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Stripe Crypto

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Re: Stripe Crypto

#231

Post by the_gastropod »

vmception wrote: post #212
the_gastropod wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So liquid, in fact, that it needs a host of very opaque and questionable stable coins to maintain some semblance of liquidity. A $2T market cap doesn't mean a whole lot. It's unclear how much money actually changes hands in this system. You and I could make a $2T market cap system today, right now. I'll start an excel spreadsheet and sell you a cell for ~$40. BAM! $2T market cap excel spreadsheet, even though only $4…

The questionable stable coins are 10% of the total market capitalization ($180bn) and even the worst , most fear addled estimates are that 90% of that is paid up capital, where dollars were exchanged directly to create an equivalent stablecoin, and a large portion of it is overcollateralized. The people just wish that was 100%, in the case of Tether. Strawman arguments are interesting, because usually it involves cre…

Hmm. I'm not sure I follow. My point was two-fold:

1. Market capitalization is fairly meaningless, especially when you don't know how much money is changing hands (wash trading, for example, is rampant in the crypto world). I'm confused why you're citing market caps, again, to try to suggest stable coins don't play a significant role in crypto's liquidity. That doesn't make any sense.

2. Liquidity is very much lacking in the crypto world. Bitcoin's order books are extremely thin, which is one reason volatility is so high. Stable coins were developed not in a vacuum, but precisely because liquidity was so lacking.

Re: Stripe Crypto

#232

Post by StewardMcOy »

PretzelPirate wrote: post #213
StewardMcOy wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not a convincing argument, but even if it were, carbon recapture is currently even more of a "rounding error" in the grand scheme of carbon emissions. Current carbon emissions are somewhere around 50 billion metric tons a year. I've seen varying estimates of crypto emissions, so I'm going to cite one [1] on the low end here, since it's more favorable to your argument, but the highest I've seen is less than do…

On the bright side, Ethereum devs have just launched the final testnet before the switch to Proof-of-Stake. It would be great for Stripe to continue investing the same amount of money into carbon recapture even after Ethereum’s carbon emissions drop over 99%.

As I said in my original post, it would be great if that happened. I'm skeptical proof-of-stake will work at scale. If it does, great, but Stripe should have waited until then to support ETH, and not support Bitcoin or other chains currently on proof-of-work.

They damage they're doing in the meantime is more detrimental than their recapture efforts are beneficial.

Re: Stripe Crypto

#233

Post by hutzlibu »

rosndo wrote: post #164
hutzlibu wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know, that for setting up my stripe account, I HAD to provide a credit card number, which I did not had, as they are not needed in EU.

My European debit card number worked just fine (as it basically always does when someone asks for a “credit card”)

I only had a EC card, but now have a credit card as well.

(all those different standards are a bit annoying)

Re: Stripe Crypto

#234

Post by lawn »

erulabs wrote: post #36

Am very glad to see this - was considering adding Coinbase's Commerce product due to quite a few requests to accept BTC payments for our hardware at https://kubesail.com - I suppose we have an extremely privacy focused user-base currently. Since we already use Stripe, I would be very glad to simply "enable bitcoin" as a payment method and leave it at that. Somewhat sadly, I was quite involved in web3 several years ag…

> I suppose we have an extremely privacy focused user-base currently.

If you're serious about this, you should strongly consider Monero.

Re: Stripe Crypto

#235

Post by gonehome »

lottin wrote: post #193
gonehome wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obviously that is not as easy/useful/realistic as a wallet you can generate from memorized seed words to instantly recover your wealth anywhere.

How does that protect you from someone who can seize your device? If they can seize your device they can also seize any physical assets that you possess. So your wealth exists only nominally, you can't really spend it.

The device holds a private key that can be regenerated from 12 seed words.

The device itself doesn't really matter if you know these 12 words.

The key is what lets you update ownership information on the public block chain. The wallet doesn't hold any coins on the device, just a key that let's you update the chain of public ownership.

For example:

- You live in Russia and see the writing on the wall for invasion and currency collapse

- Prior to the invasion you move 90% of your wealth into a BTC wallet.

- The invasion happens and the currency collapses.

- You want to escape the country, but the border exits are guarded by corrupt guards that will steal any money/valuables you try to cross with.

- You memorize the 12 seed words of your wallet and cross the border with nothing.

- On the other side you recreate your wallet and restore access to your wealth in a safe country.

This isn't just a hypothetical, this kind of thing has already happened: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29518181

Re: Stripe Crypto

#236

Post by rmbyrro »

harel wrote: post #75
pc wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. Until very recently, we weren't able to support businesses selling crypto. (The regulatory details are complex.) We're now rolling out support and this page is basically about that change.

To be honest, I thought your refusal was probably well justified considering the disproportionate levels of credit card fraud involved in anything to do with crypto. I'd love to see your end of year statistics now...

> disproportionate levels of credit card fraud involved in anything to do with crypto

Source?

Re: Stripe Crypto

#237

Post by rmbyrro »

orangepanda wrote: post #126

They forgot to update their terms of service. > Prohibited Businesses > You must not use Stripe’s services for the following activities: > * Pyramid schemes > * ‘Get rich quick’ schemes > * No value added services > * Predatory investment opportunities

You know they use Dollars, Euros, Pounds, etc as well for all of these scams.

Should Stripe ban businesses that deal in Dollars, Euros, Pounds, etc?

Re: Stripe Crypto

#238

Post by gonehome »

JaimeThompson wrote: post #189
gonehome wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right of course, but it's way riskier to take physical possession of commodities and it's harder to move them. These are things crypto is better at. For cash, the advantage is that crypto is independent of government action and global. The crash of the Russian currency is an example of why this is important. Crypto is obviously more volatile than USD, so there's a tradeoff depending on the government backed cu…

As are the disadvantages as evidenced by all the ransoms paid in crypto, these ransoms are also evidence that the security required to keep your crypto secure isn't exactly all that common in some of the market segments the crytpo companies are trying to reach.

I don't disagree with you and I don't pretend there are no risks with cryptocurrency. The security requirements are obviously harder, the UX is bad and even technical users fuck it up.

Some of this will be improved by tooling, some of it is just what's required for self-custody.

Still, the capability it provides is new and gives individuals more power even with these tradeoffs. That capability is valuable and shouldn't be dismissed imo. It's a lever against authoritarian control and increasing centralization of power.

Re: Stripe Crypto

#239

Post by karpierz »

wahnfrieden wrote: post #224
quadrifoliate wrote: post #166

It is important to recognize that Stripe is largely selling well-made shovels for the gold rush here. They have a history of diving more deeply into this market [1] and withdrawing from it before [2], so this is just Take 2. This time around, they are not themselves buying Cube Thingies or similar and don't have any exposure to the volatile world of ETH or other coins. I think there will be decent transfer of money f…

My interest in web3 + art is from finding new livable income sources for artists generally. Less about big money speculation, more about getting more artists supported such that they don’t need a day job or purely commercial art pursuits (as opposed to “fine art”). I understand the current state of crypto isn’t near offering this outside of hyped speculative investments I’m also not interested in ideas on a shelf tha…

My concern around this space is less "does it make sense" and more "if the bubble collapses as I expect, what will happen to people who take the crypto/NFT money for granted"?

I'm more interested in solutions that I expect to be stable and last. I do understand why artists are hoping to cash on the NFT wave; I just worry that a lot of people will come crashing down along with the hype.

Re: Stripe Crypto

#240

Post by clpm4j »

cshenoy wrote: post #40
fuzzybear3965 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I searched for who said this but came up empty. Where is this quote from?

Pretty sure it was Peter Thiel. https://sports.yahoo.com/tech-billionaire-peter-thiel-says-1...

And pretty sure by "not enough" he means only bought single digit 1000s of bitcoins rather than hundreds of thousands or millions of bitcoins.
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