5 ms·

Now if only you could by bread with bitcoin.

vernon99 9y ago
Which you can, for years now... lots of services provide debit cards tied to your bitcoin wallet. Instant purchases. Some examples: https://www.weusecoins.com/bitcoin-debit-cards/ https://www.weusecoins.com/bitcoin-debit-cards/
- kovek 9y ago
  We were just discussing this earlier with some friends. Don't bitcoin transactions take a large amount of time? A block takes 10 minutes to mine, and there is no guarantee your transaction will be picked up by the currently mined block (or the one after), because there is a limit on the number of transactions that can fit in a block. Are there solutions to this?
  - jerrre 9y ago
    In the case of a debit card it can be pre-paid and/or the fees cover the costs just like with credit cards.
    - nicky0 9y ago
      But then you are not really paying with Bitcoin. You are paying with Visa and funding your account with Bitcoin.
      - Sir_Substance 9y ago
        By that standard, when you use a bog standard Visa card you're not actually paying with dollars[1], you're paying with the artificial virtual currency your bank provides that is pegged to the dollar at 1:1, and merely funding your account with dollars. [1] Substitute your local fiat currency here
        evgen 9y ago
        No, you are paying with whatever currency the counter-party accepts. What backs the debit/credit card does not matter as long as the issuer thinks you have the assets to cover the loan they are making. If I have a card linked by my brokerage account I am not paying for dinner with shares of AMZN, I am paying in dollars and at some point will be required to convert some asset into dollars to cover the loan.
        baddox 9y ago
        But this is a pretty inconsequential semantic difference. You could just as easily say that you’re selling dollars and the grocery store is paying you in bread.
        evgen 9y ago
        No, it is a very significant difference and is not just semantics. The transaction is clearing in dollars and those dollars are moving from buyer to seller. There is no other currency involved in the transaction. The fact that dollars are constant and the seller could be exchanging bread, milk, cars, or bars of gold for the dollars tells you what the medium of exchange is here. Once the transaction has cleared the seller can convert the dollars into euros, yen, ruble, pesos, or bitcoin and it has nothing to do with the actual transaction.
        nicky0 9y ago
        But in both cases the merchant receives dollars. When actually paying with Bitcoin, the merchant would receive Bitcoin. The point is that it's a Visa transaction not a Bitcoin transaction.
  - nicky0 9y ago
    That is correct. One solution to this being worked on is Lightning Network (http://lightning.network http://lightning.network)
  - diegocerdan 9y ago
    Ethereum's blocktime is way shorter: 10 seconds. You usually want multiple blocks to be finalized, from 3 to 6 to be sure you are on the longer chain. The proposed blockchain solution for this are state channels where payments are then instant. Using state channels you can build a multi-hop network solution called Raiden (Ethereum) and Lightning Network (Bitcoin).
  - hanniabu 9y ago
    An alternative solution are some cryptocurrency loan programs such as ActiveHold
anonymous5133 9y ago
You can
zby 9y ago
At least you can buy pizza!
- askmike 9y ago
  Imagine how many. Hint: Just a few years back Laszlo bought 2 pizzas for 10,000 bitcoin.
6nf 9y ago
You could I guess but it's really better to just use a credit card. Your CC company rewards you for using it while a Bitcoin transaction is the opposite - it costs you money to spend BTC. If you want anonymity, use cash. If not, use a credit card.
- wereHamster 9y ago
  Do you really believe that the CC rewards are free?!? You, the customer, ultimately pay for them. Purchase by CC costs the merchants money (how much is it nowadays, around 2-3%?), the merchants pass that price increase on to customers (regardless whether they pay by cash or credit card nonetheless).
  - sp4rki 9y ago
    By that logic then it makes even more sense to use the credit card over both cash and <whatever>coin. If the transaction price is getting bundled into the overall price of the article I'm buying, why would I pay in cash and lose credit cart protections and loyalty points? Or even worse, why would I pay in bitcoin and lose the same as above and incur a transaction fee myself?
    - gruez 9y ago
      Assuming the merchant doesn't charge extra for using a credit card
      - soared 9y ago
        Which they don't and also it's illegal. You can charge less for cash, but no one does that. (Except your one or two examples out of the thousands of stores)
        gruez 9y ago
        >Which they don't and also it's illegal source? because there are tons of gas stations that offer a "cash price" and a "debit/credit card" price.
mbrock 9y ago
Ask your local baker for a deal. It won't just happen automatically.

Which you can, for years now... lots of services provide debit cards tied to your bitcoin wallet. Instant purchases. Some examples: https://www.weusecoins.com/bitcoin-debit-cards/ https://www.weusecoins.com/bitcoin-debit-cards/

kovek 9y ago
We were just discussing this earlier with some friends. Don't bitcoin transactions take a large amount of time? A block takes 10 minutes to mine, and there is no guarantee your transaction will be picked up by the currently mined block (or the one after), because there is a limit on the number of transactions that can fit in a block. Are there solutions to this?
- jerrre 9y ago
  In the case of a debit card it can be pre-paid and/or the fees cover the costs just like with credit cards.
  - nicky0 9y ago
    But then you are not really paying with Bitcoin. You are paying with Visa and funding your account with Bitcoin.
    - Sir_Substance 9y ago
      By that standard, when you use a bog standard Visa card you're not actually paying with dollars[1], you're paying with the artificial virtual currency your bank provides that is pegged to the dollar at 1:1, and merely funding your account with dollars. [1] Substitute your local fiat currency here
      - evgen 9y ago
        No, you are paying with whatever currency the counter-party accepts. What backs the debit/credit card does not matter as long as the issuer thinks you have the assets to cover the loan they are making. If I have a card linked by my brokerage account I am not paying for dinner with shares of AMZN, I am paying in dollars and at some point will be required to convert some asset into dollars to cover the loan.
        baddox 9y ago
        But this is a pretty inconsequential semantic difference. You could just as easily say that you’re selling dollars and the grocery store is paying you in bread.
        evgen 9y ago
        No, it is a very significant difference and is not just semantics. The transaction is clearing in dollars and those dollars are moving from buyer to seller. There is no other currency involved in the transaction. The fact that dollars are constant and the seller could be exchanging bread, milk, cars, or bars of gold for the dollars tells you what the medium of exchange is here. Once the transaction has cleared the seller can convert the dollars into euros, yen, ruble, pesos, or bitcoin and it has nothing to do with the actual transaction.
      - nicky0 9y ago
        But in both cases the merchant receives dollars. When actually paying with Bitcoin, the merchant would receive Bitcoin. The point is that it's a Visa transaction not a Bitcoin transaction.
- nicky0 9y ago
  That is correct. One solution to this being worked on is Lightning Network (http://lightning.network http://lightning.network)
- diegocerdan 9y ago
  Ethereum's blocktime is way shorter: 10 seconds. You usually want multiple blocks to be finalized, from 3 to 6 to be sure you are on the longer chain. The proposed blockchain solution for this are state channels where payments are then instant. Using state channels you can build a multi-hop network solution called Raiden (Ethereum) and Lightning Network (Bitcoin).
- hanniabu 9y ago
  An alternative solution are some cryptocurrency loan programs such as ActiveHold

anonymous5133 9y ago

You can

zby 9y ago

At least you can buy pizza!

askmike 9y ago
Imagine how many. Hint: Just a few years back Laszlo bought 2 pizzas for 10,000 bitcoin.

6nf 9y ago

You could I guess but it's really better to just use a credit card. Your CC company rewards you for using it while a Bitcoin transaction is the opposite - it costs you money to spend BTC. If you want anonymity, use cash. If not, use a credit card.

wereHamster 9y ago
Do you really believe that the CC rewards are free?!? You, the customer, ultimately pay for them. Purchase by CC costs the merchants money (how much is it nowadays, around 2-3%?), the merchants pass that price increase on to customers (regardless whether they pay by cash or credit card nonetheless).
- sp4rki 9y ago
  By that logic then it makes even more sense to use the credit card over both cash and <whatever>coin. If the transaction price is getting bundled into the overall price of the article I'm buying, why would I pay in cash and lose credit cart protections and loyalty points? Or even worse, why would I pay in bitcoin and lose the same as above and incur a transaction fee myself?
  - gruez 9y ago
    Assuming the merchant doesn't charge extra for using a credit card
    - soared 9y ago
      Which they don't and also it's illegal. You can charge less for cash, but no one does that. (Except your one or two examples out of the thousands of stores)
      - gruez 9y ago
        >Which they don't and also it's illegal source? because there are tons of gas stations that offer a "cash price" and a "debit/credit card" price.

mbrock 9y ago

Ask your local baker for a deal. It won't just happen automatically.