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I'm curious, would your colleagues consider using bitcoin or ethereum as a method of exchange? Could you send them that to pay them back and they could pay on y

by xrd 8y ago

I'm curious, would your colleagues consider using bitcoin or ethereum as a method of exchange? Could you send them that to pay them back and they could pay on your behalf? If not, why? edit: auto complete filled in butcoin, corrected. Not sure how that got in my dictionary!

TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
Is that more convenient than a bank transfer? Now the other party needs to sign up to a bitcoin exchange.
- xrd 8y ago
  I'd say absolutely. I don't know of a bank where I can set up an account completely online through an app, which you can do with cex.io or coinbase. It's gotten harder but generally you create an account and then upload your ID and then can buy very soon afterwards. That makes it tenable in my opinion to ask even the most Luddite of friends to do it before the event and then pay people back that way.
  - icebraining 8y ago
    I don't know of a bank where I can set up an account completely online through an app In my EU country, there are already six banks that let you do this, and I doubt we're pioneers.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
    But how do they get their money out of the exchange? In the example provided I’m sending my pal BTC for some shared purchase because there’s no cash. My friend didn’t have a BTC address / wallet or whatever, now they do, and I’ve just transferred them 0.0028 BTC to cover my share of lunch. Now what?
kristofferR 8y ago
My "music festival colleagues"? :P Joking aside, sure, crypto would be a great solution if they were already using it. They weren't however, and trying to introduce someone half-drunk and in a party vibe to crypto is not a good idea. If I had asked them to use crypto afterwards I would just have imposed a lot of extra work on them, which wouldn't be nice considering they did me a service by lending to me and blindly trusting me to send it back.
- xrd 8y ago
  Got it, none of your friends or people you know there are using it. Getting set up on an exchange is challenging these days, at least in the US. I didn't know if there were better options that people there in Scandinavia were using, sounds like no. It's sad, because once you have crypto in an exchange it is super simple to send to an address, and the current exchange rate is easy to see. Seems like it solves your problems in that no one would need to use one of the different and incompatible banking systems. I'm sort of surprised the cost of signing up for a crypto exchange makes the banking system still a consideration. It's an interesting place you are in, highly mobile within Europe, with the financial system getting more complicated when you travel within it.
xrd 8y ago
To the downvoters: care to say why? I read the entire article, read the comment I'm referring to, and have personal experience that the solution I'm proposing works as I'm describing. I'm left with only that everyone must think my question reeks of crypto currency evangelism, and that's a BAD thing here on HN. Is it something else? My grammar or phrasing?
- Moru 8y ago
  Im just guessing but replacing something that is used by almost everyone here in sweden with something almost noone uses is a bit counter productive. Just start using cash again would be the easiest solution. Swift payments is mostly used to accept payment easy and costfree between private people at fleamarkets and similar since noone carries cash any more.
  - rs23296008n1 8y ago
    Network effects and the "good enough" effect. At some point no one used swish. Then it became useful for some and then it became useful for many. Then it became the "must have" or "should have" for everyone else. Crypto's could do this. They just aren't set up as easy right now. I'm pointing at bitcoin etc. They are also slow. I can tap my MasterCard contactless card/phone and pay for coffee and the merchant is happy. I've had bitcoin take >30 minutes to transfer. Unacceptably slow.
- netsharc 8y ago
  You're probably right, the downvotes are probably because people are sick of people saying "Crypto is the solution!". IMO he might as well have said "Can you lend me money, I'll pay you back with these chicken eggs, bartering is a valid form to pay for goods and services!", except crypto has hype around it that he'd probably find a taker or two...

by xrd 8y ago

TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago

Is that more convenient than a bank transfer? Now the other party needs to sign up to a bitcoin exchange.

xrd 8y ago
I'd say absolutely. I don't know of a bank where I can set up an account completely online through an app, which you can do with cex.io or coinbase. It's gotten harder but generally you create an account and then upload your ID and then can buy very soon afterwards. That makes it tenable in my opinion to ask even the most Luddite of friends to do it before the event and then pay people back that way.
- icebraining 8y ago
  I don't know of a bank where I can set up an account completely online through an app In my EU country, there are already six banks that let you do this, and I doubt we're pioneers.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
  But how do they get their money out of the exchange? In the example provided I’m sending my pal BTC for some shared purchase because there’s no cash. My friend didn’t have a BTC address / wallet or whatever, now they do, and I’ve just transferred them 0.0028 BTC to cover my share of lunch. Now what?

kristofferR 8y ago

My "music festival colleagues"? :P Joking aside, sure, crypto would be a great solution if they were already using it. They weren't however, and trying to introduce someone half-drunk and in a party vibe to crypto is not a good idea. If I had asked them to use crypto afterwards I would just have imposed a lot of extra work on them, which wouldn't be nice considering they did me a service by lending to me and blindly trusting me to send it back.

xrd 8y ago
Got it, none of your friends or people you know there are using it. Getting set up on an exchange is challenging these days, at least in the US. I didn't know if there were better options that people there in Scandinavia were using, sounds like no. It's sad, because once you have crypto in an exchange it is super simple to send to an address, and the current exchange rate is easy to see. Seems like it solves your problems in that no one would need to use one of the different and incompatible banking systems. I'm sort of surprised the cost of signing up for a crypto exchange makes the banking system still a consideration. It's an interesting place you are in, highly mobile within Europe, with the financial system getting more complicated when you travel within it.

xrd 8y ago

To the downvoters: care to say why? I read the entire article, read the comment I'm referring to, and have personal experience that the solution I'm proposing works as I'm describing. I'm left with only that everyone must think my question reeks of crypto currency evangelism, and that's a BAD thing here on HN. Is it something else? My grammar or phrasing?

Moru 8y ago
Im just guessing but replacing something that is used by almost everyone here in sweden with something almost noone uses is a bit counter productive. Just start using cash again would be the easiest solution. Swift payments is mostly used to accept payment easy and costfree between private people at fleamarkets and similar since noone carries cash any more.
- rs23296008n1 8y ago
  Network effects and the "good enough" effect. At some point no one used swish. Then it became useful for some and then it became useful for many. Then it became the "must have" or "should have" for everyone else. Crypto's could do this. They just aren't set up as easy right now. I'm pointing at bitcoin etc. They are also slow. I can tap my MasterCard contactless card/phone and pay for coffee and the merchant is happy. I've had bitcoin take >30 minutes to transfer. Unacceptably slow.
netsharc 8y ago
You're probably right, the downvotes are probably because people are sick of people saying "Crypto is the solution!". IMO he might as well have said "Can you lend me money, I'll pay you back with these chicken eggs, bartering is a valid form to pay for goods and services!", except crypto has hype around it that he'd probably find a taker or two...