4 ms·

More pitiful, bullshit statistics out of BTC fairyland. PayPal currently processes 100 times as many transactions in a day as the Bitcoin network. 8 million [1]

by nly 13y ago

More pitiful, bullshit statistics out of BTC fairyland. PayPal currently processes 100 times as many transactions in a day as the Bitcoin network. 8 million [1], versus ~80,000 [2]. The difference is Bitcoin is averaging $17,000/transaction, at current market price, compared to PayPals ~$60. PayPal processes about $500M a day [2]. Even if Bitcoin was pegged at $1000, that's be equialent to ~500,000 coins being traded for USD in a day.... which is 10 times the average daily trading volume of the largest exchange, BTC China [3] ... and most are those are probably from market makers, whereas PayPals volume overwhelmingly reflects real purchases (30% is eBay, for instance). Whatever way you cut it, Bitcoin as an economy is still tiny. Like Gold perhaps [4], a large % of trade is pure investment. [1] https://www.paypal-media.com/about https://www.paypal-media.com/about [2] http://bitcoincharts.com/bitcoin/ http://bitcoincharts.com/bitcoin/ [3] http://bitcoincharts.com/markets/btcnCNY.html http://bitcoincharts.com/markets/btcnCNY.html [4] http://www.gold.org/investment/why_and_how/why_invest/demand_and_supply/ http://www.gold.org/investment/why_and_how/why_invest/demand...

MarcusVorenus 13y ago
80,000 are only transactions that are recorded in the blockchain, it doesn't take into account transactions that go through Bitpay, Coinbase, gambling sites, the Reddit bitcoin bot, etc.
- nly 13y ago
  Coinometrics provide no information on the source of their Bitcoin data. They quote "a metric calculating the average daily transaction volume on the Bitcoin protocol in US Dollars" Of the things you list, only Bitpay and Coinbase offer merchant services directly comparable to PayPal. If you have numbers for those, that'd be great. I'm keen to find quality metrics.
- seanalltogether 13y ago
  By definition, only transactions handled by the blockchain ARE bitcoin transactions, everything else is just secondary shuffling and would apply to any network that we would be comparing.
fat0wl 13y ago
The Bitcoin fantasy is spamming up HN so bad lately. I think soon I will have to ditch for r/programming. All their stats are wild distortions based on made up numbers. Until it is in widespread adoption as A CURRENCY, these stats all mean nothing. They can speculate the price up to whatever they want and trade at that price, it doesn't mean its worth that much. Only a major cashout or actual usage will provide some metric of Bitcoin's value and I think even then it will still be hard to peg. I hope it's dead before it gets to that point because the ecosystem as it stands now is very dangerous. It's just not sound theory for currency stabilization... it's good for a get-rich-quick fantasy, little more.
- fragsworth 13y ago
  > the ecosystem as it stands now is very dangerous I do agree that the Paypal number is a load of bullshit - because Paypal transactions are mostly between merchants and consumers, while Bitcoin transactions are often between users and themselves. That one $150 million transaction, which was likely someone moving stuff into their own wallet, nearly doubled the "transaction volume". However, I really think you're being overly negative.
  - fat0wl 13y ago
    No apologies, Bitcoin can rot. We as a society have the unique opportunity to reverse a pyramid scheme & foot black marketers with the bill, but instead everyone is just buying up more because "up up up and awayyyy it goes!!!". Because computers. Because cryptoooo. Because whatever-BS-notion-you-use-to-convince-yourself-that-the-ecosystem-is-so-valuable-it-has-an-insane-amount-of-subjective-worth-and-for-some-reason-subjectivity-is-now-esteemed. Because Litecoin isn't as hip. Instead, people are contributing massive amounts of money to the ecosystem where black marketers & the founders already have the upper hand (you're buying that one Bitcoin for $600 or w/e made up price it currently has been bid to, as opposed to their hoards). Even with your enlightened knowledge about "subjective value" you should realize that once you're in the same medium, their much bigger BTC# means a much bigger slice of the pie. But Bitcoiners believe the pie is infinite, right?

by nly 13y ago

MarcusVorenus 13y ago

80,000 are only transactions that are recorded in the blockchain, it doesn't take into account transactions that go through Bitpay, Coinbase, gambling sites, the Reddit bitcoin bot, etc.

nly 13y ago
Coinometrics provide no information on the source of their Bitcoin data. They quote "a metric calculating the average daily transaction volume on the Bitcoin protocol in US Dollars" Of the things you list, only Bitpay and Coinbase offer merchant services directly comparable to PayPal. If you have numbers for those, that'd be great. I'm keen to find quality metrics.
seanalltogether 13y ago
By definition, only transactions handled by the blockchain ARE bitcoin transactions, everything else is just secondary shuffling and would apply to any network that we would be comparing.

fat0wl 13y ago

The Bitcoin fantasy is spamming up HN so bad lately. I think soon I will have to ditch for r/programming. All their stats are wild distortions based on made up numbers. Until it is in widespread adoption as A CURRENCY, these stats all mean nothing. They can speculate the price up to whatever they want and trade at that price, it doesn't mean its worth that much. Only a major cashout or actual usage will provide some metric of Bitcoin's value and I think even then it will still be hard to peg. I hope it's dead before it gets to that point because the ecosystem as it stands now is very dangerous. It's just not sound theory for currency stabilization... it's good for a get-rich-quick fantasy, little more.

fragsworth 13y ago
> the ecosystem as it stands now is very dangerous I do agree that the Paypal number is a load of bullshit - because Paypal transactions are mostly between merchants and consumers, while Bitcoin transactions are often between users and themselves. That one $150 million transaction, which was likely someone moving stuff into their own wallet, nearly doubled the "transaction volume". However, I really think you're being overly negative.
- fat0wl 13y ago
  No apologies, Bitcoin can rot. We as a society have the unique opportunity to reverse a pyramid scheme & foot black marketers with the bill, but instead everyone is just buying up more because "up up up and awayyyy it goes!!!". Because computers. Because cryptoooo. Because whatever-BS-notion-you-use-to-convince-yourself-that-the-ecosystem-is-so-valuable-it-has-an-insane-amount-of-subjective-worth-and-for-some-reason-subjectivity-is-now-esteemed. Because Litecoin isn't as hip. Instead, people are contributing massive amounts of money to the ecosystem where black marketers & the founders already have the upper hand (you're buying that one Bitcoin for $600 or w/e made up price it currently has been bid to, as opposed to their hoards). Even with your enlightened knowledge about "subjective value" you should realize that once you're in the same medium, their much bigger BTC# means a much bigger slice of the pie. But Bitcoiners believe the pie is infinite, right?