
Bitcoin conf stopped taking Bitcoin payments because they don't work well enough - jbuzbee
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/10/bitcoin-conference-stops-accepting-cryptocurrency-payments.html
======
ryandvm
I dunno, I suppose one wouldn't be surprised if a gold conference didn't
accept gold payments.

That is, in its current form, Bitcoin is _terrible_ for general transactions.
However, given its tremendous market capitalization, it may yet turn out to be
a viable way to store value.

~~~
spookthesunset
> However, given its tremendous market capitalization, it may yet turn out to
> be a viable way to store value.

The circular logic of bitcoin shysters never ceases to amaze.

I have created a new coin called "sand coin". Each coin is a grain of sand
from my backyard Yesterday my friend bought one grain of sand from me for $1.
Therefore, given the fact that there is billions of sand grains in my
backyard, their market cap is _giant_. Given its tremendous market cap,
Sandcoin is a great store of value.

~~~
Meekro
Every day, $33 billion dollars worth of "traditional" currencies are traded
for $33 billion dollars worth of cryptocurrencies[1]. Coinbase, the top
bitcoin exchange, is the 5th largest personal finance site in the US[2] -- the
only bigger ones are chase.com, paypal.com, wellsfargo.com, and
bankofamerica.com -- and Coinbase is rapidly closing the gap and is on track
to overtake all of them within 6 months [3].

This is nothing like the "sand coin" from your example. It's real, measurable
economic activity on a massive scale.

[1] [https://coinmarketcap.com](https://coinmarketcap.com) (cryptocurrency 24
hour volume)

[2]
[https://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries;1/US](https://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries;1/US)

[3]
[http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/coinbase.com#?sites=coinbase.c...](http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/coinbase.com#?sites=coinbase.com)

~~~
spookthesunset
Again. Circular logic of crypto shysters at work.

> It's real, measurable economic activity on a massive scale.

What economic activity? It is people speculating. Nobody is using bitcoin for
buying coffee or sending micropayments to websites. Nobody is using it as a
"store of value", despite what the shysters say. It is just people buying and
selling a meaningless ticker symbol hoping to get rich and buy some island in
the south pacific (using fiat, I might add).

With bitcoin, you might as well just throw away the technology behind it and
just trade on the BTC ticker instead. I mean, that is almost what is happening
given all the trades on any given exchange are off-chain transactions
happening in a centralized exchange-owned database. There is no rumbling of
miners recording every trade. The only people doing cross-trade are people
trying to arbitrage away the price difference between exchanges.

~~~
AlexAltea
> Nobody is using bitcoin for buying coffee or sending micropayments to
> websites.

I was, I've spent more Bitcoins than traditional currencies on buying actual
products during last year (electronics, games, hotels, flight tickets, etc.).
That ended, 1 months ago when fees rose to a point limit that made such
relatively small operations inviable.

That said, I still hope for new cryptocurrencies to provide a solution to
scalability issues. Maybe
[https://failsafe.network/](https://failsafe.network/) or maybe something
else.

~~~
riffraff
You paid flights with bitcoins? Who accepts them?

~~~
Mtinie
A fair number of vendors, actually. The first comment in this Reddit post has
a list:

[https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/6pgxb6/where_can_i...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/6pgxb6/where_can_i_buy_plane_tickets_with_bitcoin/)

------
110011
Hahahahaha this is hilarious, where are all the bitcoin fanatics now hmmm?
Does this confirm its singular status as a vehicle of enormous speculation or
do we have to wait till people finally agree it is worth precisely zero US
dollars...

~~~
110011
I see people downvoting my comment, but honestly if you think this is anything
but hilarious then you may be too deep in this speculative bubble!

~~~
AlexAltea
Essentially because every HN post concerning cryptocurrencies has become a
joke, and long threads of cryptofanatics and cryptosceptics throwing shit at
each other. No one is willing to just have rational conversation on the points
they agree/disagree with, but instead write attacks like: " _Hahahahaha this
is hilarious, where are all the bitcoin {fanatics,sceptics} now_ " that don't
contribute to the discussion at all. You will always get downvoted by one of
the sides. Personally, I would downvote you if I could for adding yet another
stick to the bonfire.

To be honest, this looks like a quarrel between baboons that have invested too
much, and baboons that have shorted too much. I've never ever seen HN in such
a state and hope to not see it.

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Kinnard
Bitcoin is made of software . . . do people not know that software can get
better and better over time??

I used a js map function yesterday, worked like a charm!!!

------
kingo55
This news was confirmed fake.

The conference does accept Bitcoin.

~~~
citricsquid
[https://web.archive.org/web/20180111023048/https://btcmiami....](https://web.archive.org/web/20180111023048/https://btcmiami.com/tickets/)

    
    
        Due to network congestion and manual processing, 
        we have closed ticket payments using 
        Cryptocurrencies — Hopefully, next year there 
        will be more unity in the community about scaling 
        and global adoption becomes reality. 
    
        We have, and always will, accept cryptocurrencies 
        for our conferences, up to fourteen days before the 
        event. However, due to the manual inputting of data 
        in our ticketing platforms when paid in cryptocurrencies, 
        we decided to shut down bitcoin payments for last minute 
        sales due to print deadlines.

~~~
pavel_lishin
I like how they give two what looks like entirely separate excuses.

