
Should App.net Accept Bitcoin? - dalton
https://bitcoin.app.net
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natrius
Bitcoin is the first practical solution to a longstanding problem in computer
science called the "How do I get cheap PR for my company" problem.

~~~
vecinu
I completely agree with this and I think that has been the aspect that most
companies have taken advantage of over the last few months.

I haven't even heard of the companies that have begun accepting BTC, including
Overstock.com.

It is only the people with vested interest in BTC that are celebrating every
adoption and making a big deal out of everything BTC related, in my opinion.

~~~
dopamean
You never heard of overstock.com until they started accepting bitcoin?

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ojr
I never heard of them as well, also did not know
[http://gyft.com](http://gyft.com) until they started accepting it

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GigabyteCoin
So app.net will accept bitcoin if we bribe them with $10k in purchases?

You either believe in the currency and wish to implement it into your
platform, or you don't.

Have they not already taken the time and effort to implement it by placing
coinbase buy buttons on their website?

Am I understanding this correctly? If app.net does not receive some arbitrary
amount of purchases made in Bitcoin before some arbitrary date, that they will
disable Bitcoin as a payment option out of spite?

I certainly wouldn't spend any of my Bitcoin on such a hostile company.

~~~
dalton
There are lasting legal, technical and support operations that we are willing
to take on long term if the market's big enough to support it. Otherwise, it's
not worth the effort to implement those long term.

~~~
pdeuchler
As someone who spent a lot of time working with BTC in a professional sense,
this statement rings a little hollow considering you're using Coinbase.

Can you elaborate?

~~~
dalton
App.net is a subscription service. We have a subscription state machine that
works great with Stripe. We have systems to deal with upgrades, downgrades,
proration, shifting to different plans. Additionally this requires us changing
our accounting systems and wading into new tax complexities.

It's fascinating to me that people think that for any retailer to accept
Bitcoin it's as easy as embedding a widget on their site. I have been
comparing notes with other companies that are also considering adding Bitcoin
support and these are the sorts of questions that come up.

~~~
natrius
_" Additionally this requires us changing our accounting systems and wading
into new tax complexities."_

That's only because you're setting prices in BTC instead of USD, right? I
always thought accepting BTC through Coinbase for USD-denominated goods and
services had no tax implications.

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lucb1e
What is app.net? I've visited their homepage and read the "learn more", but
can't really figure it out. At first it seems like an Android an iOS simulator
that lets you install the apps virtually so that you can use them ("get access
to great apps on $platforms"), but they focus so much on social apps only...
Are they an alternative App Store/Play Store then? I don't get it and I don't
really feel like creating an account just to find out.

Edit: Ah the bitcoin.app.net page explains it further down.

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pravka
If you did the same thing for Dogecoin, I can almost guarantee that it would
be committed within a day.

~~~
steveklabnik
Coinbase's killer merchant feature is automatic BTC -> USD conversion. You'd
need that for Dogecoin (which doesn't yet exist) for it to see uptake for
merchants.

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drcode
App.net still exists?

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danielamitay
Let us suppose that there is an organized group of Bitcoin enthusiasts with a
combined amount of Bitcoin holdings of around 100,000BTC. Would an article
"App.net begins accepting Bitcoin" increase the BTC/USD exchange rate by more
than 0.01%?

To me it seems that a continued stream of press is good for Bitcoin, and I am
genuinely curious is there is such a group of enthusiasts that strategically
spend Bitcoins for PR.

~~~
drpancake
At this point I doubt it -- and the exchange rate fluctuates so wildly it
would be heard to measure anyway. It seems to take macro scale events to move
the price these days, e.g. the policy announcements by the Chinese government.

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kordless
The obvious answer is "yes", but asking a question you don't expect a response
from is silly. Why not just say "Send us enough Bitcoin and we'll add Bitcoin
payments to our framework." and then take action if you get enough sent in?

That way, there's no leading question, and you communicate exactly what it is
that you want from us.

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s9ix
With all due respect, isn't Bitcoin easy enough to implement that you
shouldn't need any commitment (10BTC? Really?) to accept it? Especially since
the currency is floating, so 10BTC today (~$8400USD) may be half the amount or
etc. on any given day...

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dutchbrit
So what happens to the coins/accounts if they do not reach their 10 BTC goal?

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igorgue
Should App.net just stop operations?

[yes | no]?

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amorphid
I just bought my first Bitcoins. As I was trying to buy a fixed amount in USD,
the price in Bitcoins kept changing. It'd be weird to shop in Bitcoins, trying
to guess the approximate price in USD as I was making the purchase. Whether
the purchase price was volatile, or the value of the Bitcoins were volatile,
I'm just not used to that!

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philliphaydon
Wow, this makes me NEVER want to use app.net

I don't understand why they need to start a kickstarter style campaign with
"stretch goals" to decide if they should support Bitcoin. I'm no user of
bitcoin, but either use it, or don't. Don't try to con users into using it
just to decide if you should support it.

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rch
The secondary goal could be interesting (pure end-to-end transactions in BTC),
but I'd prefer if app.net would disclose the terms and fees up front.

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ajaimk
The answer is yes. period.

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Void_
What is a member subscription? The main page says it's free.

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BrokenPipe
YES!

