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What a fantastic product page. After less that 30 seconds, I knew exactly what Stripe was doing with Bitcoin, how to use the new feature and integrate it. This

What a fantastic product page. After less that 30 seconds, I knew exactly what Stripe was doing with Bitcoin, how to use the new feature and integrate it. This is great news for Bitcoin. If all it takes is one extra line of code for online retailers to start accepting the currency, widespread adoption could sky rocket. That's always been Bitcoin's crutch, simple integration. Others like Coinbase and Bitpay have made it much easier to accept Bitcoin, but usually more services are required to accept other forms of payment. This simple catch-all solution is a game-changer. Congratulations Stripe.

lukasm 12y ago
Actually, I disagree. I prefer video. I can always rewind to read it, pause if I'm distracted and it's very small text on my phone.
- icehawk219 12y ago
  I agree. If you insist on having it be animated make it a video. I'd actually just prefer a few screenshots showing the key things that I can go back and forth between so I don't have to sit and watch something that could be summed up in 3 or 4 slides that are digested in a few seconds.
  - ssmoot 12y ago
    Ditto. Too fast. For me this isn't an exemplar of effective communication. It's a complete failure to deliver whatever that animation was trying to communicate because I only got 1 second each to absorb the text and the slide. Maybe I'm just slow, but a few stacked section tags with the same information presented statically would've been so much more effective. Javascript for it's own sake, hampering effective communication; it's the Flash splash page all over again.
- general_failure 12y ago
  I agree as well. The animation was way too fast for me.
patrickaljord 12y ago
I think the crutch now is not that it's hard to acquire bitcoins (thanks to coinbase and friends) or pay with bitcoin (thanks to stripe and friends), no, the only crutch is why should I buy bitcoins with my dollars when I can just pay with my dollars directly? It can be useful for people who either don't have access to credit cards but have access to bitcoins, people who already have a lot of bitcoins and curious tech people.
- deweller 12y ago
  > should I buy bitcoins with my dollars when I can just pay with my dollars directly? Cheaper fees (0.5% vs 2.9%) can be potentially passed on to consumers. And anonymity.
  - jkyle 12y ago
    Cash is as anonymous as it gets.
    - tree_of_item 12y ago
      How do you pay with cash on the internet? You need some sort of card.
      - cdbajorin 12y ago
        Gift cards purchased with cash.
      - LamaOfRuin 12y ago
        You purchase a prepaid debit card with cash.
        grubles 12y ago
        In a store with cameras.
        12y ago
ssharp 12y ago
While this may be helpful, I can't see it being a game-changer at all. Have retailers like NewEgg or Overstock seen any sort of drastic revenue increases or activity from accepting Bitcoin? The problems with Bitcoin are almost entirely on the acquiring -side and not spending side. Getting a Bitcoin is a PITA and I don't think the demand from most consumers is there to overcome the pain. The game-changer for Bitcoin will be when someone answers the question: "Why should I switch from paying with my credit card to Bitcoin?" with something compelling.
- jusben1369 12y ago
  I think Bitcoin is the Linux of payments. Everyone always talked about the potential to completely change the desktop (consumer use) but the real impact was the network/backend (Sun/NT machines) So Bitcoin is exciting to me but not as a payment method. But as a backbone it gets really interesting.
  - Joeboy 12y ago
    I like the analogy, but not being a finance person I have no idea - is Bitcoin particularly compelling "as a backbone"?
    - Karunamon 12y ago
      Less bitcoin itself, but the blockchain technology that backs the currency has a number of novel uses. The idea of a public, cryptographically secure and verifiable ledger could be used in everything from voting to domain name registration.
      - doubledub 12y ago
        Your reply is the most valuable & important response of this entire conversation so far. Thank you for saving my faith in the HN community.
    - aminok 12y ago
      For international fund transfers, yes. It doesn't require using correspondent banks. It's a direct, point-to-point transfer of value.
cs702 12y ago
Difficulty of integration is not the main thing holding back Bitcoin adoption. The main thing holding Bitcoin from being adopted more broadly today is that many consumers who are aware of it don't think it will be adopted more broadly! Even in the HN community (which has a high concentration of early adopters of new technology), there are a lot of folks who don't think it will be adopted more broadly, as evidenced by the comments on this thread.

lukasm 12y ago

Actually, I disagree. I prefer video. I can always rewind to read it, pause if I'm distracted and it's very small text on my phone.

icehawk219 12y ago
I agree. If you insist on having it be animated make it a video. I'd actually just prefer a few screenshots showing the key things that I can go back and forth between so I don't have to sit and watch something that could be summed up in 3 or 4 slides that are digested in a few seconds.
- ssmoot 12y ago
  Ditto. Too fast. For me this isn't an exemplar of effective communication. It's a complete failure to deliver whatever that animation was trying to communicate because I only got 1 second each to absorb the text and the slide. Maybe I'm just slow, but a few stacked section tags with the same information presented statically would've been so much more effective. Javascript for it's own sake, hampering effective communication; it's the Flash splash page all over again.
general_failure 12y ago
I agree as well. The animation was way too fast for me.

patrickaljord 12y ago

I think the crutch now is not that it's hard to acquire bitcoins (thanks to coinbase and friends) or pay with bitcoin (thanks to stripe and friends), no, the only crutch is why should I buy bitcoins with my dollars when I can just pay with my dollars directly? It can be useful for people who either don't have access to credit cards but have access to bitcoins, people who already have a lot of bitcoins and curious tech people.

deweller 12y ago
> should I buy bitcoins with my dollars when I can just pay with my dollars directly? Cheaper fees (0.5% vs 2.9%) can be potentially passed on to consumers. And anonymity.
- jkyle 12y ago
  Cash is as anonymous as it gets.
  - tree_of_item 12y ago
    How do you pay with cash on the internet? You need some sort of card.
    - cdbajorin 12y ago
      Gift cards purchased with cash.
    - LamaOfRuin 12y ago
      You purchase a prepaid debit card with cash.
      - grubles 12y ago
        In a store with cameras.
        12y ago

ssharp 12y ago

While this may be helpful, I can't see it being a game-changer at all. Have retailers like NewEgg or Overstock seen any sort of drastic revenue increases or activity from accepting Bitcoin? The problems with Bitcoin are almost entirely on the acquiring -side and not spending side. Getting a Bitcoin is a PITA and I don't think the demand from most consumers is there to overcome the pain. The game-changer for Bitcoin will be when someone answers the question: "Why should I switch from paying with my credit card to Bitcoin?" with something compelling.

jusben1369 12y ago
I think Bitcoin is the Linux of payments. Everyone always talked about the potential to completely change the desktop (consumer use) but the real impact was the network/backend (Sun/NT machines) So Bitcoin is exciting to me but not as a payment method. But as a backbone it gets really interesting.
- Joeboy 12y ago
  I like the analogy, but not being a finance person I have no idea - is Bitcoin particularly compelling "as a backbone"?
  - Karunamon 12y ago
    Less bitcoin itself, but the blockchain technology that backs the currency has a number of novel uses. The idea of a public, cryptographically secure and verifiable ledger could be used in everything from voting to domain name registration.
    - doubledub 12y ago
      Your reply is the most valuable & important response of this entire conversation so far. Thank you for saving my faith in the HN community.
  - aminok 12y ago
    For international fund transfers, yes. It doesn't require using correspondent banks. It's a direct, point-to-point transfer of value.

cs702 12y ago

Difficulty of integration is not the main thing holding back Bitcoin adoption. The main thing holding Bitcoin from being adopted more broadly today is that many consumers who are aware of it don't think it will be adopted more broadly! Even in the HN community (which has a high concentration of early adopters of new technology), there are a lot of folks who don't think it will be adopted more broadly, as evidenced by the comments on this thread.