4 ms·

Will be interesting to see if Shopify (or anyone in general ecommerce) ever reports on the popularity of Bitcoin as a payment method considering there is no sen

by pbreit 13y ago

Will be interesting to see if Shopify (or anyone in general ecommerce) ever reports on the popularity of Bitcoin as a payment method considering there is no sense at all to use Bitcoins to purchase legal items in the vast majority of countries.

jzwinck 13y ago
No reason to use Bitcoin to purpose legal items? How about not having to divulge your credit card or bank account details to sellers? This exact same problem is apparently important enough that even the established players are trying to solve it, with things like one-time use credit card numbers and third-party authentication pages.
- MichaelApproved 13y ago
  A bit off topic but is anyone trying to work subscription payments with bitcoin? Is that even possible without something like a prefunded account?
  - achalkley 13y ago
    The only way you could do it without a "pre funded" account (online like Coinbase) was if you had a RPC-Client for your transactional wallet, say on your local machine. This client would schedule payments.
    - unlimited_power 13y ago
      Also take a look at: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Contracts#Example_7:_Rapidly-adjusted_.28micro.29payments_to_a_pre-determined_party https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Contracts#Example_7:_Rapidly-adju...
RickHull 13y ago
> considering there is no sense at all to use Bitcoins to purchase legal items in the vast majority of countries. This is quite asinine. I assume you've never tried to purchase an item in country A from merchant A' accepting currency A'', while you are in country B using bank B' with an account denominated in B''. The hurdles, generally, are numerous and diverse. Any lack of hurdles is quite exceptional, and completely dependent upon international agreements between nations, banks, and any number of permutations thereof. Instead, you could simply transact in BTC.
- pallandt 13y ago
  While I agree that it shouldn't be automatically assumed that someone who has bitcoins to spend will use them for illegal purposes, I'm curious as to what specific hurdles you encountered as mentioned in your post? In my country at least, if you want to purchase something online and in a different currency than your account and CC's denomination, the conversion is done automatically for you at checkout, at whatever the bank has set for the rate, usually a fair one. Works like this regardless of what store you buy from, could be in the U.S, Europe or somewhere else on the globe.
  - aestra 13y ago
    Most US Companies charge a strangely large "currency conversion" fee for this privilege.
- pbreit 13y ago
  Credit cards work well in the situation you describe (if I understand it correctly).
  - elzr 13y ago
    Credit cards & banking are much less distributed outside the developed world. While in the US, 63% of the 15+ population has a credit card, in Mexico it's barely 13% (in Latin America in general it's only 18%). This is a HUGE obstacle for e-commerce and bitcoin's cash-like, informality (no requisites, no need to register or be approved by a central entity) might allow it to spread where banks have so far been unable to. (Source World Bank Financial Inclusion Data http://datatopics.worldbank.org/financialinclusion/ http://datatopics.worldbank.org/financialinclusion/)
    - pakitan 13y ago
      Yes, you can see bitcoin is getting much better distributed in less developed countries: http://sourceforge.net/projects/bitcoin/files/stats/map http://sourceforge.net/projects/bitcoin/files/stats/map /sarcasm People in less developed countries don't buy online not because they don't have credit cards, they don't buy because they don't have money. If you make $5/day, bitcoin doesn't suddenly give you the ability to buy brand new iPhone.
antonios 13y ago
> ...no sense at all to use Bitcoins to purchase legal items in the vast majority of countries I'm speechless.
- hdevalence 13y ago
  Bitcoins can't be used to extinguish the tax obligations that arise from legal sales.
  - jafaku 13y ago
    Should merchants stop exporting too, because foreign currencies can't be used for everything?
- ceol 13y ago
  If someone holding an opposing view to you leaves you speechless, it generally means you are indoctrinated in your belief and should reevaluate it.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
tommoor 13y ago
I would have thought zero fees would be reason enough, 2-3% extra on every transaction from a merchant point of view is very appealing
crassus 13y ago
It's a pure international currency. That's useful for customers without USD access.
ceol 13y ago
You made the BTC-zealots angry. Be careful; most of them have nothing to lose. Get it?

by pbreit 13y ago

jzwinck 13y ago

No reason to use Bitcoin to purpose legal items? How about not having to divulge your credit card or bank account details to sellers? This exact same problem is apparently important enough that even the established players are trying to solve it, with things like one-time use credit card numbers and third-party authentication pages.

MichaelApproved 13y ago
A bit off topic but is anyone trying to work subscription payments with bitcoin? Is that even possible without something like a prefunded account?
- achalkley 13y ago
  The only way you could do it without a "pre funded" account (online like Coinbase) was if you had a RPC-Client for your transactional wallet, say on your local machine. This client would schedule payments.
  - unlimited_power 13y ago
    Also take a look at: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Contracts#Example_7:_Rapidly-adjusted_.28micro.29payments_to_a_pre-determined_party https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Contracts#Example_7:_Rapidly-adju...

RickHull 13y ago

> considering there is no sense at all to use Bitcoins to purchase legal items in the vast majority of countries. This is quite asinine. I assume you've never tried to purchase an item in country A from merchant A' accepting currency A'', while you are in country B using bank B' with an account denominated in B''. The hurdles, generally, are numerous and diverse. Any lack of hurdles is quite exceptional, and completely dependent upon international agreements between nations, banks, and any number of permutations thereof. Instead, you could simply transact in BTC.

pallandt 13y ago
While I agree that it shouldn't be automatically assumed that someone who has bitcoins to spend will use them for illegal purposes, I'm curious as to what specific hurdles you encountered as mentioned in your post? In my country at least, if you want to purchase something online and in a different currency than your account and CC's denomination, the conversion is done automatically for you at checkout, at whatever the bank has set for the rate, usually a fair one. Works like this regardless of what store you buy from, could be in the U.S, Europe or somewhere else on the globe.
- aestra 13y ago
  Most US Companies charge a strangely large "currency conversion" fee for this privilege.
pbreit 13y ago
Credit cards work well in the situation you describe (if I understand it correctly).
- elzr 13y ago
  Credit cards & banking are much less distributed outside the developed world. While in the US, 63% of the 15+ population has a credit card, in Mexico it's barely 13% (in Latin America in general it's only 18%). This is a HUGE obstacle for e-commerce and bitcoin's cash-like, informality (no requisites, no need to register or be approved by a central entity) might allow it to spread where banks have so far been unable to. (Source World Bank Financial Inclusion Data http://datatopics.worldbank.org/financialinclusion/ http://datatopics.worldbank.org/financialinclusion/)
  - pakitan 13y ago
    Yes, you can see bitcoin is getting much better distributed in less developed countries: http://sourceforge.net/projects/bitcoin/files/stats/map http://sourceforge.net/projects/bitcoin/files/stats/map /sarcasm People in less developed countries don't buy online not because they don't have credit cards, they don't buy because they don't have money. If you make $5/day, bitcoin doesn't suddenly give you the ability to buy brand new iPhone.

antonios 13y ago

> ...no sense at all to use Bitcoins to purchase legal items in the vast majority of countries I'm speechless.

hdevalence 13y ago
Bitcoins can't be used to extinguish the tax obligations that arise from legal sales.
- jafaku 13y ago
  Should merchants stop exporting too, because foreign currencies can't be used for everything?
ceol 13y ago
If someone holding an opposing view to you leaves you speechless, it generally means you are indoctrinated in your belief and should reevaluate it.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

tommoor 13y ago

I would have thought zero fees would be reason enough, 2-3% extra on every transaction from a merchant point of view is very appealing

crassus 13y ago

It's a pure international currency. That's useful for customers without USD access.

ceol 13y ago

You made the BTC-zealots angry. Be careful; most of them have nothing to lose. Get it?