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:/ the article kind of left me wanting more. How many customers have paid using bitcoin in the first week? How much of this a novelty attraction versus an act

:/ the article kind of left me wanting more. How many customers have paid using bitcoin in the first week? How much of this a novelty attraction versus an actual payment alternative? Is there a payment dispute system for BitPay? How did BitPay an the bar owners get put in touch? Is there some interesting business development story here?

dsr_ 14y ago
It's still not BC as currency, though: the prices are in USD, and then get converted for you. That's probably a good thing from the short term user's viewpoint, as BC is as volatile as a very smelly thing right now. There are all sorts of traps for a long-term user, though.
- robinh 14y ago
  I'm not very well-versed in economics, but would setting prices to a relatively non-changing BTC value not actually be a good thing to stabilize its value, if enough people were to do that?
  - badgar 14y ago
    What is the incentive to do so? BTC is expected to rise in value over time since it's a deflationary currency. So any sane businessperson should expect to be constantly decreasing the BTC price over time. It's a feature, not a bug.
    - taejo 14y ago
      Yes, but the same effect happens (in the opposite direction) with a normal inflationary currency. Every few months or years, prices change to reflect their new value. When prices are doubling or halving once a week, that starts to get problematic (see interbellum Germany, 2000s Zimbabwe).
JoshTriplett 14y ago
> Is there a payment dispute system for BitPay? Almost certainly not, given that Bitcoin intentionally operates the same way cash transactions do. And BitPay specifically mentions that feature on their front page: "With Bitpay you can eliminate the risk of Fraud, Chargebacks, and Identity Theft from internet payments.".
mrb 14y ago
It is a small world. Charlie Shrem (CEO of BitInstant) said that the bar founders are some of his childhood friends: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=170710.msg1775228#msg1775228 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=170710.msg1775228#ms... BitPay is the #1 Bitcoin payment processor. Either Charlie or the bar founders decided that BitPay was a logical partner. So no unusual story here. Just like in the non-Bitcoin world, initial investors are often your family/friends.
withoutthis 14y ago
BitPay must be kidding itself charging 0.99% per transaction. Visa/MC charge us 1.1%

dsr_ 14y ago

It's still not BC as currency, though: the prices are in USD, and then get converted for you. That's probably a good thing from the short term user's viewpoint, as BC is as volatile as a very smelly thing right now. There are all sorts of traps for a long-term user, though.

robinh 14y ago
I'm not very well-versed in economics, but would setting prices to a relatively non-changing BTC value not actually be a good thing to stabilize its value, if enough people were to do that?
- badgar 14y ago
  What is the incentive to do so? BTC is expected to rise in value over time since it's a deflationary currency. So any sane businessperson should expect to be constantly decreasing the BTC price over time. It's a feature, not a bug.
  - taejo 14y ago
    Yes, but the same effect happens (in the opposite direction) with a normal inflationary currency. Every few months or years, prices change to reflect their new value. When prices are doubling or halving once a week, that starts to get problematic (see interbellum Germany, 2000s Zimbabwe).

JoshTriplett 14y ago

> Is there a payment dispute system for BitPay? Almost certainly not, given that Bitcoin intentionally operates the same way cash transactions do. And BitPay specifically mentions that feature on their front page: "With Bitpay you can eliminate the risk of Fraud, Chargebacks, and Identity Theft from internet payments.".

mrb 14y ago

It is a small world. Charlie Shrem (CEO of BitInstant) said that the bar founders are some of his childhood friends: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=170710.msg1775228#msg1775228 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=170710.msg1775228#ms... BitPay is the #1 Bitcoin payment processor. Either Charlie or the bar founders decided that BitPay was a logical partner. So no unusual story here. Just like in the non-Bitcoin world, initial investors are often your family/friends.

withoutthis 14y ago

BitPay must be kidding itself charging 0.99% per transaction. Visa/MC charge us 1.1%