Bitcoins

Actually, in many countries with paypal you have to pay a 3.9% fee to "receive" the funds internationally, AND a withdrawal fee to withdraw, just fyi. Also, the the difference between a 3% fee and a 3.9% fee is nearly 25%. And the M-PESA fees appear to be higher. As for your other speculative arguments, I could just as easily speculate in the other direction -- maybe they can charge 3% because they're still the only bitcoin-based game in town and they still have competitive advantage over other options, and maybe if other bitcoin-based competitors open up shop they'll be forced to go cheaper.

Not saying you're definitely wrong, but the infrastructure of the bitcoin transfer itself is immensely cheaper than the infrastructure behind a traditional money-transfer, so the only question is whether the costs on either end cancel that savings out.

sry, MORE THAN 25%. It's actually 30%, to be exact.

Not saying you're definitely wrong, but the infrastructure of the bitcoin transfer itself is immensely cheaper than the infrastructure behind a traditional money-transfer, so the only question is whether the costs on either end cancel that savings out.

― signed, J.P. Morgan CEO (Hurting 2), Thursday, January 23, 2014 12:37 PM (31 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it would be kind of fun to have a discussion about bitcoiin but this sort of total belief in something you clearly know nothing about (not that any of us is an expert) is why nothing youre saying is landing with anyone itt fwiw

and like just general willful ignorance of business, do you really think paypal, a business that produced multiple millioares, couldnt cut its rates to compete

multiple billionaires sry

i mean omg a 30% difference from an imaginary company what will paypal ever do

lol if it really was this unstoppable new technology they could just make their own internal bitcoin that like actual worked

Lagoon, honestly this is a headsmackingly obvious point, like it's kind of incomprehensible to me that you are even arguing over the bolded part of that sentence. I could send you any amount of bitcoin that I owned (for the record, I own none), right now, at no cost, anywhere in the world, instantaneously. There's basically no infrastructure involved except the internet itself. I could not do the same thing, directly, with USD or any other currency.

Like you really seem to think that computers just allow you to beam money directly from point A to ponit B, like you are so used to making online payments that you think the money is just going in one end of the internet and out the other.

"Paypal could just lower fees to compete" lol, so any time a business has a cheaper way to do something, it doesn't matter, because the business with higher costs to do the same thing will just lower their fees to compete. Interesting take on capitalism.

Like you really seem to think that computers just allow you to beam money directly from point A to ponit B, like you are so used to making online payments that you think the money is just going in one end of the internet and out the other.

― signed, J.P. Morgan CEO (Hurting 2), Thursday, January 23, 2014 1:17 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

im sorry to have to break this to you but thats how it works, the costs associated with running paypal are not those of beaming money all over the wold

its all 100% automated just like bitcoin

also like i said if there are somehow huge saving in one form of automation over the other it would be trivial for paypal to build their own internal bitcoin that actually works

Like you really seem to think that computers just allow you to beam money directly from point A to ponit B, like you are so used to making online payments that you think the money is just going in one end of the internet and out the other.

― signed, J.P. Morgan CEO (Hurting 2), Thursday, January 23, 2014 1:17 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this depiction of me as some button pushing rube that implies you as the knowledgeable counterpart is so ridiculous, you shd goto reddit where theyve got all this stuff totally figured out

like you literally have no idea what the costs associated with moving money around the world are, you should start by admiting that, then try to build an argument from there

can't you guys see that this bitcoin beef is tearing us apart

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/jan/30/africans-pay-most-send-money

average cost of remittance paid btw Tanzania and Kenya is 22%. But no problem, the established players in that market will just lower their fees to 3% to compete. NBD.

I could send you any amount of bitcoin that I owned (for the record, I own none), right now, at no cost, anywhere in the world, instantaneously.

don't you have to 'tip' someone to verify though

Maybe you should go set up a service in Tanzania and Kenya. Charge like 15% -- you'd undercut the competition and make a killing. I'm sure it barely costs anything to start such an operation, you just need computers so you can send money back and forth.

average cost of remittance paid btw Tanzania and Kenya is 22%. But no problem, the established players in that market will just lower their fees to 3% to compete. NBD.

― signed, J.P. Morgan CEO (Hurting 2), Thursday, January 23, 2014 1:42 PM (12 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

like i already totally explained upthread bitcoin is not competing with that, its competing with the other internet based services, i mean its not competing with anything at all right now, its non functional, paypal et al work

And all I ever said that it was possible that it could be competitive in the future.

im sure there are already millions of people all over the world getting remittance via the net and avoiding those fee but that requires the infrastructure that bitcoin also requites

they don't get remittances "via the net" they get them via a service via the net, a service that requires a lot more infrastructure to do a transfer than bitcoin does

im sure there are people who have the internet and computers who are taking advantage of internet service like paypal in just the same way you or i would

we are going in circles here

soon via the penetration of smart phones thn number of people who can do that will be pretty much all of them, there wont be any storefront money wirer nessisary

circles round the coin

poll which one of you is being trolled rn

hurting owns bitcoins is my working theory

Total speculation, but I'd say there's at least a 50/50 chance Bitcoin (or another crypto-currency like it) survives in some form. I wouldn't buy Bitcoins as an investment though.

i cld see the technology of bitcoin being useful and even crypto currencies surviving in the gray/black market but its a non starter as a major consumer tool imo

I own zero bitcoins

dogecoins?

umm...with regard to dogecoins...HEY LOOK OVER THERE!

you have to throw the stick

http://lh5.ggpht.com/RuY2VEJLX2UuilVj2-xYIpv1wcvDzx_hy5zP0cX8Ize079WcEQsNggARrpguRc-TmACLo_RjnetCXNVSN51ovjrGqPWHAfgZPlbn%3Ds630

the ole hurting gives a TED talk while lagoon heckles from the back row routine

http://ariannasimpson.com/post/74400025051/this-is-what-its-like-to-be-a-woman-at-a-bitcoin

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-01-27/men-tied-to-silk-road-bitcoin-exchange-subject-of-u-dot-s-dot-charges

Kind of surprised Bharara went after this guy, seems like a stretch. Maybe he wants to press him for info.

http://business.time.com/2014/01/27/bitinstant-ceo-charlie-shrem-arrested-for-alleged-money-laundering/

Russia Bans Bitcoin

The Central Bank of Russia reiterated that the official currency is the Ruble, and that it considers Bitcoin a money surrogate. That’s why the cryptocurrency should be aboided

Interesting. Mt. Gox now claiming that the problems that took it offline are related to a flaw in the Bitcoin protocol itself:

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/02/10/bitcoin-exchange-struggles/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

The ultimate win for the future is for people to just stop using currency in general and everyone just gets food and shelter and things and we throw away our wealth hoarding consumerist culture - like in Star Trek

Anyway I'm not sure why people think bitcoin is really any different than something like frequent flyer miles or something - anything can have value right? Havent people used things like shells for currency? Money is an idea we all believe in - but more and more it seems like technology is helping some people hoard more and more of it

This is the best (somewhat technical) explanation of what's going on that I've been able to find:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1x93tf/some_irc_chatter_about_what_is_going_on_at_mtgox/cf99yac

Things are getting interesting in Bitcoinland:

http://www.coindesk.com/massive-concerted-attack-launched-bitcoin-exchanges/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CoinDesk+%28CoinDesk+-+The+Voice+of+Digital+Currency%29

John LawMod> Scott Bateman
•an hour ago
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John Law simply shrugs his shoulders and buys more digicoins with his morning paper.

8 △ 1 ▽

How many digicoins is your morning paper worth?

anyone into dogecoins?

good domain name for magic the gathering soon to be available

http://i.imgur.com/kvzCnG8.jpg