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Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases

blog.bitpay.com

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Re: Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases

#331

Post by jcfrei »

statoshi wrote: post #281
jcfrei wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly my problem with bitcoin as well. I'm just elaborating Hearn's points here; but as it turns out the incentive for miners (in order to pay their mining) is actually a deflationary good (so the value of their mined coins keeps increasing). Unfortunately miners are also required for the confirmation of transactions. On the other hand a global payment system would require a currency which is at the very lea…

Stability is relative and a matter of perspective - it's not technically possible to engineer something that has a stable value because the value of everything is constantly in flux.

I'm not sure I fully understand your position. Price stability (with respect to some basket of common goods) is the primary function of any central bank...

Re: Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases

#332

Post by btcprint »

vectorpush wrote: post #225
stegosaurus wrote: post #141

I find the vitriol towards Bitcoin kind of odd. If I posted an article about Linux 4.1 or something, I wouldn't expect to see comments saying 'meanwhile, I used Windows yesterday, and played GTA5, and it was good'. What gives? Are there forums in which people have this sort of reaction to, I dunno, HTML5? From some of the posts here you would think that it's IED control software.

I'll offer a controversial explanation: bitcoin enthusiasts have exhausted most of the oxygen in the room with regard to rational bitcoin discussion. The never-ending adulation of bitcoin as the greatest invention since the internet, the hyperbolic claims that bitcoin will do things like revolutionize payments, end global war, eliminate the need for banks, liberate the people from bondage, the litany of bitcoin and b…

Well, while the hyperbole might be grandiose during the stages of bitcoin's infancy - everything claimed is plausible if it can scale. At least to the point of being a global currency and transfer of value alongside govt and central bank fiat.

Sometimes the economic winds favor different assets both liquid and long term stores of value.

Bitcoin adds a legitimate, scarce, immutable form of ownership of something that can be transferred with the least amount of friction of any other asset (including cash).

Hyperbole or not, where it is now compared to 2009-2012 is extremely impressive. It's an exciting space to watch develop over time, love it or hate it.

I think those that don't understand it but are quick to judge or regurgitate the opinions of their peers (it's a ponzi, tulip mania, etc) are just as hyperbolic and ignorant.

I don't see how anyone can argue that bitcoin and it's blockchain is not an impressive, elegant technological solution to a problem that needed solving.

Re: Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases

#333

Post by ThatPlayer »

flatline wrote: post #113
StavrosK wrote: post #12

I was really surprised that the announcement that Steam may support Bitcoin made waves a while ago, yet the announcement that it actually does did not. I used it to buy a (horrible) game last night, and it worked beautifully. Contrast with PayPal, with which Steam is always confused about where I am and whether it should charge me in GBP or EUR. I'm never not using Bitcoin again.

They don't accept bitcoin directly, they instead accept fiat from Bitpay on behalf of people who wish to pay in bitcoin. It is an important distinction. On the one hand this makes a lot of sense for Steam, it reduces the up-front overhead and risk of accepting digital currencies and I would imagine it offloads the onus of AML/KYC compliance to Bitpay. On the other hand it is hardly a ringing endorsement of bitcoin it…

BitPay also has the option to give you Bitcoins instead of fiat. (Or a percentage of each). We have no clue how much Steam is keeping in Bitcoins.

Re: Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases

#334

Post by CyberDildonics »

aliakhtar wrote: post #307
maaku wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The utility of bitcoin is censorship-resistant transactions. You don't need a high on-chain transaction rate for that.

You mean illegal transactions.

Like getting your money out of Venezuela, Argentina, Cypress or Greece before its gone or you can't get to it? Those are all illegal. Legality and morality are not the same thing and not all of world lives in cozy security.

Re: Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases

#335

Post by ThatPlayer »

andypants wrote: post #230
seanalltogether wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does steam have to worry about transaction confirmation? I would've assumed that bitpay guarantees the funds to their partners regardless of any potential bitcoin shenanigans.

No, because valve can always remove your purchases from your steam library if necessary.

It might be slightly more complicated with the addition of tradable items such as keys, but they probably already have some sort of system to deal with it as credit card chargebacks/fraud will require the same thing.

Re: Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases

#336

Post by btcprint »

apo wrote: post #175
stegosaurus wrote: post #141

I find the vitriol towards Bitcoin kind of odd. If I posted an article about Linux 4.1 or something, I wouldn't expect to see comments saying 'meanwhile, I used Windows yesterday, and played GTA5, and it was good'. What gives? Are there forums in which people have this sort of reaction to, I dunno, HTML5? From some of the posts here you would think that it's IED control software.

I've run into the sentiment you're talking about both online and IRL. It puzzles me as well. Three factors come to mind: 1. There's a deep-rooted idea today that money comes from the government and that everything else is a scam. Bitcoin challenges that idea. 2. Bitcoin refuses to die despite the predictions of just about everyone who first learns about it. 3. The technical underpinnings of Bitcoin are counterintuiti…

To point 1. Most who don't understand bitcoin think the federal Reserve is a government agency. But these same people got (and still are) angry at the banks for their part in the great recession. If they really understood what happened in 1913 with the creation of the fed their heads would spin.

Those that understand the big picture and the threat central banks pose to a nations sovereignty, and the debt slavery of its citizens, are the ones who truly appreciate bitcoin

Re: Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases

#337

Post by ThatPlayer »

joosters wrote: post #51
lsadam0 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, why do you care what Valve does with the BTC? If people want to use it, so be it. The backend isn't your concern.

Valve doesn't handle any bit coins.

How do you know that? Bitpay allows you to keep a percentage as Bitcoins rather than converting them all to USD.

Re: Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases

#338

Post by oppositelock »

digi_owl wrote: post #310
vectorpush wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll offer a controversial explanation: bitcoin enthusiasts have exhausted most of the oxygen in the room with regard to rational bitcoin discussion. The never-ending adulation of bitcoin as the greatest invention since the internet, the hyperbolic claims that bitcoin will do things like revolutionize payments, end global war, eliminate the need for banks, liberate the people from bondage, the litany of bitcoin and b…

You get this because the properties of bitcoin attracts two kinds of people. Goldbugs, because of how bitcoin is "mined" and is inherently deflationary. And gold is the one true currency, m'kay. Cypherpunks, because it is built around cryptographics. And cryptographics makes anything double plus good. Never mind that both kinds have a strong anti-establishment streak. That said, if they could get away form their anti…

The incentive to hoard, also often called the "deflationary spiral", is a theory proposed by neo-Keynesian economists, which doesn't appear to be as bad as they say.

People have finite lifespan, and so, they want to use their hoards to better these finite lives, which leads them to spend. This preference, known as the "time preference", strikes a balance with the tendency to hoard. It is impossible to predict where this balance is, though, because it's subjective to each participant.

Why do you buy cell phones or laptops today, knowing that future ones will be better or cheaper? Why buy some food today, when you know your purchasing power will be greater next month? Why pay for housing when prices are falling, knowing your contract will be cheaper in five years?

Re: Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases

#340

Post by wyck »

btcprint wrote: post #336
apo wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've run into the sentiment you're talking about both online and IRL. It puzzles me as well. Three factors come to mind: 1. There's a deep-rooted idea today that money comes from the government and that everything else is a scam. Bitcoin challenges that idea. 2. Bitcoin refuses to die despite the predictions of just about everyone who first learns about it. 3. The technical underpinnings of Bitcoin are counterintuiti…

To point 1. Most who don't understand bitcoin think the federal Reserve is a government agency. But these same people got (and still are) angry at the banks for their part in the great recession. If they really understood what happened in 1913 with the creation of the fed their heads would spin. Those that understand the big picture and the threat central banks pose to a nations sovereignty, and the debt slavery of i…

This is why many bitcoin proponents comes across as naive, broad political statements bordering on false beliefs come across as juvenile and in many cases fanatic.

Stay with the facts and reality, a.k.a. the technology, statements like the above create a toxic environment in which the bitcoin community currently finds itself deeply mired in.

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