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0 pointsbena7y ago0 comments

> fast enough. 15 minutes to validate a transaction is sufficient for a porn site.

And what happens in that 15 minutes? Does the user have access to the site in that time? If so, what happens when the transaction doesn't validate? Just lock out their access? Ok. You can download quite a bit in 15 minutes. And then you can just run another fraudulent transaction to regain access.

> - as certain as wiring money. There's no chance a customer can force money back from you once paid.

Which is great for actual fraud. Especially when you make it super easy to do. Like buying coins online and clicking a button.

You do realize the issue is that neither side of a payment fully trusts the other, right? We can't just pass the ball to whichever side when it's most convenient. Cash works because it's in person. You see me, I see you. I hand you cash, you hand me a product/perform a service.

> anonymous

Bitcoin is not anonymous. It's at best pseudonymous. Not to mention, if the bitcoin can reach you, you are reachable. It can be made difficult, but no matter what there has to be a path back to you in order for you to receive the coins.

And you are ignoring that crypto is incredibly volatile. I think bitcoin went from near $20,000 to $6000 in this year alone. Imagine losing 70% of your value just because. That that $5 you collected from Joe Shmoe in January became $1.50. It's why a lot of businesses started backing off of it. It's just too volatile to be used as a currency. And let's not pretend that there's any other crypto worth talking about other than bitcoin. Ethereum, Litecoin, BCH, etc all follow bitcoin.

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vortico7y ago

>And what happens in that 15 minutes?

They can beat off to a free site I guess. Nobody's in that much of a rush. In fact, most pay sites take a few minutes after a CC transaction is made because as the article suggests, their transaction passes through a number of middlemen. Most customers are in fact surprised when they can access a pay site immediately after closing the payment window. Most are happy to wait a few minutes for the email containing their password.

>You do realize the issue is that neither side of a payment fully trusts the other, right?

There are many reputable porn sites and many review websites and communities that support their reputation. The customer cannot be trusted by the website at all, but it is the norm, not the exception for the customer to trust the website.

>Bitcoin is not anonymous

Yes, but for this discussion, it is completely anonymous. Your wife cannot figure out the owner of the porn site's wallet ID. For all she knows, it's a pizza parlor.

>And you are ignoring that crypto is incredibly volatile

You're missing the point. In the day between when the Bitcoin arrives in someone's Coinbase account and when they purchase the subscription, the value is going to change less than 1%. At the end of the day, it's a USD -> USD transfer, just with much much lower overhead than 30-60% as described in the article.

benaOP7y ago

There is a huge difference between 1 minute and 15 minutes. And "use a free site" is not an acceptable alternative.

I'm talking about payments in general. In a transaction online, there is a certain level of distrust. Both sides are trying to verify to the other that they are legit.

> Yes, but for this discussion, it is completely anonymous.

Why not make credit card vendors completely understanding and customers completely trustworthy as well for the discussion? Then they can just use Visa.

> Your wife cannot figure out the owner of the porn site's wallet ID.

Bit sexist. Assuming that it's the man purchasing the porn and the wife isn't savvy enough to realize that either there's no damn pizza or that you paying pizza half with regular currency and half with bitcoin is just kind of dumb. And would effectively make it double the price since the charge on the card is the price of a normal pizza. If you're going to lie, do it right. Just say you invested a small amount. And when questioned later, say it tanked, good thing you only tested $100 or so. That might buy you 5 months of a site that charges a $20/mo subscription fee. After that, you're on your own.

> the value is going to change less than 1%

You hope. Bitcoin has dropped over $1000 in 1.5 hours. And you're ignoring the transaction fee of the payment and whatever the exchanges charge for cashing out. So you're looking at probably around 30 minutes turnaround from the customer saying "I will pay you" to you collecting any actual money.

slededit7y ago

You can check the balance of their BTC account. If the balance is there and the tx fee is high enough then there is a high probability the payment will post. Its a credit risk for sure, but for only a short period and the consequences of default are relatively benign.

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