[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.
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