(12-01-2013 07:21 PM)JayJuanGee Wrote:(12-01-2013 06:55 PM)JackDavey Wrote:Quote:Additionally, a 1% fee for immediate transfer does seem like a pretty high rate to cash out
To me, this seems like a good rate. Suppose I set up an online store for some product or service. Were I to use, say Stripe to process credit card payments, I'd pay a fee of 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.
I'm sure there are other services, though, which may have better rates, both for credit cards and for Bitcoin. The above was just an example of a bitcoin payment processor in answer to your question.
A better idea would be to accept Bitcoin payments and have software which routes them, in whole or in part, to your wallet on an exchange and places an immediate sell order at the best market rate. The exchange fees are considerably lower, from what I have seen: 0.5% on bitstamp, 0.3% on kraken, and these decrease with the volume of trading that you do, if I understand correctly.
Honestly, this might all be irrelevant if you simply are looking to make periodic investments long term. But it's something to think about as far as the potential for Bitcoin to be useful as a currency with minimal risk.
JackD: I appreciate your various explanations of different processing options.
I certainly would NOT poo poo a 1% charge, if that is clearly going to get me out of something quickly and I am set up for such exiting, yet a problem is that I am still learning and building my portfolio, so I am in NO position to be attempting to make quick profit turn overs. I agree that 1% is NOT necessarily bad, if a guy is in a position to cash out - especially, if he had been in for a while and ready to quickly take profits
For example, a guy who may have bought 100 BTC at less than $100 may want to cash out when the market reached $1200. Coinbase is only going to allow 10 BTC per day, so it would take 10 days to cash out through Coinbase.
Additionally, NO matter what the service that a guy uses, he needs to be aware of various exit strategies that are available to him and the various fees and how quickly the money is going to show up and whether he thinks that he can get away with claiming it on his taxes. Again, as you read my intentions correctly, I am planning at least a few months to ride out the volatility - NOT day trading and/or even short-term trading - unless the market atmosphere dramatically changes in some direction that I had NOT anticipated... At this point, we are just getting back and forth hype.. which I already knew that coming in, and if the market is up and down for hype, then I am just staying in. On the other hand, if there is some big news or legislation.. that may cause me to rethink, and possibly to cut my losses..
(12-04-2013 01:04 AM)Emancipator Wrote: JayJuanGee I think you're confusing Coinbase's merchant options with its options for regular personal individuals.
Right now I'm incorporating BitPay as a payment processor and I can either have my received balance payed out in btc to my wallet or in fiat to my bank account.
No fees, 30$ /month
(12-04-2013 02:32 AM)JayJuanGee Wrote: Do any of you guys believe that there is any advantage to having credit card verification on Coinbase? if so, what is that? If NOT, why NOT?
(12-04-2013 10:50 AM)pants Wrote: Although I am not sure what their motivation for mBTC is, I can se several benefits.
- More practical to talk about 1mBTC for a coke, than 0.001BTC. After all, what we want is bitcoin to catch on as a valid widely spread payment system.
-Shows the general public a bitcoin is dividable. Many people think one bitcoin is to expensive, this way they can see its possible to buy part of a bitcoin.
- More peoiple wanting to invest money for a mBTC. Theres something psychological about paying x amount for 100 of something than x amount for 0.1.
(12-04-2013 07:29 AM)JackDavey Wrote:(12-04-2013 02:32 AM)JayJuanGee Wrote: Do any of you guys believe that there is any advantage to having credit card verification on Coinbase? if so, what is that? If NOT, why NOT?
Verifying a credit card is necessary in order to make instant purchases.
(12-04-2013 04:40 AM)Maciano Wrote: I'm sure there will be many different apllications
Even if bitcoin doesn't outcompete Western Union, it extends money transfer services to a whole new level. That would extend the current market immensely.
(12-04-2013 05:26 PM)Grit Wrote: Yeah that shit is going to catch on like a wildfire if you can claim to own 'microBits' 'milliBits' 'nanoBits' etc. sounds like the perfect combo of futuristic geek avant gardeKick ass
(12-04-2013 04:40 AM)Maciano Wrote: I just thought of the best investment in bitcoin for the short term: the guys who work on the bitcoin ATM.Maciano I been reading about this BTC ATMs and I know it's possible to order one for $5000. I been considering it however I was think about what the total cost would be. Behind the cost of the ATM it's also costs to put BTC and fiat in it, cost to have space in a good location, cost for security, possible cost the government and probably a lot more. Did you think anything about this and in that case what was you conclusion?
BitPay & CoinBase are important for merchants, but the Bitcoin ATM is what will make bitcoin great in another very profound way.
Let's say you have country A (Belgium) where quite a bit of Congolese/Rwandese immigrants/refugees live who want to send money to relatives in country B (Congo). They can just change cash for bitcoin and send it directly to B. Now remember this: Moneygram & Western Union offer the same service. It just takes longer (red-tape), has a risk premium (10% of total amount is annexed) & is less safe by definition, because there are many people in between who have to be trusted with large sums of money. Bitcoin beats Western Union on three accounts, but also offers more privacy, doesn't need to be exchanged per se & increases in value (thnx to de facto deflationary effect). (I'd highly recommend people to short stocks of money transfer businesses the next years..)
Other:
- Bitcoin's fungibility also makes it more attractive to send small remittances. This is impractical w/ money transfer businesses, because of all the regulatory work & fees attached to it.
- This would also be very usable if you want to donate cash money to charities, people or organisations who are politically persecuted (worldwide).
- The Bitcoin ATM is also used on airports for tourists/business people to exchange leftover foreign valuta to bitcoin.
- You would have an alternative to credit cards in foreign countries.
I'm sure there will be many different apllications
Even if bitcoin doesn't outcompete Western Union, it extends money transfer services to a whole new level. That would extend the current market immensely.
(12-05-2013 03:44 AM)phoenix101 Wrote: Yikes, let's see how much damage China's statement does...I knew the China hype would end up being smoke and ashes however there are enough people around to fuel this for much longer or see it in another incarnation down the line.
... (12-05-2013 04:22 AM)JayJuanGee Wrote: I DO NOT see any problems in the long term values of bitcoin system with China making statements about more regulations and protections.. etc etc. etc.... they have to say those kinds of things...b/c otherwise the USA and its banking systems are going to crack down hard on this whole Bitcoin system.
(12-05-2013 07:41 AM)Pyre Wrote:(12-05-2013 04:22 AM)JayJuanGee Wrote: I DO NOT see any problems in the long term values of bitcoin system with China making statements about more regulations and protections.. etc etc. etc.... they have to say those kinds of things...b/c otherwise the USA and its banking systems are going to crack down hard on this whole Bitcoin system.
"I fought the law and the law won"
Governments are doing everything they can to end bitcoin.
At this point in the game, it's a losing proposition for the individual. The individual is no match for all the world governments no matter how much they want.
Maybe sometime in the future, but today's bitcoin system is not going to upend the world's currency situation.
(12-05-2013 01:02 PM)JayJuanGee Wrote:(12-05-2013 07:41 AM)Pyre Wrote:(12-05-2013 04:22 AM)JayJuanGee Wrote: I DO NOT see any problems in the long term values of bitcoin system with China making statements about more regulations and protections.. etc etc. etc.... they have to say those kinds of things...b/c otherwise the USA and its banking systems are going to crack down hard on this whole Bitcoin system.
"I fought the law and the law won"
Governments are doing everything they can to end bitcoin.
At this point in the game, it's a losing proposition for the individual. The individual is no match for all the world governments no matter how much they want.
Maybe sometime in the future, but today's bitcoin system is not going to upend the world's currency situation.
Pyre:
Since Bitcoin is very much a moving target - that continues to be up and down more than 20% on nearly a daily basis, my thought on the topic are still moving around about Bitcoin b/c of these volatility influences and my learning about the Bitcoin system as I am investing into it.
Whether I am late to the game or early or middle, remains unclear, at this time.
At this time, I agree with you that there are a lot of government entities and finanicial institutions that are working to undermine Bitcoin. There is also some behind the scenes entities working to buttress the system - and yes, quite a few of those behind the scenes entities are recently rich rather than more established or longer rich institutions, such as governments. In this regard, we need to watch what China and it people are doing regarding this investment, rather than what they are saying.
In part for the reasons above, I am disinclined to agree with your current prognosis for Bitcoin.
At this point, are you IN Bitcoin at all? Are you playing Bitcoin at all for the short term? You are generally predicting NOT likely for the long-term - though possible. Accordingly, are you IN at all for the long term, and if so, how much and how?
Regarding the ATM discussion, it seems that someone who is already set up for trading, would be in a good position to set up a Bitcoin ATM - buying and selling at set rates that are profitable. He would set up a buying and sales algorithm that would protect his assets, and since one ATM could only process so many transactions - 30-50 per hour at the most. Just like banks tend to NOT have deposit limits, they have daily withdrawal limits.
Accordingly, if the guy already has 50 bit coins, then he would automatically set his sales rates, daily limits so that the price reflect that he would never fall below a certain balance of coins. In that regard, the rates and limits would be different, if his coin quantity were to go down to 20 coins or even 5 coins. No matter what, he sets the buy and the sell rates to maintain profits and to ensure protection of principle. Through the algorithm, the ATM could also be set up to automatically refill from purchases from outside instant pay entities, such as coinbase - which also would affect the buy/sell rate and daily limit at the ATM, but be set up to ensure profits.
Locating the Bitcoin ATM in an area of already existing ATMs is a good way to piggy back off of the security infrastructure already in place.