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But it’s fairly easy to use “cryptocurrency” to pay for things, e.g. if you have a cryptocurrency-denominated account at the same provider as your vendor. This

by amluto 5y ago

But it’s fairly easy to use “cryptocurrency” to pay for things, e.g. if you have a cryptocurrency-denominated account at the same provider as your vendor. This is, of course, not open finance in any meaningful respect.

smt88 5y ago
It's easy-ish (far harder than using a credit card), but it's also: - possible the transaction won't happen immediately or happen at all - extremely expensive - stupid (if you expect your particular cryptocurrency to increase in value over time) - missing all the protections and benefits of a credit card
- ashtonkem 5y ago
  - Introduces exchange risk and tax complexities for most merchants.
- amluto 5y ago
  If I transfer from my Coinbase account to yours, the transaction is not subject to the vagaries of the blockchain. It’s more or less like transferring from my PayPal account to yours.
  - smt88 5y ago
    Are you suggesting it's sidechain? Or that our funds in Coinbase are pooled? Either way, it completely defeats the purpose of decentralization, consensus, etc. Coinbase, in that case, is exactly like a traditional bank except that you're trading non-money instead of money.
    - amluto 5y ago
      If you are depositing anything in an online Bitcoin account and you’re making transactions that aren’t insanely expensive, they’re either side chain or pooled.
MBCook 5y ago
Ah yes. The solution to “normal people can’t easily get cryptocurrency to pay with” is “well if they already had cryptocurrency…”. I just noticed I read that wrong. I missed the same provider as your vendor part. So I guess the solution for using cryptocurrency to buy things at Amazon is “if you already bought cryptocurrency at Amazon…”. But I’m trying to buy something. So how does the intermediatory step help at all? This post may sound somewhat hostile. I TRUELY don’t understand how cryptocurrency helps any of this. It only seems to help cryptocurrency people. The author nailed my feelings 100%.

by amluto 5y ago

smt88 5y ago

It's easy-ish (far harder than using a credit card), but it's also: - possible the transaction won't happen immediately or happen at all - extremely expensive - stupid (if you expect your particular cryptocurrency to increase in value over time) - missing all the protections and benefits of a credit card

ashtonkem 5y ago
- Introduces exchange risk and tax complexities for most merchants.
amluto 5y ago
If I transfer from my Coinbase account to yours, the transaction is not subject to the vagaries of the blockchain. It’s more or less like transferring from my PayPal account to yours.
- smt88 5y ago
  Are you suggesting it's sidechain? Or that our funds in Coinbase are pooled? Either way, it completely defeats the purpose of decentralization, consensus, etc. Coinbase, in that case, is exactly like a traditional bank except that you're trading non-money instead of money.
  - amluto 5y ago
    If you are depositing anything in an online Bitcoin account and you’re making transactions that aren’t insanely expensive, they’re either side chain or pooled.

MBCook 5y ago

Ah yes. The solution to “normal people can’t easily get cryptocurrency to pay with” is “well if they already had cryptocurrency…”. I just noticed I read that wrong. I missed the same provider as your vendor part. So I guess the solution for using cryptocurrency to buy things at Amazon is “if you already bought cryptocurrency at Amazon…”. But I’m trying to buy something. So how does the intermediatory step help at all? This post may sound somewhat hostile. I TRUELY don’t understand how cryptocurrency helps any of this. It only seems to help cryptocurrency people. The author nailed my feelings 100%.