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If Facebook, Google, and Twitter decide you can’t use their platforms to reach your audience, you’re S.O.L. If you can’t take cards, you can at least take cash

If Facebook, Google, and Twitter decide you can’t use their platforms to reach your audience, you’re S.O.L. If you can’t take cards, you can at least take cash or check. And pornhub could set up a site selling bitcoin then add a pointer to their premium payment page referring folks to Bob’s Bitcoin Emporium.

sterlind 6y ago
How long will people be able to keep buying Bitcoin though? There's a lot of hoops already. For instance, Cash App (at least recently) required you to upload a photo ID in order to enable transfers. They make it easy to invest in, but hard to use as a currency. I can imagine the US, at least, moving towards a future where Bitcoin is allowed as a financial instrument, but transferring to a wallet you control requires background checks and waiting periods like firearms. Either due to pressure from governments, credit card processors, or both.
Mirioron 6y ago
You assume that Visa and MasterCard will just stop there. What if they go after businesses willing to do business with you? They see that blocking you from monetization doesn't work, so they block companies that sell you services from monetization if they continue to sell to you. Or they'll accuse you of money laundering when you switch to bitcoin.
bawolff 6y ago
Its really hard to imagine a website that takes cash or cheque. I suppose its possible. At this point pornhub is big enough, that fb, google and twitter all banning it might honestly be less of a threat to them than their payment processors pulling support. Convincing users to type a dns name into the address bar of a very famous website seems easier than convincing the users to mail a cheque (esp. Internationally where people dont use cheques) or pay bitcoin
- herbst 6y ago
  How about normal banking transactions? Nearly everyone has access to these, surely more than have access to credit cards or checks.
herbst 6y ago
> If Facebook, Google, and Twitter decide you can’t use their platforms to reach your audience This is reality for millions of people. You need a accepted phone number for all of these services, and not every country/provider is accepted.
coldtea 6y ago
>If Facebook, Google, and Twitter decide you can’t use their platforms to reach your audience, you’re S.O.L. If you can’t take cards, you can at least take cash or check. The fact that "less convenient way that put off 80% of customers" exists is no excuse for payment processors not being neutral.
franga2000 6y ago
Any company that isn't at PH's scale wouldn't be able to survive getting banned from card payments. Taking cash/check isn't possible on the web and Bitcoin poses the kind of barrier to entry that will surely lose you at least half of your customers. Imagine being a rather large consumer electronics web store. You're doing very well, with a good brand loyalty and major part of the market and pride yourself on fast delivery times. Suddenly, your credit card processor drops you because you sold an electronic sex toy that one time and that's against Jesus or whatever. Now the only way to get paid is through bank transfers (takes up to 2 days to go through, fees, pain in the ass) or cash at delivery (huge fee, need to withdraw cash in advance). There are 3 other stores in your market that never made that fatal mistake - who do you think will still buy from you? You're left with only a handful of business customers. Once you downsize because 80% of your revenue is gone, they leave too. F

sterlind 6y ago

How long will people be able to keep buying Bitcoin though? There's a lot of hoops already. For instance, Cash App (at least recently) required you to upload a photo ID in order to enable transfers. They make it easy to invest in, but hard to use as a currency. I can imagine the US, at least, moving towards a future where Bitcoin is allowed as a financial instrument, but transferring to a wallet you control requires background checks and waiting periods like firearms. Either due to pressure from governments, credit card processors, or both.

Mirioron 6y ago

You assume that Visa and MasterCard will just stop there. What if they go after businesses willing to do business with you? They see that blocking you from monetization doesn't work, so they block companies that sell you services from monetization if they continue to sell to you. Or they'll accuse you of money laundering when you switch to bitcoin.

bawolff 6y ago

Its really hard to imagine a website that takes cash or cheque. I suppose its possible. At this point pornhub is big enough, that fb, google and twitter all banning it might honestly be less of a threat to them than their payment processors pulling support. Convincing users to type a dns name into the address bar of a very famous website seems easier than convincing the users to mail a cheque (esp. Internationally where people dont use cheques) or pay bitcoin

herbst 6y ago
How about normal banking transactions? Nearly everyone has access to these, surely more than have access to credit cards or checks.

herbst 6y ago

> If Facebook, Google, and Twitter decide you can’t use their platforms to reach your audience This is reality for millions of people. You need a accepted phone number for all of these services, and not every country/provider is accepted.

coldtea 6y ago

>If Facebook, Google, and Twitter decide you can’t use their platforms to reach your audience, you’re S.O.L. If you can’t take cards, you can at least take cash or check. The fact that "less convenient way that put off 80% of customers" exists is no excuse for payment processors not being neutral.

franga2000 6y ago

Any company that isn't at PH's scale wouldn't be able to survive getting banned from card payments. Taking cash/check isn't possible on the web and Bitcoin poses the kind of barrier to entry that will surely lose you at least half of your customers. Imagine being a rather large consumer electronics web store. You're doing very well, with a good brand loyalty and major part of the market and pride yourself on fast delivery times. Suddenly, your credit card processor drops you because you sold an electronic sex toy that one time and that's against Jesus or whatever. Now the only way to get paid is through bank transfers (takes up to 2 days to go through, fees, pain in the ass) or cash at delivery (huge fee, need to withdraw cash in advance). There are 3 other stores in your market that never made that fatal mistake - who do you think will still buy from you? You're left with only a handful of business customers. Once you downsize because 80% of your revenue is gone, they leave too. F