

Bitcoin is a Market for Lemons - wsxcde
http://onelessbug.tumblr.com/post/68799401970/bitcoin-is-a-market-for-lemons

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VMG
> _The key point here is that it is impossible for buyers to distinguish
> between the trustworthy vendors and those out to make a quick buck because
> of the very anonymity that makes bitcoin desirable._

The interesting thing is that today, you can have an online reputation _and_
anonymity thanks to cryptography. Also decentralized escrow services further
reduce the need for trust between parties.

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FBT
These things work out. Used car salesmen may be shady, sure, but somehow they
are still in business. People tread carefully when dealing with them, but used
car sales do go through in the end. A combination of regulation and reputation
systems makes it all work out.

And I'd say that that is only a sufficient condition, not a necessary one.
While SR was up, it function on purely on reputation, and it worked. No
regulation needed.

All the more so, real business with actual real world presence (who are thus
subject to regulation) will survive, but even the online ones that are not
accountable to any government... well, it is a lot harder, but we _have_ seen
successful examples in the past.

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TrainedMonkey
I like the point that aside from _illegal_ activities and investment
opportunities there are really not a lot of legitimate uses for bitcoins. Only
site I know that accepts bitcoins is buyincoins and that sells chinese
knockoffs.

~~~
ChrisClark
Places that accept bitcoins:
[https://www.spendbitcoins.com/places/](https://www.spendbitcoins.com/places/)

And not just listing web sites, but physical locations too.

For a map of physical store that accept bitcoins,
[http://coinmap.org/](http://coinmap.org/) is a great site.

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evilDagmar
This article is /deeply/ flawed.

One of the more obvious things that stands out is that illegal drug purchases
are /by no means/ a service unique to the Bitcoin economy. The major site for
this type of transaction in particular also has a rather detailed feedback
system.

The lesson to be learned from Sheep Marketplace is /don't leave your money in
someone else's wallet/. There's no requirement that people use an "online"
wallet. Also, it was named _Sheep_ Marketplace. Someone's definitely having a
private little laugh at that.

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adeptus
"In all three cases, note that the economic activity involves something that
is either outright illegal or in a legal gray area"

I stopped reading right there. This is nothing more than just another article
by somebody who doesn't understand bitcoin and couldn't be bothered to do even
basic research. There's over 20,000 LEGAL retail merchants already accepting
bitcoin, and this is just the beginning.

TL;DR: Troll article, author doesn't have a clue about bitcoin.

~~~
goldenkey
I would consider the implicit reason why a vendor might accept bitcoin.
Accepting bitcoin is akin to free advertising for ones' company since bitcoin
has so much buzz.

The business-logic-related reasons for accepting bitcoin are far and few
considering how volatile it is and the non-instant transaction verification
delay.

~~~
lukifer
WordPress got on board with accepting BitCoin early, primarily as a way to
accept payments from countries not supported by PayPal:
[http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2012/11/15/pay-another-way-
bitc...](http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2012/11/15/pay-another-way-bitcoin/)

Promotional purposes notwithstanding, the best legitimate use cases for
accepting BTC so far seem to be online services (web hosting, domains), where
the transaction delay and risk of double-spend isn't a big deal; and
charities, who risk little and potentially gain much by publishing an address
for a donation wallet.

