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Paypal President: We're thinking about adding Bitcoin (2:50) [video]

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Re: Paypal President: We're thinking about adding Bitcoin (2:50) [video]

#31
post #24
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

inflation? I think he means DEflation

In 8 years (by 2021) 90% of Bitcoins will have been issued. Strictly speaking, the supply is inflating continuously, though it is unlikely to ever be growing faster than future demand (we seem to have past that point within the last year). The only reason economists would call Bitcoin deflationary is the presumption of constantly growing demand.

> Strictly speaking, the supply is inflating continuously

what about Bitcoins being lost? perhaps we should also consider coins that are not used in the past five years also "lost".

Re: Paypal President: We're thinking about adding Bitcoin (2:50) [video]

#32
post #14
post #5

Can't click this link right now. Abbreviated transcript please? It's weird to see Paypal and Bitcoin in one sentence on the domain bloomberg.com... Bloomberg is one of the biggest financial companies and entirely against Bitcoin. I can't rhyme this; what are they saying about it?

He say's: Bitcoin is truly fascinating. For us at PayPal it's just a question of whether bitcoin will make its way to PayPal as a funding instrument or not, and we are kind of thinking about it.

Thanks a lot!

Re: Paypal President: We're thinking about adding Bitcoin (2:50) [video]

#33
post #12
post #10

The main line: "So I've been spending a lot of time looking at it. It's truly fascinating, actually, the way the currency's been designed and the way inflation is built-in to pay for miners and all that, it's truly fascinating. And I think, for us at PayPapl, it's just a question of whether Bitcoin will make its way to PayPal's funding instrument or not, and we're kind of thinking about it right now."

inflation? I think he means DEflation

limited supply of bitcoin means that the value of bitcoin will probably inflate. equivalently, prices of goods and assets denominated in bitcoin will probably deflate.

Re: Paypal President: We're thinking about adding Bitcoin (2:50) [video]

#34
post #12
post #10

The main line: "So I've been spending a lot of time looking at it. It's truly fascinating, actually, the way the currency's been designed and the way inflation is built-in to pay for miners and all that, it's truly fascinating. And I think, for us at PayPapl, it's just a question of whether Bitcoin will make its way to PayPal's funding instrument or not, and we're kind of thinking about it right now."

inflation? I think he means DEflation

In the context of mining, I think what he really meant is neither inflation nor deflation, but rather issuance. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_bank#Currency_issuance)

Re: Paypal President: We're thinking about adding Bitcoin (2:50) [video]

#35
Oh, dear. If I were the president of PayPal and wanted to make quick buck, I would buy some bitcoins, released news like this, and sold my bitcoins the next day with a nice profit. And then, I could just deny the news, sending bitcoin value back where it was so that it is ready for the next exploiter... Heh.

But seriously, PayPal and Bitcoin are by nature rivals. If PayPal wanted to have a crypto-currency, it would develop its own, not validate and boost value of another one gaining nothing in the process.

Re: Paypal President: We're thinking about adding Bitcoin (2:50) [video]

#36
post #31
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In 8 years (by 2021) 90% of Bitcoins will have been issued. Strictly speaking, the supply is inflating continuously, though it is unlikely to ever be growing faster than future demand (we seem to have past that point within the last year). The only reason economists would call Bitcoin deflationary is the presumption of constantly growing demand.

> Strictly speaking, the supply is inflating continuously what about Bitcoins being lost? perhaps we should also consider coins that are not used in the past five years also "lost".

>what about Bitcoins being lost?

At some point, the rate of loss may overtake the rate of new coin creation.

> perhaps we should also consider coins that are not used in the past five years also "lost".

Maybe, but be prepared for some of those to someday be spent, they may merely have been hoarded. I have dollars that have been in my possession for more than five years, they aren't lost as far as I am concerned.

Re: Paypal President: We're thinking about adding Bitcoin (2:50) [video]

#37
post #12
post #10

The main line: "So I've been spending a lot of time looking at it. It's truly fascinating, actually, the way the currency's been designed and the way inflation is built-in to pay for miners and all that, it's truly fascinating. And I think, for us at PayPapl, it's just a question of whether Bitcoin will make its way to PayPal's funding instrument or not, and we're kind of thinking about it right now."

inflation? I think he means DEflation

He used an imprecise word. He meant something like "supply increase". Both inflation and deflation are incorrect because both require speculative opinions, and he was referring to the way the total number of bitcoins outstanding increases over time, which is a fact.

Re: Paypal President: We're thinking about adding Bitcoin (2:50) [video]

#40
post #35

Oh, dear. If I were the president of PayPal and wanted to make quick buck, I would buy some bitcoins, released news like this, and sold my bitcoins the next day with a nice profit. And then, I could just deny the news, sending bitcoin value back where it was so that it is ready for the next exploiter... Heh. But seriously, PayPal and Bitcoin are by nature rivals. If PayPal wanted to have a crypto-currency, it would d…

A lot of what keeps regular Joes away from bitcoin is its complexity and the difficulty of keeping your funds secure. If PayPal were to make the most secure, easiest-to-use bitcoin wallet, they could profit greatly from it and also provide something that doesn't really exist anywhere yet.

All PayPal does right now is help you get dollars from point A to point B, and in the process they take a cut. They could do the same thing with bitcoin. I don't think it would be competition with bitcoin, it would be promoting it to mutual benefit.

I would be afraid of them providing this service without allowing you to export your data, however, which seems like the kind of thing PayPal might like to do. If your bitcoins were trapped in their system you're always in danger of having your account frozen as has been a problem up to now. Part of the purpose of bitcoin is to be able to avoid that, so I'd hate for PayPal to bring that whole problem to the bitcoin world.

But if they approach it properly, bitcoin could be a great opportunity for PayPal, instead of a threat.

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