
6-8 Weeks Until Bitcoin Debit/Credit Card, says BitInstant - enmaku
http://codinginmysleep.com/6-8-weeks-until-bitcoin-debitcredit-card-says-bitinstant/
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paulsutter
I hope it's for real.

I was just looking for a backup debit card for international travel. This
would give me a low-risk but high-utility reason to finally try bitcoin. And
avoid opening another damn bank account

~~~
maayank
An honest question: assuming you have more than 1 credit card, aren't all/most
of them international? Are local-only credit cards the norm in the U.S.?

And do you really need a bank account per credit/debit card? I'd assume you
have "external" credit/debit cards, where the only connection to the account
is that it is charged monthly.

~~~
otto
Many cards in America have foreign transaction fees. There may be other fees
associated as well.

That said I have looked into cards with no foreign transaction fees for future
international travel. They do exist, but one more issue is making sure they
support "chip and pin" for European countries.

~~~
davidw
The Chase card I have for use here in Italy works fine with no chip. There's
an annual fee though, so I'm not sure whether I'll keep it beyond the first
year; I'll have to look and see how much it's saved me.

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vijayboyapati
This will be a huge factor in increasing demand for bitcoin if it comes
through. The biggest problem with bitcoin now is that it's not widely accepted
for payment (i.e., it's not yet a medium of exchange). A debit/credit card is
a big step in allowing people the ability to exchange their bitcoins for real
goods. What will be really exciting is the day when you can actually see goods
priced in bitcoin. E.g., that cupcake is going to cost you 0.1 bitcoins.

~~~
taligent
Really you think THAT is the biggest problem with Bitcoin.

Not the fact that its value fluctuates so wildly ?

~~~
jerguismi
> Not the fact that its value fluctuates so wildly ?

This does not worry me at all, since the value has been mostly fluctuating
upwards. The positive risk outweights the negative.

With this card, people can invest in to bitcoin small amount each month, and
they still can use their bitcoin reserves when they need.

~~~
jmgao
BUY BUY BUY [1]

SELL SELL SELL [2]

BUY BUY BUY [3]

[1] <http://i.imgur.com/ICznv.jpg>

[2] <http://i.imgur.com/YeS9o.jpg>

[3] <http://i.imgur.com/IXsjv.png>

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brianwillis
>6-8 Weeks

After Stack Overflow, we should really start referring to this as an "Atwood
period".

~~~
kolinko
Can you explain?:)

~~~
brianwillis
When asked how long version 1.0 of Stack Overflow would take to produce, Jeff
Atwood famously replied "six to eight weeks" without any sort of serious
planning or consideration. It took quite a bit longer. Listeners of the Stack
Exchange podcast got to hear Joel Spolsky make fun of Jeff for this many
times.

~~~
enmaku
And since then, nearly every major upgrade, feature request, etc. has been
scheduled as "6 to 8 weeks" or occasionally some variant like "6 to 8 months"

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zokier
> You own the address on the card, though BitInstant has not yet determined
> the best way to hand over your private keys, or whether they should even
> offer such an option

Sounds like trouble.

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paulhauggis
It's interesting how Bitcoin is now becoming exactly what Bitcoin was always
against: a centralized bank. A bad and unreliable one at that.

It kind of shows you the evolution of our banking systems and why we need one.

~~~
enmaku
Even if I concede the point that Bitcoin is becoming a centralized bank -
which I don't - how exactly is it "bad and unreliable"? At least this bank is
run algorithmically by the crowd/cloud and can't rape pillage or otherwise
screw you out of your money on the whim of a handful of rich white men...
Perhaps I'm showing my politics too clearly here, but I do honestly believe
that math is a better tool for deciding what happens to my money than the
board of directors at Goldman-Sachs.

~~~
quotemstr
Bitcoin has deflation baked into the system. Deflation is _terrible_ for the
economy because it encourages people to hide cash under mattresses instead of
spending it on useful projects. (Or in more abstract terms, deflation raises
the minimum viable rate of return on investment.) We've learned this lesson
well. All the really terrible depressions --- the 1870s, the 1930s ---
featured crippling deflation that kicked the economy while it was already
down. When Williams Jennings Bryan seared "you shall not crucify mankind on a
cross of gold", he was talking about how using gold for money kept inflation
too low and hurt ordinary people in the economy. (Bryan's "free silver"
movement would have been inflationary and beneficial.)

One important thing stopping the current depression from being as catastrophic
as the great depression is the policy of the Federal Reserve (which is hugely
influenced by Goldman Sachs) of printing money and keeping interest rates at
0%. If they didn't do that, we'd be far worse off right now.

So yes, as far as regulating the money supply goes, I'd trust the directors of
Goldman Sachs over some algorithm any day, especially when that algorithm
seems to have been designed by people with a very dogmatic theory of value, a
theory that history demonstrates is incompatible with happiness.

~~~
mkup
This is what one school of thought says. Another school of thought says that
people still buy deflating computers, mobile phones and other electronics, and
Intel would have gone bankrupt long time ago if "mattress theory of deflation"
is valid.

Another school of thought also says that inflation is a second form (after the
taxes) of government oppression over the citizens; and that truely free
currency should avoid both forms of government oppression: inflation and
taxation.

~~~
gph1
He's talking about economy wide price level deflation, not some particular
group of products. Inflation is a necessary element of capitalism, since
productivity growth would have a deflationary outcome if prices staid flat.

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malandrew
They should change the name to Bitstant. It's two syllables and rolls off the
tongue more smoothly.

~~~
kami8845
The sound of BitStant reminds me of "stunt" like a trick, or stunted like
stunted growth. Either way not words i'd like associated with my brand were I
a credit card company.

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
Also, BitInstant, for its length, is more memorable and makes sense.

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batgaijin
If MasterCard actually lets this happen I'll eat my hat.

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rheide
This seems like an excellent opportunity for authorities to physically track
people who use their bitcoins for illegal purposes.

~~~
enmaku
Only if they're stupid enough to fund cards tied to their real identities with
coins from a shady past. Bitcoin is as anonymous as you make it, put in the
effort and you'll be ok - don't put in the effort and expect sirens.

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grakic
It would be more fun to have card balance in BTC. I do not know how fast will
it be to load the card with new BTC.

~~~
enmaku
Card balance can be kept in BTC, according to the IRC logs at least. It's an
international card so it can apparently hold balances in multiple currencies
at once. Also, according to the logs, BTC transactions < $1,000 USD will be
accepted on the first confirmation, so about 10 minutes to load the card.

~~~
grakic
Can you quote user bitinstant from the IRC log on this. I see only the
following:

> <bitinstant> JimN, the card is denominated in USD, EUR, GBP so far

~~~
enmaku
<ThomasV_> bitinstant: is there an option to keep the deposit as BTC until the
card is used to make a payment or withdrawal?

<bitinstant> ThomasV, yes

Then later...

<sharpfocus> so the card can have fiat and btc on it concurrently presumably

<bitinstant> sharpfocus, yes precisly

Extra lines redacted to reduce noise :)

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shell0x
Anyone of you got more bitcoins then me?(0) ;) I tried to get a single bitcoin
for multiple times, but it never worked out ;) I guess my hardware is too bad.

~~~
sgornick
Consumer-grade mining is a temporary phenomena. In a few months, the block
reward will be dropping in half, and most people with GPUs will no longer be
able to operate them profitably for mining. This is because FPGA mining
hardware has been shipping in volume.

In addition, if ASIC hardware starts shipping, GPU is completely out of the
game and FPGAs will be hard pressed to stay powered on.

GPU mining had a good run for nearly two years, but it is about to be
obsoleted.

~~~
shell0x
So, the only way to get some bitcoins for a single person would be hacking
sites like bitcoinica or users? Also, is there a live statistic, which shows
how much bitcoins exists right now?

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
Hacking?

You can buy them, you know. That's the whole point of Bitcoin exchanges.

~~~
slig
Maybe he likes to pay the iron price.

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diminoten
I'm still so afraid the market will crash again, it still makes me hesitant to
take bitcoin seriously.

