Live data from Hacker News

Bitcoin Visa debit cards are cancelled

reddit.com

31–40 of 194 posts

Re: Bitcoin Visa debit cards are cancelled

#31
post #4

I think this will be good in the long run. If VISA (and Mastercard) end up allowing Bitcoin affiliated payments through their platform, then merchants will end up not providing native support for crypto payments, as they can just use their current infrastructure. If we want to destroy these payment monopolies in place of a (more, but I understand not completely) decentralized system, we need to encourage merchants to…

I can’t wait to wait 3 days and spend $30 in transaction fees to buy a Big Mac.

Right now I top up 10USD worth of Bitcoin with bitrefill.com.

I pay ZERO fees and it is instant (due to Segwit and the Lightning network).

Re: Bitcoin Visa debit cards are cancelled

#32
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HSBC/RBS/Citi were fine with it; and given the amount of the fines, it was plenty profitable and they’re likely still doing it.

That's not correct. There is always some amount of fraud that manage to go through all the checks. That doesn't mean it's intentional. And that certainly doesn't mean that any financial service can stop doing any verification and become a paradise for fraudsters.

> That doesn't mean it's intentional.

Except that of course it was:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hsbc-probe/hsbc-to-pay-1-...

Re: Bitcoin Visa debit cards are cancelled

#33
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For online payments instant payments are actually not that important requirements. The process needs to happen just fluently from customers perspective. If the merchant is dispatching physical items, he can just wait for the transaction to confirm and dispatch the items after that. The customer won't see much difference because the biggest issue is the shipping time. For online payments bitcoin works quite well. Stil…

> For online payments bitcoin works quite well Bitcoin payments could , theoretically, work well - but that's not currently the case given the prohibitive transaction fees.

Indeed, didn't think about it, but fees are a problem as well. Also, if bitcoin had to manage the throughput of VISA (or even a fraction of it, at this point), capacity issues would probably worsen dramatically.

It's probably best to stop hoping it will be a currency altogether (unless some radical changes occur). Best shot would be to see it as saving/investment accounts, with smart tricks like prepaid visa cards as a mean to tap into it (I want to buy a car, I charge my prepaid card and pay with it at car dealer, fast transfer compared to a wire transfer, no "weekly withdraw limit" issue and still as convenient as a debit card).

Re: Bitcoin Visa debit cards are cancelled

#34

All bitcoin visa cards? My understanding is that bitcoin Visa was already restricted to European countries since September: https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-debit-cards-non-european-re... Mastercard joined: https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/75gu4d/mastercard_... So, now only Bitcoin Mastercard remains for European countries? Edit: Added "Bitcoin" to make sure the gentleman below is not confused.

From the second reddit link,

>This shows one important thing: banksters are DESPERATE to stop BTC and they act without control. Hilarious...

The Bitcoin community is a source of endless cringe, :-)

Re: Bitcoin Visa debit cards are cancelled

#35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't see it that way, more like advocating the development of some kind of open, permissionless payment network. Bitcoin could be it but it has ridiculous network fees, which opens the possibilities for challengers. If everything works very fluently with the traditional payment infrastructure, there is no big demand for that kind of payment network, and no incentives to develop it.

The challengers are here already. For example, XRB.

Wow I tried it and you're right RaiBlocks is a game changer. Instant transaction and zero fee? Hows the security though?

Re: Bitcoin Visa debit cards are cancelled

#36

First bitcoin was insignificant. Then people made fun of it. Now current institutions will have to choose between embracing it and fighting it. Some of them do one thing, apparently VISA chose another.

VISA most likely cares above all else about making money for VISA. Likewise, Steam probably doesn't care how people pay for their games : they just want to be paid. If they move away from bitcoin, it's probably because they deem it unviable / unprofitable / too much of a pain in the ass.

Not everything is a grand ideological battle, and there's no need to go looking for complicated explanations when the simple and naive interpretation makes eminent sense.

Re: Bitcoin Visa debit cards are cancelled

#37

First bitcoin was insignificant. Then people made fun of it. Now current institutions will have to choose between embracing it and fighting it. Some of them do one thing, apparently VISA chose another.

Eh, some people still mock Bitcoin as insignificant. (As a currency/asset store/technology.)

Re: Bitcoin Visa debit cards are cancelled

#38
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Big payment networks do not want to appear complicit in money laundering.

HSBC/RBS/Citi were fine with it; and given the amount of the fines, it was plenty profitable and they’re likely still doing it.

Give the number of people getting their bank accounts mysteriously closed. I don;t think they are fine with it

Re: Bitcoin Visa debit cards are cancelled

#39
post #4

I think this will be good in the long run. If VISA (and Mastercard) end up allowing Bitcoin affiliated payments through their platform, then merchants will end up not providing native support for crypto payments, as they can just use their current infrastructure. If we want to destroy these payment monopolies in place of a (more, but I understand not completely) decentralized system, we need to encourage merchants to…

You can't have it both ways I'm sure a lot of people said "this is good for bitcoin" when they launched this Looking forward to read how having long confirmation times, high fees and high volatility is good for bitcoin

From what I understand one seriously thinks about bitcoin as a currency anymore.

Think of it as gold for the digital space almost literally (it's expensive to mine, exist in limited quantity and expensive to keep secure)

People keep talking about high volatility but any currency can be exposed to high volatility and there was a time when currency was that. Now we have central banks but they have their own problems with systemtic bubbles.

Bitcoin will be a kind of contract ledger perhaps between countries or large organizations.

Re: Bitcoin Visa debit cards are cancelled

#40
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Big payment networks do not want to appear complicit in money laundering.

HSBC/RBS/Citi were fine with it; and given the amount of the fines, it was plenty profitable and they’re likely still doing it.

> HSBC/RBS/Citi were fine with it

They’re also not payment networks. In any case, that lawbreaking occurs is not sufficient evidence that the banks don’t care about AML. By and large, AML procedure is generally well enforced. (The penalties are draconian.)

Post reply on HN