3 ms·

> but crypto still has only one valid use case and that is for criminal activities. Many years ago, I used bitcoin to pay for web and e-mail hosting. Heck, the

> but crypto still has only one valid use case and that is for criminal activities. Many years ago, I used bitcoin to pay for web and e-mail hosting. Heck, there were several pubs in town offering the option to pay with crypto. I was paid for remote freelance web development work using bitcoin several times, none of it criminal (one example: a car dealership sales portal customization). All of that was above board, reported to government, taxes paid, etc. Providers moved away from it because of sentiments like this becoming prevailing (lots of people used it for illicit activities of course) which is a shame. Public sentiment has nothing to do with what the tech can actually be used for. That said, the environment impact caused is the larger concern to have IMO.

jrochkind1 4y ago
> Providers moved away from it because I would say people moved away from accepting bitcoin for beer because it's wildly fluctuating value made it unsuitable for use as a day to day currency, and because they realized it was a gimmick whose inconvenience (for the vendor) was not worth the limited interest in using it as such.
- BeefWellington 4y ago
  Yeah, fair, becoming a vehicle for speculation was maybe a bigger factor.
- Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
  > it's wildly fluctuating value made it unsuitable for use as a day to day currency, Coinbase has the option of immediately converting crypto payments into fiat, eliminating that problem. > and because they realized it was a gimmick whose inconvenience (for the vendor) was not worth the limited interest in using it as such. This is the bigger issue. Even if it's an online vendor where having to wait an hour for the transaction to get 6 confirmations isn't a problem, they still have to either integrate with another payment processor like Coinbase to accept the payment, or spend money building their own. In any case, it's cost and infrastructure to setup and they're probably unlikely to see RoI.
  - jrochkind1 4y ago
    > Coinbase has the option of immediately converting crypto payments into fiat, eliminating that problem. Sure. You want to update your bitcoin prices what, hourly, to make sure you are charging what you meant to? I'm not sure that coinbase service exactly eliminates the problem. But I'm sure that is a useful service for some! But yeah, we're on the same page. Overall... it is not a convenient thing for an ordinary business to take as payment for ordinary daily things.
    - Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
      > Sure. You want to update your bitcoin prices what, hourly, to make sure you are charging what you meant to? That's one way to do it. The other is to charge in USD just like you normally would. When the customer opts to pay in Bitcoin, they get sent to Coinbase which will convert the price into Bitcoin immediately and tell the customer what the balance is in Bitcoin. The exchange rate won't favor the customer, as it will include some amount extra to cover the possibility of the value dropping before the transaction is confirmed.
Eisenstein 4y ago
Providers moved away from it because it became unstable due to rampant speculation, wash-trading, and market manipulation, combined with the fact that hardly any customers used it.
mcv 4y ago
How many years ago? Because I also remember how some years ago a major Bitcoin conference stopped accepting payment in Bitcoin.

jrochkind1 4y ago

> Providers moved away from it because I would say people moved away from accepting bitcoin for beer because it's wildly fluctuating value made it unsuitable for use as a day to day currency, and because they realized it was a gimmick whose inconvenience (for the vendor) was not worth the limited interest in using it as such.

BeefWellington 4y ago
Yeah, fair, becoming a vehicle for speculation was maybe a bigger factor.
Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
> it's wildly fluctuating value made it unsuitable for use as a day to day currency, Coinbase has the option of immediately converting crypto payments into fiat, eliminating that problem. > and because they realized it was a gimmick whose inconvenience (for the vendor) was not worth the limited interest in using it as such. This is the bigger issue. Even if it's an online vendor where having to wait an hour for the transaction to get 6 confirmations isn't a problem, they still have to either integrate with another payment processor like Coinbase to accept the payment, or spend money building their own. In any case, it's cost and infrastructure to setup and they're probably unlikely to see RoI.
- jrochkind1 4y ago
  > Coinbase has the option of immediately converting crypto payments into fiat, eliminating that problem. Sure. You want to update your bitcoin prices what, hourly, to make sure you are charging what you meant to? I'm not sure that coinbase service exactly eliminates the problem. But I'm sure that is a useful service for some! But yeah, we're on the same page. Overall... it is not a convenient thing for an ordinary business to take as payment for ordinary daily things.
  - Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
    > Sure. You want to update your bitcoin prices what, hourly, to make sure you are charging what you meant to? That's one way to do it. The other is to charge in USD just like you normally would. When the customer opts to pay in Bitcoin, they get sent to Coinbase which will convert the price into Bitcoin immediately and tell the customer what the balance is in Bitcoin. The exchange rate won't favor the customer, as it will include some amount extra to cover the possibility of the value dropping before the transaction is confirmed.

Eisenstein 4y ago

Providers moved away from it because it became unstable due to rampant speculation, wash-trading, and market manipulation, combined with the fact that hardly any customers used it.

mcv 4y ago

How many years ago? Because I also remember how some years ago a major Bitcoin conference stopped accepting payment in Bitcoin.