Bitcoin Is an Expensive Way to Pay for Stuff

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-02/bitcoin-is-an-expensive-way-to-pay-for-stuff.html

by minimax • 13 years ago

9 3 13 years ago

The current cost to send a Bitcoin transaction is about 35 cents.

In contrast, if you have a credit card merchant account (if you can even get one...) you will pay 3-7% in fees, plus often a 10% rolling reserve. This isn't counting the additional costs and risks associated with chargebacks.

This is why businesses who accept Bitcoin are often willing to drop the price by 10-15% for those who pay using that method.

IMAGINE -- 10-15% lower prices! Yet somehow Bitcoin is "expensive" ??

Nothing could possibly be more expensive, and more of a hassle, than the current legacy banking and credit card system, which functions as a massive tax on every transaction today.

Bitcoin is often accused of "wasting resources" but the work of the miners is what secures the transactions, and the balances, and the individual liberty, at a much lower cost than the legacy banking alternatives.

rhc2104• 13 years ago

To be fair, a better comparison would be with debit card transactions, which are 21 cents plus .05%.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/story...

FellowTraveler2• 13 years ago

Most of the time, when your CC merchant account is processing cards, they ARE debit cards, but they are being processed through the VISA or Mastercard system, and to the merchant, the distinction is irrelevant.

Bitcoin Is an Expensive Way to Pay for Stuff

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