3 ms·

You mean, "Wikimedia now uses Coinbase as another payment provider to collect US currency for donations"?

hayksaakian 12y ago
Imagine they accepted Japanese Yen instead of Bitcoin. They would still convert it to USD, but would your opinion still make sense?
- runeks 12y ago
  When I used to donate previously, my DKK were converted to USD. But I still use DKK every day.
dublinben 12y ago
It's that you can donate in BTC that matters, not that they're exchanging it for USD.
- onestone 12y ago
  It matters. Automatically exchanging large amounts of BTC for USD creates a downward pressure on the BTC exchange rate. Organizations which truly support Bitcoin would choose to keep it.
  - MarcusVorenus 12y ago
    Baby steps. Maybe an employee will ask to be paid partly in BTC which I'm sure they'll be happy to oblige to avoid the conversion fees.
  - mrb 12y ago
    If what you said was true the exchange rate would have collapsed in the last 2 years (BitPay and Coinbase accumulated 60,000+ merchants who began accepting Bitcoin over the last 2 years and most of them automatically convert BTC to USD). But instead, the exchange rate rose from $10 to $580: http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/bitstampUSD#rg730ztgSzm1g10zm2g25zl http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/bitstampUSD#rg730ztgSzm1g10z... Why? Because as Bitcoin is accepted in more and more places, it increases its subjective value, so more and more people are looking to get some bitcoins, which counterbalances the downward selling pressure.
    - onestone 12y ago
      I'm not sure why you disagree. Of course there are multiple factors and some of them counterbalance. And of course what I mentioned is just one of these factors.
    - farmdve 12y ago
      The price rose primarily because of the Willy bot, aka Mark Karpeles artificially inflating the price. Read the willy report.
      - freework 12y ago
        Willy wasn't the only reason bitcoin bubbled a few months ago
      - mrb 12y ago
        You cannot claim the current ~$600 level is still due to Willy. Willy stopped running 6 months ago, so the market has already corrected itself by now.
  - spikyobjects 12y ago
    Organizations which truly support Bitcoin would choose to spend it, not hoard it.
    - onestone 12y ago
      Spend it for products or services - sure. Immediately exchange all of it for a fiat currency - not so much.

Imagine they accepted Japanese Yen instead of Bitcoin. They would still convert it to USD, but would your opinion still make sense?

runeks 12y ago
When I used to donate previously, my DKK were converted to USD. But I still use DKK every day.

dublinben 12y ago

It's that you can donate in BTC that matters, not that they're exchanging it for USD.

onestone 12y ago
It matters. Automatically exchanging large amounts of BTC for USD creates a downward pressure on the BTC exchange rate. Organizations which truly support Bitcoin would choose to keep it.
- MarcusVorenus 12y ago
  Baby steps. Maybe an employee will ask to be paid partly in BTC which I'm sure they'll be happy to oblige to avoid the conversion fees.
- mrb 12y ago
  If what you said was true the exchange rate would have collapsed in the last 2 years (BitPay and Coinbase accumulated 60,000+ merchants who began accepting Bitcoin over the last 2 years and most of them automatically convert BTC to USD). But instead, the exchange rate rose from $10 to $580: http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/bitstampUSD#rg730ztgSzm1g10zm2g25zl http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/bitstampUSD#rg730ztgSzm1g10z... Why? Because as Bitcoin is accepted in more and more places, it increases its subjective value, so more and more people are looking to get some bitcoins, which counterbalances the downward selling pressure.
  - onestone 12y ago
    I'm not sure why you disagree. Of course there are multiple factors and some of them counterbalance. And of course what I mentioned is just one of these factors.
  - farmdve 12y ago
    The price rose primarily because of the Willy bot, aka Mark Karpeles artificially inflating the price. Read the willy report.
    - freework 12y ago
      Willy wasn't the only reason bitcoin bubbled a few months ago
    - mrb 12y ago
      You cannot claim the current ~$600 level is still due to Willy. Willy stopped running 6 months ago, so the market has already corrected itself by now.
- spikyobjects 12y ago
  Organizations which truly support Bitcoin would choose to spend it, not hoard it.
  - onestone 12y ago
    Spend it for products or services - sure. Immediately exchange all of it for a fiat currency - not so much.