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If there was ever a use for [insert favorite crypto currency here] gaining adoption, the killer feature is that payments can't be halted or frozen to accounts.
by Shank 10y ago
If there was ever a use for [insert favorite crypto currency here] gaining adoption, the killer feature is that payments can't be halted or frozen to accounts.
It sounds like they got hit by people who were unaware of what FetLife is following due diligence in processing card transactions. As far as I can discern, it's just a social network with a darker focus, which led to an overreaction from a card network.
- kefka 10y agoThe the post lies this answer: Why haven't you embraced Bitcoin to get away from the restrictions of the banks / credit card companies? - @Eibon Answer: We used to accept bitcoins through Coinbase. They dropped us a year ago because we are a kinky site. No joke. If a Bitcoin site wants to accept credit cards, then they have to adhere to rules set forth by the credit card companies. Yes, there are other options, and we are going to look into them, but options like Bitcoin are a nice to have and not currently a viable replacement for being able to accept credit and debit cards on FetLife, no matter how much one might want to believe otherwise. When we offered Bitcoin as an option, it was responsible for less than 0.1% of our daily transactions.
- jjawssd 10y agoWhere there is one, there may be more
- Shank 10y agoWhile this may be true, Coinbase isn't synonymous for Bitcoin -- the true "idealized" version is that you generate your own BTC transaction system (or use an off the shelf one?) -- not use a processor (ergo, not Coinbase).
- TylerE 10y agoStill have to cash out through somebody if you want ActualMoney(tm).
- madez 10y agoYou only need to cash out the amount you can't spend in bitcoins. The more things you can buy in bitcoins, the less powerful politically-controlled money becomes.
- modeless 10y agoThere are at least 18 exchanges supporting Bitcoin to dollar conversion that are not Coinbase: https://data.bitcoinity.org/markets/exchanges/USD/30d https://data.bitcoinity.org/markets/exchanges/USD/30d There are also other options such as various OTC trading desks or Gemini's daily auctions. And finally, there are several other full-service payment processors that they could try besides Coinbase. Coinbase was a really bad pick for them. It's almost certainly the single least likely option to be able to support fringe businesses, due to their close relationship with banks and credit card companies.
- Coding_Cat 10y agoCan't they just pay boringCorp Ltd. in Bitcoin for use of their "bussiness solution" (that is managing your infrastructure or providing the bitcoin transaction platform). The boringCorp Ltd can cash out for ActualMoney(tm) and I'm sure there is some way of accounting to get that money back to where it needs to go.
- kirykl 10y agoWhy commit a crime (money laundering) to hide a non crime?
- MichaelBurge 10y agoThe problematic part for Coinbase is probably automatically selling the coins and depositing USD into their checking account. There are other vendors to handle the Bitcoin itself. In particular, I think Verotel does Bitcoin processing for adult merchants.
- andreyf 10y agoStill don't see why they can't just accept bitcoin. Buying BTC via credit card is trivial via Coinbase (and they won't ban customers), and while they won't get 100%, they're much more likely to get quite a bit more than 0.1% even if BTC is the only payment option.
- timmaah 10y agoDo you think their lawyers and staff want to get paid in BTC?
- modeless 10y agoThey wouldn't have to. There are at least 18 other bitcoin exchanges they could use: https://data.bitcoinity.org/markets/exchanges/USD/30d https://data.bitcoinity.org/markets/exchanges/USD/30d
- robhu 10y agoIf it is provable that Coinbase is being used as a means of bypassing VISA et al's restrictions on sites like FetLife, what is stop VISA et al doing the same to Coinbase?
- problems 10y agoYou can already proxy around the CC companies in all too many ways. Buy gift cards, cash cards, heck, prepaid VISA cards for example. They're not going to bother going after this kind of thing, they'd lose money over it. It doesn't make sense from a financial perspective.
- noarchy 10y agoThe linked text mentions that even Coinbase dropped Fetlife, because they (Coinbase) still processes credit card transactions. So it looks like any use of a cryptocurrency has to be completely decoupled from the credit card world.
- Senji 10y agoStep one: Start a political party Step two: Get in power Step three: Make refusing credit transactions to patrons on grounds of "morality" illegal.
- FussyZeus 10y agoWhat exactly is the difference between enforcing morality with law and enforcing no morality with law? Morality is an incredibly subjective thing between differing cultures, I don't think it has a place in the justice/civil law systems.
- Senji 10y agoYou don't have to write the word "morality" in the law itself. Just make it so they can't deny service to anyone ever.
- nerfhammer 10y ago> Start a political party > Get in power Almost impossible in a FPTP voting system
- 10y ago
- RileyKyeden 10y agoIt's not dark at all. It's just a place for people to list their kinks. Nothing nefarious. It's very popular in the kinkier sub-communities of the furry fandom. edit: I got this mixed up with F-List, which is similar in function with a narrower focus.
- leesalminen 10y agoThere is definitely a seedy (read: illegal) element to the site which seems to have been going on for years without concrete efforts on the staff's part to eliminate. I'm not talking about kinks, I'm talking about pedophiles and rapists.
- RileyKyeden 10y agoI got it mixed up with a similar site with the same acronym. I don't know much about FetLife.