post by wmf »

nym wrote: post #22

How is Dwolla better than bitcoin? It seems like it has the same drawbacks of credit cards (chargebacks), without very much benefit. Maybe I'm missing a killer feature, but Dwolla doesn't seem all that interesting, just another paypal competitor.

Dwolla has lower fees than credit cards or PayPal.

Re: Dwolla Raises $16.5M from Andreessen Horowitz

#28

Post by Jd »

reaclmbs wrote: post #25
nym wrote: post #22

How is Dwolla better than bitcoin? It seems like it has the same drawbacks of credit cards (chargebacks), without very much benefit. Maybe I'm missing a killer feature, but Dwolla doesn't seem all that interesting, just another paypal competitor.

Dwolla better than Bitcoin? Way, way better marketed. Better UX. Dwolla can improve its tech stack and have it be the UX layer on top of Bitcoin if it chooses. I guarantee you there are folks at Dwolla working on this. Dwolla = front end of payment protocol. Dwolla = bank? Competing payment protocols = Bitcoin; Bank routing/Swift + Forex. There were efforts to abstract gold into a payment protocol in the 90s but they…

Andreessen Horowitz just put a lot of money into OpenCoin/Ripple, I guarantee you they are going to knit the two services together. Dwolla w/ happy PR buzz, back end provided by OpenCoin.

Re: Dwolla Raises $16.5M from Andreessen Horowitz

#30

Post by techbody »

Jd wrote: post #28
reaclmbs wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dwolla better than Bitcoin? Way, way better marketed. Better UX. Dwolla can improve its tech stack and have it be the UX layer on top of Bitcoin if it chooses. I guarantee you there are folks at Dwolla working on this. Dwolla = front end of payment protocol. Dwolla = bank? Competing payment protocols = Bitcoin; Bank routing/Swift + Forex. There were efforts to abstract gold into a payment protocol in the 90s but they…

Andreessen Horowitz just put a lot of money into OpenCoin/Ripple, I guarantee you they are going to knit the two services together. Dwolla w/ happy PR buzz, back end provided by OpenCoin.

A lot of money? They only raised $1M - so how much could have they put in? Dwolla raised $16.5 with AH leading.... Probably a check of $10M or more...
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