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> (can one do payments in the 10-100$ USD range on the blockchain? What if you don't want to go through an exchange?) Yes, there are quite a few of them. For s

> (can one do payments in the 10-100$ USD range on the blockchain? What if you don't want to go through an exchange?) Yes, there are quite a few of them. For smaller sums KYC is usually not needed. No exchange needed either - as a customer you just send crypto to the payment address they give you, and as a merchant you receive your funds (minus some fee) in either fiat or crypto. No exchange needed in either case. As a merchant you obviously need to do KYC regardless of the amount received. I know of Bitpay and ForumPay, but there are others too. EDIT: depending on the currency the blockchain fees can be very low (or very high), so it pays to do your homework.

arcticbull 4y ago
> (can one do payments in the 10-100$ USD range on the blockchain? What if you don't want to go through an exchange?) No, you can't because there's no dollars on the blockchain, only varying degrees of unregistered and unregulated money market fund ranging from something fairly reasonable (USDC) to the Reserve Primary Fund that broke the buck in 2008 (USDT, UST). To send dollars you have to go through an exchange - well two, actually. BitPay is an exchange. They just sell crypto on behalf of the merchant and send them the actual money. This is the point where you'd run into AML/KYC/etc issues. Getting money on and off exposes you to massive counterparty risk that could just leave you a creditor in the Bahamas. You have to combine blockchain fees, exchange fees, forex risk, counter-party risk and legal/compliance risk - plus all blockchain transactions have to be reported with their cost basis on your taxes. If you're trying to do it 'right' you will pay wildly more for anything on the blockchain because decentralization is significantly less efficient.
- bornfreddy 4y ago
  Actually the payment is made in crypto (BTC, ETH, also USDT if you so desire) and the fiat is paid out to the merchant. Obviously there is some exchange somewhere in the back, but neither merchant nor custumer are interacting with it. EDIT: I won't be dragged into discussion about crypto. GGP asked about option, I gave one. Do your homework and don't believe random HN posters (which goes for both of us). Over and out.
  - arcticbull 4y ago
    That's what I said, I think? > They just sell crypto on behalf of the merchant and send them the actual money. Did I misunderstand? If so, my bad. [edit] BitPay is actually fascinating because they publish their merchant breakdown, or at least they used to. It's overwhelmingly all prepaid gift cards, "internet" and VPN. And the share has shifted more and more towards prepaid gift cards. [1] [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1142527/bitpay-payments-global-by-industry/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1142527/bitpay-payments-...

arcticbull 4y ago

> (can one do payments in the 10-100$ USD range on the blockchain? What if you don't want to go through an exchange?) No, you can't because there's no dollars on the blockchain, only varying degrees of unregistered and unregulated money market fund ranging from something fairly reasonable (USDC) to the Reserve Primary Fund that broke the buck in 2008 (USDT, UST). To send dollars you have to go through an exchange - well two, actually. BitPay is an exchange. They just sell crypto on behalf of the merchant and send them the actual money. This is the point where you'd run into AML/KYC/etc issues. Getting money on and off exposes you to massive counterparty risk that could just leave you a creditor in the Bahamas. You have to combine blockchain fees, exchange fees, forex risk, counter-party risk and legal/compliance risk - plus all blockchain transactions have to be reported with their cost basis on your taxes. If you're trying to do it 'right' you will pay wildly more for anything on the blockchain because decentralization is significantly less efficient.

bornfreddy 4y ago
Actually the payment is made in crypto (BTC, ETH, also USDT if you so desire) and the fiat is paid out to the merchant. Obviously there is some exchange somewhere in the back, but neither merchant nor custumer are interacting with it. EDIT: I won't be dragged into discussion about crypto. GGP asked about option, I gave one. Do your homework and don't believe random HN posters (which goes for both of us). Over and out.
- arcticbull 4y ago
  That's what I said, I think? > They just sell crypto on behalf of the merchant and send them the actual money. Did I misunderstand? If so, my bad. [edit] BitPay is actually fascinating because they publish their merchant breakdown, or at least they used to. It's overwhelmingly all prepaid gift cards, "internet" and VPN. And the share has shifted more and more towards prepaid gift cards. [1] [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1142527/bitpay-payments-global-by-industry/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1142527/bitpay-payments-...