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Bitcoin could revolutionize the foundation of the world's economy with a piece of software some guy wrote in a few months. You'd figure that would be the kind o
by crassus 13y ago
Bitcoin could revolutionize the foundation of the world's economy with a piece of software some guy wrote in a few months. You'd figure that would be the kind of thing that hackers would get excited about, as opposed to social-sharing startups (which are just a replacement for reality TV)
- redblacktree 13y agoI think it's just that most folks can't yet imagine that Bitcoin is really going to revolutionize anything. For now, it's interesting speculation. It's really hard to see, for example, getting paid in BTC, or buying gas in BTC.
- fragsworth 13y agoBut I think it's easy to see paying for something in USD, and using BTC as the means of transfer. Customer USD -> Customer BTC -> transfer -> Vendor BTC -> Vendor USD
- Nursie 13y agoYay! 3 layers of fees!
- vbuterin 13y agoCustomer USD -> Customer BTC: 1% + $0.15 (Coinbase) Customer BTC -> Merchant BTC: $0.06 (transaction fees, currently abnormally high due to price spike) Merchant BTC -> Merchant USD: 0.99% (Bitpay) Total: 1.99% + $0.24 Compare: credit cards and Paypal (2.9% + $0.30) So even there it works out fine.
- Nursie 13y agoIt's hardly the fee-free utopia though is it? And I can already transfer to other individuals for no charge.
- Tuna-Fish 13y agoThe mere possibility of doing it is much more important than the lack of fees. > And I can already transfer to other individuals for no charge. Within your own country/a few other countries like it. Transferring money across borders, especially outside the west is quite a bit harder than you'd think.
- fiesycal 13y agoDon't forget to include the fee's from an unstable method of exchange (bitcoin) depreciating or appreciating between the times you exchange it for USD.
- fragsworth 13y agoBitpay assumes the volatility risk for customers and merchants, and charges at most 1% for their cheapest platform, so none of this is really an issue - is it?
- fiesycal 13y agoBitpay is when the customer pays in bitcoin. But to get bitcoin you still need to exchange for USD somewhere. And that's where the cost of exchange risk comes in.
- Nursie 13y agoI, for one, will be very sad if it does revolutionise the foundation of any economies, because deflation is bad and creating a new aristocracy from a few BTC hoarders is also not something I consider useful. Crypto-currency good. Bitcoin not so much.
- Houshalter 13y agoSome people getting rich of bitcoin doesn't make everyone else worse off. And a "new aristocracy" is a huge stretch. A few people will get rich off it but not like that. And the value of bitcoin won't deflate forever. Eventually the price will stabilize.
- Jtsummers 13y agoWhen will the price stabilize? Serious question, I can't figure it out. What conditions would need to be present for the bitcoin economy to be stable so that prices of goods/services are consistent over extended periods of time? Do you mean that deflation will actually end or that the rate of deflation will be reduced from its current excessive rate (from a currency standpoint, as a commodity/investment it's great)?
- Nursie 13y agoIf you view a change in currency as fundamentally pretty useless, then yes, giving massive amounts of financial control of resources and labour(which is what money represents) to people with BTC hoarded does indeed take away from others. And if BTC were to become (for instance) a primary currency for a country, and that country were to experience economic growth, then deflation must necessarily continue.
- nazgulnarsil 13y agocircumventing capital controls allowing people to vote with their feet and impoverish corrupt governments is not useless.
- 13y ago