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There is substantial exchange rate risk. If Valve didn't want to see any forex risk on the sale, they end up incurring it on refund. If people are using it as

There is substantial exchange rate risk. If Valve didn't want to see any forex risk on the sale, they end up incurring it on refund. If people are using it as an easy way to store money in USD and then convert back to BTC when the rate goes up, that can get expensive in a hurry. It could also be that they used Coinbase or some other provider to act as a processor, and Coinbase charged the merchant if there were chargebacks on Coinbase's accounts.

sebzim4500 5y ago
>If people are using it as an easy way to store money in USD and then convert back to BTC when the rate goes up, that can get expensive in a hurry. Why would anyone do this? In what universe is buying games and then requesting refunds easier than clicking buy/sell on coinbase/kraken/etc.
- bastawhiz 5y ago
  Did steam charge a transaction fee for refunds? If not, there's your answer.
  - isodev 5y ago
    By law refunds are free within the first 14 days of a purchase in the EU. That's plenty of opportunity to "speculate" with coin prices.
- j-bos 5y ago
  Reminds me of the old gamestop greentext
- withinboredom 5y ago
  As an American living outside of America, getting non-US investment accounts is impossible, and most US banks don’t want non-residents investing, and lying about your address can get you in hot water with the IRS (are you, or are you not living in the US?). Crypto companies follows much the same pattern and in some cases you can buy crypto but can’t cash out. If you could buy a game with bitcoin and get cash-money in a refund, this is quite viable. We haven’t even started talking about money laundering…
HWR_14 5y ago
Iirc, Steam refunded money in your local fiat, and used a third party processor. There was a small forex risk on the sale (when the btc transfer started vs when it was sold), but that should even put in the long term and they're selling now bits so they have the ability to absorb the cost.

sebzim4500 5y ago

>If people are using it as an easy way to store money in USD and then convert back to BTC when the rate goes up, that can get expensive in a hurry. Why would anyone do this? In what universe is buying games and then requesting refunds easier than clicking buy/sell on coinbase/kraken/etc.

bastawhiz 5y ago
Did steam charge a transaction fee for refunds? If not, there's your answer.
- isodev 5y ago
  By law refunds are free within the first 14 days of a purchase in the EU. That's plenty of opportunity to "speculate" with coin prices.
j-bos 5y ago
Reminds me of the old gamestop greentext
withinboredom 5y ago
As an American living outside of America, getting non-US investment accounts is impossible, and most US banks don’t want non-residents investing, and lying about your address can get you in hot water with the IRS (are you, or are you not living in the US?). Crypto companies follows much the same pattern and in some cases you can buy crypto but can’t cash out. If you could buy a game with bitcoin and get cash-money in a refund, this is quite viable. We haven’t even started talking about money laundering…

HWR_14 5y ago

Iirc, Steam refunded money in your local fiat, and used a third party processor. There was a small forex risk on the sale (when the btc transfer started vs when it was sold), but that should even put in the long term and they're selling now bits so they have the ability to absorb the cost.