[Cryptography] Bitcoin is a disaster.

Bill Stewart billstewart at pobox.com
Wed Dec 30 16:14:28 EST 2020


On 12/29/2020 6:18 PM, Deryk Makgill wrote, re: chargebacks
> Bitcoin can fix that. Like I said, 10 minute non-reversibility
> is better for merchants than the current chargeback window and
> should result in less fraud.

10 minute transactions are a problem for many kinds of online stores - 
you lose too many customers that way, and that's not even counting the 
escrow questions you run into if the customer doesn't trust the seller.

For in-person? Not even close to practical, except maybe things like 
large drug purchases where you can see the suitcase of product, transfer 
the money, and not shoot each other, or a real estate deal or bank 
deposit where you're sitting down at the desk with the manager.

One of the early use cases for Bitcoin was supposed to be "transactions 
are cheaper than credit card because you don't have all the book entry 
and stolen card and chargeback issues" - but if they're not cheaper, and 
they cost you money by being a lot slower, that's not a big win.

An 8-dollar transaction fee that takes 10 minutes isn't going to work 
for coffee, and doesn't start getting price-competitive with credit 
cards until around $500, so maybe you could buy a TV with it, or pay 
rent or something.


More information about the cryptography mailing list