

Ask HN: If a company adopted Bitcoin, how do they convert it into real currency? - mmaunder

A real world company has to pay employees, cover expenses etc. How does a company reliably convert Bitcoin into real currency?
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iwwr
There is no way other than a gray market mechanism. To extract cash from
Mtgox, you can move it through Liberty Reserve and try to get it into a bank
(it may not work). Alternatively, you may be able to find someone willing to
trade larger volumes. It's possible to exchange small sums via paypal, though
that's not very relevant to a business.

Right now there is too much hype and too little time to establish a stable
valuation. Bitcoin is moved by the speculators and not investors or savers.

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adrianwaj
There exists an open source bitcoin exchange, but it is still in its early
phases (mentioned in the Calacanis interview.) Theoretically, if the company
was large enough, they could open an exchange. That's what PayPal should do:
accept bitcoin and open up an exchange.

here it is: <https://gitorious.org/intersango/> by
<http://bitcoinconsultancy.com/>

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indrax
Depending on how much of your income it represents, you might consider giving
it to employees as part of their compensation.

They might convert it, but might get better value looking for things they
need. (Their demands will be more diverse than a business.)

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JoeCortopassi
Easiest way to turn Bitcoin into real currency:

1\. Establish a company and go public with it.

2\. Invest all said company's money in Bitcoin

3\. Short the company's stock

4\. $ Profit $

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ChrisNorstrom
Using MTGOX.com just convert it back to USD, you'll be charged however a 0.65%
fee. From there you can transfer it to a personal or business Dwolla account
for only $0.25 cents. From Dwolla you can deposit it into your bank account
for free.

Too many steps in my opinion but hey, it is an entirely new currency.

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wmf
Mt. Gox?

~~~
drcube
Currency exchange.

<https://mtgox.com/>

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drcube
The answer is "it IS real currency". How do you tell "real" currency from
fake? If people accept it as a store of value, it's real.

Actually, it is real to the extent that people accept it. So Bitcoins aren't
AS real as dollars, but they're still real. And hypothetical bitcoin company
will have the same problems as a company that uses some obscure third-world
currency.

