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I still wonder why I as a buyer would choose to buy through coinbase rather than PayPal or just credit card. For sellers it is awesome and I know how bad PayPa

I still wonder why I as a buyer would choose to buy through coinbase rather than PayPal or just credit card. For sellers it is awesome and I know how bad PayPal is for sellers so I understand that. But as a buyer if I don't care about being anonymous why would I spend a currency that is deflating and has no safeguards or way to charge back when I could just use fiat, have safety and feel better knowing the money I just spent won't be worth 10% more tomorrow.

phoboslab 13y ago
Porn. Though I'm wondering why Bitcoin adoption in the porn industry still seems to be so slow. Usually they're the first to jump on new technology.
- laichzeit0 13y ago
  I want to laugh but you're absolutely right. Military and pornography applications are the driving forces behind any successful technology.
- leokun 13y ago
  Eh, if you're trying to be anonymous your ISP is still tracking what you are watching. If you run a proxy on a server somewhere that provider is tracking it. If you're using anonymizing software your connection will be slow, but that might work. Also the websites that provide the type of content you're referring to like to gauge people with expensive subscription costs and I'm not sure how you can set up a subscription service with bitcoin.
  - phoboslab 13y ago
    But it doesn't show up on your banking statements where your spouse could see it. The "felt anonymity" is much higher, imho.
    - acjohnson55 13y ago
      Yeah....instead it just shows you've bought BTC, and if your spouse is at all sophisticated, they probably assume you're using it for something shady.
- acangiano 13y ago
  Sexcoin. It's Bitcoin marketed at the porn industry. Its value ($0.10) will go greatly up, IMHO.
GrinningFool 13y ago
As a buyer, paypal is horrible too. Particularly when they conveniently decide to suspend the ability to immediately xfer payment out of a verified bank account, leaving you with a 3-5 day electronic check or signing up for "bill me later" as your only options for making a payment when your balance is 0. I'm sure it's all about fraud detection, and nothing to do with selling more people on "bill me later". "has no safeguards or way to charge back when I could just use fiat, have safety and feel better knowing the money I just spent won't be worth 10% more tomorrow." Indeed. This is what keeps me out of cryptocurrency. In spite of how crappy paypal is (or can be) for buyers.
goodside 13y ago
It doesn't matter that PayPal or credit cars are hypothetically more convenient for you as a consumer. The reason you don't buy with PayPal/CC is that nobody will sell to you. PayPal has explicit policies against buying virtual currencies and they will cancel your payment if it's brought to their attention, screwing the seller out of their Bitcoin. Similarly, credit card transactions will be reversed if later found to be fraudulent, and there's no way for the seller to be completely sure your card isn't stolen. So the status quo is that nobody sell Bitcoin for credit, and if anyone were to start they would be a lightning rod for CC thieves, since Bitcoin is by far the best thing to buy with stolen credit if you have the option.
- aestra 13y ago
  The parent wasn't asking why they can't buy bitcoins without paypal/CC, they were asking why they would use bitcoins to buy something instead of paypal/CC.
bdcs 13y ago
You can get a 3% discount by using Bitcoin: Coinbase (-1%) -> Gyft (+4%) -> Amazon/BurgerKing/Sears/GAP/Groupon All transactions have a ~3% credit card tax (even if you pay with cash). With Bitcoin, you can avoid this tax and get the discount. Try sending money to a family member in Africa, then understand why PayPal and credit card are bad. If you have qualms with bitcoins (the unit), then hold them for less than a minute and don't expose yourself to the exchange risk as you use the Bitcoin payment network to transfer value. Finally, Bitcoin is FAR FAR from anonymous, it is as public as it could possibly be (everybody everywhere has an index of every transaction!!). Thank you for your comments, I hope mine helped.
- Istof 13y ago
  but it is much safer to purchase your bitcoins with escrow, credit card or paypal.... 3% could be made back on a cryptocoin exchange in one day.

phoboslab 13y ago

Porn. Though I'm wondering why Bitcoin adoption in the porn industry still seems to be so slow. Usually they're the first to jump on new technology.

laichzeit0 13y ago
I want to laugh but you're absolutely right. Military and pornography applications are the driving forces behind any successful technology.
leokun 13y ago
Eh, if you're trying to be anonymous your ISP is still tracking what you are watching. If you run a proxy on a server somewhere that provider is tracking it. If you're using anonymizing software your connection will be slow, but that might work. Also the websites that provide the type of content you're referring to like to gauge people with expensive subscription costs and I'm not sure how you can set up a subscription service with bitcoin.
- phoboslab 13y ago
  But it doesn't show up on your banking statements where your spouse could see it. The "felt anonymity" is much higher, imho.
  - acjohnson55 13y ago
    Yeah....instead it just shows you've bought BTC, and if your spouse is at all sophisticated, they probably assume you're using it for something shady.
acangiano 13y ago
Sexcoin. It's Bitcoin marketed at the porn industry. Its value ($0.10) will go greatly up, IMHO.

GrinningFool 13y ago

As a buyer, paypal is horrible too. Particularly when they conveniently decide to suspend the ability to immediately xfer payment out of a verified bank account, leaving you with a 3-5 day electronic check or signing up for "bill me later" as your only options for making a payment when your balance is 0. I'm sure it's all about fraud detection, and nothing to do with selling more people on "bill me later". "has no safeguards or way to charge back when I could just use fiat, have safety and feel better knowing the money I just spent won't be worth 10% more tomorrow." Indeed. This is what keeps me out of cryptocurrency. In spite of how crappy paypal is (or can be) for buyers.

goodside 13y ago

It doesn't matter that PayPal or credit cars are hypothetically more convenient for you as a consumer. The reason you don't buy with PayPal/CC is that nobody will sell to you. PayPal has explicit policies against buying virtual currencies and they will cancel your payment if it's brought to their attention, screwing the seller out of their Bitcoin. Similarly, credit card transactions will be reversed if later found to be fraudulent, and there's no way for the seller to be completely sure your card isn't stolen. So the status quo is that nobody sell Bitcoin for credit, and if anyone were to start they would be a lightning rod for CC thieves, since Bitcoin is by far the best thing to buy with stolen credit if you have the option.

aestra 13y ago
The parent wasn't asking why they can't buy bitcoins without paypal/CC, they were asking why they would use bitcoins to buy something instead of paypal/CC.

bdcs 13y ago

You can get a 3% discount by using Bitcoin: Coinbase (-1%) -> Gyft (+4%) -> Amazon/BurgerKing/Sears/GAP/Groupon All transactions have a ~3% credit card tax (even if you pay with cash). With Bitcoin, you can avoid this tax and get the discount. Try sending money to a family member in Africa, then understand why PayPal and credit card are bad. If you have qualms with bitcoins (the unit), then hold them for less than a minute and don't expose yourself to the exchange risk as you use the Bitcoin payment network to transfer value. Finally, Bitcoin is FAR FAR from anonymous, it is as public as it could possibly be (everybody everywhere has an index of every transaction!!). Thank you for your comments, I hope mine helped.

Istof 13y ago
but it is much safer to purchase your bitcoins with escrow, credit card or paypal.... 3% could be made back on a cryptocoin exchange in one day.