Steam is no longer supporting Bitcoin • Hacker News Board

Re: Steam is no longer supporting Bitcoin

#351

Post by puranjay » Thu, Dec 07, 2017, 11:23 AM UTC

janoc wrote: post #30

vxNsr wrote: post #3

It's for the same reason that no one wanted to touch zimbabwe dollar back in 2007, if the value of the medium of exchange differs from breakfast to lunch it's not really a good medium of exchange. Doesn't matter if value is appreciating or depreciating, currency needs to have a reasonably stable value to be useful.

The volatility alone wouldn't be a huge problem if the transactions were quick, apart from having to constantly re-price the goods (not a big deal with an automated system selling digital downloads, even though it is a real PITA for the accounting afterwards!). However, getting the transaction confirmed can take many hours at the times of high demand and then it still fails because thanks to the volatility, the trans…

My biggest issue with BTC and the reason why I've never been bullish on them, despite owning a couple early on

Re: Steam is no longer supporting Bitcoin

#352

Post by speedplane » Thu, Dec 07, 2017, 11:26 AM UTC

ForHackernews wrote: post #349

speedplane wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would it be particularly easier to manipulate bitcoin pricing over other stocks/securities? Simply because the authorities don't understand it yet, or something to do with the nature of crypto-currency itself?

Because there are relatively few buyers and sellers in the market and the amounts of transactions are small, so one big mover can shift the price a lot. According to some blockchain site[0] the average transaction volume for BTC is something like $2.25m USD equivalent For comparison, on an average day, SPY[1], which is just one security (albeit a popular one) trades something around $17,160m (e.g. $17.16b). [0] https…

Couldn't you say the same about penny stocks? And won't this problem go away as BTC gets more popular?

Re: Steam is no longer supporting Bitcoin

#353

Post by puranjay » Thu, Dec 07, 2017, 11:28 AM UTC

nugget wrote: post #290

derriz wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh? The volatility is a HUGE problem for bitcoin as a currency. If I run a small business, accepting payment in bitcoin just creates risk. The state of my business not only depends on the quality and success of my product/service but also on the volatility of bitcoin because by accepting bitcoin I am forced to effectively take a long position on BTC. The price could crash by 25% before I sell the bitcoin and now I've…

Do many Bitcoin boosters even care about BTC becoming a currency any more? Seems it has achieved much more success as a frenzied medium of global speculation than it ever dreamed of as a stable digital currency.

I remember the 2013-14 hype cycle. That's when BTC hit $1k and a lot of merchants started accepting it, mostly as a PR gimmick. That's when I bought my BTC and even bought a few domains with them.

Since then, I almost never see BTC as a payment option.

Re: Steam is no longer supporting Bitcoin

#354

Post by puranjay » Thu, Dec 07, 2017, 11:35 AM UTC

folli wrote: post #343

vxNsr wrote: post #3

It's for the same reason that no one wanted to touch zimbabwe dollar back in 2007, if the value of the medium of exchange differs from breakfast to lunch it's not really a good medium of exchange. Doesn't matter if value is appreciating or depreciating, currency needs to have a reasonably stable value to be useful.

So if Bitcoin is unusable as currency (i.e. for exchange), what's its use-case then? Hoarding?

Wasting electricity.

Re: Steam is no longer supporting Bitcoin

#355

Post by emj » Thu, Dec 07, 2017, 11:39 AM UTC

eterm wrote: post #82

niij wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When did $4.30 transaction fees become even close to acceptable. I thought high TX fees was one of the things Bitcoin was purported to solve.

My bank charges nothing for instant transfers of up to £10,000. That's both cheaper than and faster than bitcoin. (And this isn't a cost hidden in a perk of a monthly fee, there's no monthly account fee either.) I'm pretty sure if Satoshi re-appeared "he" would be lamenting those artificially keeping the blocksize small. The 2MB limit was put in as a temporary solution to a problem of too many worthless transactions.…

Does that stand for transfers over (nation) state borders as well?

Re: Steam is no longer supporting Bitcoin

#356

Post by puranjay » Thu, Dec 07, 2017, 11:39 AM UTC

tdb7893 wrote: post #208

eqmvii wrote: post #2

Makes business and technological sense. Even the true believers have largely switched to advocating the store-of-value/digital gold model of bitcoin. We're absolutely in a bitcoin/cryptocurrency mania. Unfortunately, stating that is much easier than predicting what will happen next.

I've always been told gold isn't a good place to put your money so proponents of bitcoin comparing it to gold is concerning to me

Maybe it's a cultural thing, but I've always been told that gold is a great investment.

The "digital gold" argument doesn't make sense to me at all. Human beings aren't rational spenders. Gold, if nothing else, looks good. I can buy a $10,000 bar of gold and even if its value crashes by 20% tomorrow, I at least have an aesthetic metal that feels nice to touch.

BTC doesn't even give me that satisfaction

Re: Steam is no longer supporting Bitcoin

#357

Post by kalleboo » Thu, Dec 07, 2017, 11:45 AM UTC

dorgo wrote: post #259

sliverstorm wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've mostly had this for years, in the form of PayPal. Your ID even is your email. The issues with PayPal have mostly been interfacing with fiat currency, which any system will have to deal with, and transaction fees, which any system will have. The real problem IMO is the lack of a de-facto service that everyone all around the world has, and we're kind of in this position: https://xkcd.com/927/

PayPal? Is it this strange service based in USA (of all countries) which requires me to send them a utility bill? Seriously?

Are there any Bitcoin exchanges that don't require photo ID?

Re: Steam is no longer supporting Bitcoin

#358

Post by fb03 » Thu, Dec 07, 2017, 11:58 AM UTC

speedplane wrote: post #347

folli wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if Bitcoin is unusable as currency (i.e. for exchange), what's its use-case then? Hoarding?

Putting aside all the nefarious ways bitcoin can be exchanged, I still see it as a great way to transfer huge sums of money without a typical chain of custody. For example, suppose you need to transfer $10M from the US to China, you'll need a prominent and trustworthy bank on each side of the transaction that will ensure it gets from point A to B. Transfers of this nature often take several days, and each bank will t…

I agree, but one has to consider that in this example, since Bitcoin acceptance in businesses isn't that widespread, the receiving side would still need a gateway to convert that money back into fiat currency, and would also incur some sort of fee.

So essentially in these use cases you are just offsetting the chain of custody a few steps later.

Re: Steam is no longer supporting Bitcoin

#359

Post by def_true_false » Thu, Dec 07, 2017, 11:58 AM UTC

kalleboo wrote: post #357

dorgo wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PayPal? Is it this strange service based in USA (of all countries) which requires me to send them a utility bill? Seriously?

Are there any Bitcoin exchanges that don't require photo ID?

Yes. Some only require that if you wish to withdraw or deposit fiat over some daily limit.

Re: Steam is no longer supporting Bitcoin

#360

Post by thom » Thu, Dec 07, 2017, 12:03 PM UTC

nugget wrote: post #290

derriz wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh? The volatility is a HUGE problem for bitcoin as a currency. If I run a small business, accepting payment in bitcoin just creates risk. The state of my business not only depends on the quality and success of my product/service but also on the volatility of bitcoin because by accepting bitcoin I am forced to effectively take a long position on BTC. The price could crash by 25% before I sell the bitcoin and now I've…

Do many Bitcoin boosters even care about BTC becoming a currency any more? Seems it has achieved much more success as a frenzied medium of global speculation than it ever dreamed of as a stable digital currency.

I think you could fairly easily rationalise to yourself that Bitcoin _will_ one day be money, and we haven't reached its true value yet, so nobody wants to miss their piece of the pie when that happens.