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Ending Bitcoin Support

stripe.com

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Re: Ending Bitcoin Support

#391

Post by tptacek »

mankyd wrote: post #314
sincerely wrote: post #308

Another day, another HN title changed without any clear rationale. Was the original "Stripe ends Bitcoin support" really so bad that it had to be changed to "Ending Bitcoin Support"?

They have a policy of _always_ changing it to match the title of the linked article. Most of the time this is either an improvement or (as in this case) neutral. I do wish they'd allow a little more editorializing, quite frankly. The linked title is not _always_ an improvement.

Not _always_; titles change when they're linkbait. Here, though, Stripe is already in the story title, and the "Stripe ends" preface suggests that it's a story being written about Stripe, rather than Stripe writing for themselves.

Re: Ending Bitcoin Support

#392

Post by [deleted] »

fpgaminer wrote: post #373

It is amazing the number of shallow comments shouting doom and gloom over news like this and others (Steam, etc). Must be the end of Bitcoin because transaction fees are too high! And more generally everyone shouting doom and gloom over high transaction fees. Let's stop and think about this critically for once. Transaction fees on Bitcoin are high. And that's somehow a bad thing? By that same logic it's bad that Appl…

[deleted]

Re: Ending Bitcoin Support

#393

Post by Trundle »

emodendroket wrote: post #323
vkou wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But only a one-way retail value. No diamond dealer will give you anything close to their retail price, when you try to sell them diamonds.

I always wonder about this when I see films where criminals mastermind a plan to steal diamonds.

Significant diamonds still hold their value when resold.

It's kind of like art. Spend $5k on some locals work and you might get $50 at a garage sale later on if you're lucky. Spend $5mil on a big name and you'll likely make it back, maybe profit, when you move it. The high and low end are basically different products that function differently in the market.

It's only shmucks overpaying for mediocre diamonds that lose out.

Re: Ending Bitcoin Support

#394

Post by tptacek »

ujal wrote: post #258
asdasdas23123 wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crypto's value collapsing now and then isn't rare either

At the minimum you can't fake its value.

No, obviously you can. You're confusing the bits covered by a signature with the real-world interpretation of those bits.

Re: Ending Bitcoin Support

#395

Post by UncleMeat »

clarkmoody wrote: post #305
montrose wrote: post #15

This reads a bit like the sort of things people say when breaking up so as not to upset the other person too much. You're a great person, but you're just more of an asset than a medium of exchange, and what I need in my life right now is a medium of exchange. What future does an asset have if people don't actually buy stuff with it? That is not a purely rhetorical question; cryptocurrencies change things a lot. But t…

> What future does an asset have if people don't actually buy stuff with it? Does gold have a future? Nobody buys anything with gold. Also, the Bitcoin blocks are full. Somebody is using it for something.

Why is everybody all suddenly so excited about gold? Maybe btc is modestly better gold. So? Who tells typical people to invest in gold other than foxnews and infowars? I own precisely zero dollars worth of gold. Why should I buy btc?

Transactions are not always buying goods. If I transfer 1btc to somebody and then send me $10,000 there will be a transaction. But btc was not used as a currency to purchase a good here.

Re: Ending Bitcoin Support

#396

Post by Klathmon »

asciimo wrote: post #387
Klathmon wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, you are missing the "network" part of "Lightning Network" it uses an onion-routing-like protocol to allow you to pay "through" other people. So if I have a channel with you, and you have one with coinbase, I can buy bitcoin from coinbase through you without ever opening another channel, entirely counterparty-risk-free. And in that scenario if you "refuse" to relay my transaction, or you try to do something sneeky…

Easy peasy! Seriously, I've been skeptical of LN's success for its complexity. But reading your and others' comments here I can see that many people understand it clearly. It turns out I've been biased by my own ignorance. The more I learn about LN, the more hopeful I'm becoming. Thanks for helping.

Like most of bitcoin, it's a deceptively complex system made up of suprisingly simple parts.

I'm honestly still skeptical that LN will really take off (it needs the network effect to be useful), but the idea behind it is very elegant and solid.

Re: Ending Bitcoin Support

#397

Post by knd775 »

Chirael wrote: post #326
undoware wrote: post #227

A lot of the chatter in this post is about the underlying value of Bitcoin (and blockchain currency generally) as an asset class. I keep telling folks: yes, it absolutely does have value apart from sentiment; holding a blockchain currency gives you access to all the infrastructure built on that product -- regardless of whether that infrastructure is for exchange, or storage, or smart contracts, or whatever. It follow…

Yes, some of the "dark web" marketplaces are starting to accept Monero now in addition to Bitcoin, for the reason you mentioned. I looked into buying Stellar but it was surprisingly difficult to buy, and the Stellar Desktop client was just confusing. I love Stellar conceptually but am not sure it's a good "investment" (if it was hard for me to buy/use I'm thinking it will be hard for others, too).

Just wait for a USD anchor. They're coming (fairx). That'll make things significantly easier.

Re: Ending Bitcoin Support

#398

Post by emodendroket »

kaybe wrote: post #378
emodendroket wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always wonder about this when I see films where criminals mastermind a plan to steal diamonds.

Maybe they have a diamond shop somewhere.

I found that sequel to The Asphalt Jungle a bit less interesting than the original.

Re: Ending Bitcoin Support

#399

Post by juancampa »

root_axis wrote: post #187
EnFinlay wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reading your comment finally made it click to me why cryptocurrencies (specifically Bitcoin) are distinct from a gold bar or other non-currency stores of value. A gold bar is going to remain a gold bar forever, people's perception of its value will change even though the supply will remain mostly steady, but it will stay a gold bar no matter what. Bitcoin may change in value based on perception, it's supply will rema…

> it's supply will remain constant after it has all been mined Even this could change if the miners and thought-leaders decide that it should.

Not refuting your point but this could also change for precious metals in the mid/far future: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_mining#Scarcity

"the relative abundance of asteroidal ore gives asteroid mining the potential to provide nearly unlimited resources, which would essentially eliminate scarcity for those materials"

Apparently with the lack of a strong gravity like Earth's to sink down heavy metals, they are way more accessible in smaller bodies like asteroids (Ceres and Vesta maybe?)

Re: Ending Bitcoin Support

#400

Post by JumpCrisscross »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #388
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they will grow substantially as the only way to mitigate the governments efforts to enforce surveillance and regulations Cash comes with substantial privacy benefits. It's also inconvenient. TL; DR Most people trade privacy for convenience.

What makes you sure convenience will not improve?

> What makes you sure convenience will not improve?

Nothing. I was responding to a comment claiming a national ban “will” cause Bitcoin to “grow substantially.” My position on Bitcoin has always been it’s an interesting moonshot being priced as an eventuality.

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