Closed domtancredi closed 8 years ago
kellyelton
commented
11 years ago I suppose I have nothing against bitcoins, I heard they crashed in value not that long ago. My concerns about that are "how do I pay Amazon for the server bills with bitcoin" or pay for anything else for that matter? It would seem you'd have to sell the coins using an exchange site in some for of automated way and keep track of the value of a bit coin as it fluctuates.
BenMatteson
commented
11 years ago well, before the boom they were <$30 a piece, (<$10 even not that long ago) and the boom took them to ~$260 and the crash still left them at ~$115. so it's all relative. I'm not sure of the status of the most popular exchange in the US (mtgox) as they recently had some assets seized by the government not long ago, but the seem to still be operating. but I know they at least have a checkout button, much like a paypal button as far as I can tell, that allows you to just specify a price in USD (or whatever currency you choose) and can auto-sell incoming bitcoins. so it could be pretty easy actually.
kellyelton
commented
11 years ago The question becomes then, why are the exchange site getting shut down, and do I want to take bit coins if I can't redeem them? Also, seems like it might be kind of hard to make a subscription model around something like that.
BenMatteson
commented
11 years ago oh, apparently it was from accounts they have with another service? but apparently nobody's really sure what's going on at the moment, so I'd say holding off would be a good call. you cold still offer month to month, and pre-paying couldn't you? (when all this blow's over of course) and as I mentioned, you can have the BTC auto-sell to a specified currency, so you'd only have to deal with getting money from the service, you'd never have to touch a bitcoin. and you could check the non-US-based exchanges too, they seem to be better off right now, you'd just have to see if they have a button you can set up, etc.
domtancredi
commented
11 years ago Ben is correct.
There have been fluctuations in the market, and as of this posting, they've been listed ~120 right now on Mt Gox, and there are several exchange sites available for changing into USD or other currencies CampBX, etc.
There's a few reasons to accept them, for either the yearly model or month to month subscription:
2.Marketing: Exposure to the growing bitcoin community who are looking to spend and support businesses who support btc
Of course there's risk and difficulty but some of the difficulties have been solved with services like coinbase and bitpay, that setup wallets, handle the price of products/services conversion dynamically for price.
As for why the Mt Gox issue, their us-based Dwolla account was seized because there was a tip that money laundering was occurring through it. I believe they have other accounts elsewhere and the exchange is still online and working. There is less of a risk of government regulation on bitcoins, as opposed to what happens to e-gold, because there isn't a single point of failure that is exposed. I say "less" of a risk.
And it's ultimately your decision. I just like Oxygn and Bitcoin as a member of the online community. :)
On May 19, 2013, at 2:19 PM, Ben notifications@github.com wrote:
oh, apparently it was from accounts they have with another service? but apparently nobody's really sure what's going on at the moment, so I'd say holding off would be a good call. you cold still offer month to month, and pre-paying couldn't you? (when all this blow's over of course) and as I mentioned, you can have the BTC auto-sell to a specified currency, so you'd only have to deal with getting money from the service, you'd never have to touch a bitcoin. and you could check the non-US-based exchanges too, they seem to be better off right now, you'd just have to see if they have a button you can set up, etc.
— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.
kellyelton
commented
11 years ago TBH though I've never seen anyone who accepts bitcoins, or even references to them unless that's what I'm specifically looking for. I guess I haven't notice that that community has grown, last I heard, it was almost impossible to make your own because of the vast farming networks people setup. So you basically have to earn it online somehow(via selling something, cause making them is next to impossible) or buy them, at which point you're just spending them again. It would seem to me that since time is money, you end up either breaking even throughout the whole exchange, or a little behind, depending on the route you take.
BenMatteson
commented
11 years ago well the point is they aren't worth ANYTHING if nobody is investing something in them. mining alone doesn't give them any value, it's only when they are exchanged for a good or other currency they can have value, so there are required to be people who buy them, or accept them as a valued currency, and for the time being, they are just making an investment in the continued growth of the currency. they are taking a risk essentially, much like investing in a stock. (and there are millions of dollars traded every day on mtgox alone, so there is a community) but what I was trying to say is you can cash out immediately if you want, meaning essentially no risk to you. and if they chose to invest in bit coins in some way, that's not really relevant. that said, I'll also reiterate, they're kinda under fire right now, so I have nothing against waiting on accepting them, but I do think doing so would also be a reasonable choice.
domtancredi
commented
11 years ago It would require setting a wallet (http://bitcoin.org/) and then setting up the e-commerce plugin with your current e-com setup, or working with a third party partner that could auto-generate the payment checkout (https://bitpay.com/)
Hi,
I'm a developer and fan of bitcoin. I saw the subscription popup while using OCTGN today and was thinking... would it be worth adding accepting bitcoin payments (from BitPay)? If so, I could look into the system, see how to integrate it.