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>Credit-card companies consume a few percent of revenue And anyone that "accepts" bitcoin as payment probably takes more than that due to Bitcoin's volatility.

by mrlala 6y ago

>Credit-card companies consume a few percent of revenue And anyone that "accepts" bitcoin as payment probably takes more than that due to Bitcoin's volatility. If at the moment of a transaction, 1 BTC = 20k USD and I go to buy something that is $20k USD, it's not going to show up as "1 BTC" on the checkout.. it will probably be like 1.05 BTC. Also, credit-card companies give guarantees to both the buyers and sellers, so they are providing a service. Buyers get extra protection with extra warranties, ability to reverse fraudulent/deceptive sellers. Sellers get extra revenue with people buying stuff they don't have cash for, and don't have to worry about fraudulent cash/checks etc. Yeah sellers overall take a bit of a hit, but the argument can be made the couple percent is worth it to never have to worry about getting scammed by a buyer. Anyway.. crypto offers absolutely NONE of that. So comparing it to credit card companies is honestly quite laughable. The only thing you can try to argue is crypto offers anonymity to a degree? Although it sure seems like you have to jump through a lot of hoops for this to even be true since it's a public ledger...

gruez 6y ago
>it's not going to show up as "1 BTC" on the checkout.. it will probably be like 1.05 BTC. In my experience the spread is usually under 1% of the 24 avg. >[...] and don't have to worry about fraudulent cash/checks etc. Yeah sellers overall take a bit of a hit, but the argument can be made the couple percent is worth it to never have to worry about getting scammed by a buyer. But how are you going to get scammed accepting bitcoin? It's not like it's easy to forge a bitcoin.
- mrlala 6y ago
  >In my experience the spread is usually under 1% of the 24 avg. And how does that work? For example, the last 24hr bitcoin is up like 10%.. Let's call 5% below the current price the 24hr average.. are you suggesting that the exchange rate is 1% above the 24avg, or 4% below the current price, meaning the seller is eating 4% of the current price? That certainly does not make any sense. >But how are you going to get scammed accepting bitcoin? It's not like it's easy to forge a bitcoin. I agree the seller can't really get scammed, but the buyer has --zero-- recourse. So sure the seller loves it because there is no recourse and they can add a nice spread (my first point). But the buyer does not. Whereas credit cards- both parties get benefits (even if it skews toward the buyer, however that is a good thing, it shouldn't be equal.. the seller has more information about the transaction thus the buyer should have more recourse).
  - gruez 6y ago
    >And how does that work? For example, the last 24hr bitcoin is up like 10%.. Let's call 5% below the current price the 24hr average.. are you suggesting that the exchange rate is 1% above the 24avg, or 4% below the current price, meaning the seller is eating 4% of the current price? That certainly does not make any sense. That was based on how I remembered some merchants handled conversion a few years ago. I just did a test with coingate and the spread between their rate and the market rate is under 0.05% (yes that's a fraction of a percent, not 5%). >I agree the seller can't really get scammed, but the buyer has --zero-- recourse I don't disagree that credit card protections are good for the consumer. The problem is that there's no opt out (eg. horror stories about people's paypal accounts being frozen because of a surge in donations), and you're forced to use the bank (or credit card company) as the escrow.

by mrlala 6y ago

gruez 6y ago

>it's not going to show up as "1 BTC" on the checkout.. it will probably be like 1.05 BTC. In my experience the spread is usually under 1% of the 24 avg. >[...] and don't have to worry about fraudulent cash/checks etc. Yeah sellers overall take a bit of a hit, but the argument can be made the couple percent is worth it to never have to worry about getting scammed by a buyer. But how are you going to get scammed accepting bitcoin? It's not like it's easy to forge a bitcoin.

mrlala 6y ago
>In my experience the spread is usually under 1% of the 24 avg. And how does that work? For example, the last 24hr bitcoin is up like 10%.. Let's call 5% below the current price the 24hr average.. are you suggesting that the exchange rate is 1% above the 24avg, or 4% below the current price, meaning the seller is eating 4% of the current price? That certainly does not make any sense. >But how are you going to get scammed accepting bitcoin? It's not like it's easy to forge a bitcoin. I agree the seller can't really get scammed, but the buyer has --zero-- recourse. So sure the seller loves it because there is no recourse and they can add a nice spread (my first point). But the buyer does not. Whereas credit cards- both parties get benefits (even if it skews toward the buyer, however that is a good thing, it shouldn't be equal.. the seller has more information about the transaction thus the buyer should have more recourse).
- gruez 6y ago
  >And how does that work? For example, the last 24hr bitcoin is up like 10%.. Let's call 5% below the current price the 24hr average.. are you suggesting that the exchange rate is 1% above the 24avg, or 4% below the current price, meaning the seller is eating 4% of the current price? That certainly does not make any sense. That was based on how I remembered some merchants handled conversion a few years ago. I just did a test with coingate and the spread between their rate and the market rate is under 0.05% (yes that's a fraction of a percent, not 5%). >I agree the seller can't really get scammed, but the buyer has --zero-- recourse I don't disagree that credit card protections are good for the consumer. The problem is that there's no opt out (eg. horror stories about people's paypal accounts being frozen because of a surge in donations), and you're forced to use the bank (or credit card company) as the escrow.