
Bitcoin fans eye potential in Greek crisis - edward
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/29/bitcoin-fans-eye-potential-in-greek-crisis
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StavrosK
I like Bitcoin a lot, but this is just wishful thinking. If you can't trust
the _bank_ , the place that has handled your money for decades, why would you
trust a magical internet currency app that you can't even easily exchange for
cash?

I went to read /r/bitcoin this morning but closed the tab pretty quickly,
after reading all the cultish comments. That place is too much for me
sometimes. I only go there for the "X now accepts Bitcoin" news, but there
hasn't been any of that in ages, and the sites that used to accept it are now
even phasing it out.

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jahnu
I remember reading an article that pointed out that despite the large
investment in Bitcoin startups and so on in 2014 that the number of non-
speculation transactions stayed pretty flat. It sounds like a decent metric
and I wonder if that is still the case.

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StavrosK
That's sad, I tried to buy a plane ticket the other day and keep reminded how
horrible the process is every time. I need to remember the Visa Secure thing
password, and charging the CC fails three out of four times for no reason, and
I have to restart the whole process again, etc.

Half of it is shitty website UI, but the other half is card-related. I wish I
could just scan a QR code and pay. It's amazingly easy with Bitcoin, and
integration is very easy, too, especially with Stripe, but it hasn't caught
on. Too bad...

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yc1010
All my hotel purchases in last year have been with bitcoin via Expedia, using
a credit card form (and trusting it doesnt get "mistreated") feels like
something from another era to me.

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StavrosK
Expedia is one of the few sites I know that accepts BTC, but I don't think
it's very popular in Europe. I'll have to give it a go, though, thanks.

~~~
yc1010
I am in Europe too, here there is not as much need for Bitcoin now that SEPA
exists and not many people care for credit cards but its still has its uses.

You can use sites like [https://giftoff.com/](https://giftoff.com/) (EU) or
[https://www.gyft.com/](https://www.gyft.com/) (US) to get giftcards and spend
your bitcoins that way in shops such as Amazon which do not yet take Bitcoin

~~~
StavrosK
Huh, thanks for giftoff, I'll give it a try.

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bboreham
How are those inside Greece supposed to get their hands on Bitcoin in order to
start this process? Seems to require that someone is willing to pay Bitcoin in
exchange for olives or cheese, or tuition, or surgery, or whatever you have to
offer.

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Paul_S
As an investment - brilliant. As a value store - rather too risky. It's not
like they can use it like a regular currency with no infrastructure for it.

~~~
yc1010
It is not an investment, it is a tool that addresses some of the problems with
legacy payment systems (tho doesnt solve them all bring its own quirks)
especially when it comes to borders.

as for infrastructure, it is growing, I have been using bitcoin since 2011 in
that time the possibilities for using bitcoin have grown exponentially for me
and my company for everything from getting paid from far east cheaply and
quickly to booking hotels, to buying petrol to ordering electronics and
everything amazon/overstock has to offer.

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return0
No offense to the bitcoin fanboys, but greeks overwhelmingly want the euro,
not bitcoin.

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yc1010
What Greeks want is the government to not steal/hold/control their money as
they are now doing, bitcoin solves that problem and doesnt require stashing
money into a mattress.

This little Trezor device sitting on my desk (photo comparison versus plastic
credit card shaped card) stores equivalent of dozens of thousands of euro
safely and securely ;)

[http://i.imgur.com/A8iDEBm.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/A8iDEBm.jpg)

~~~
prostoalex
> bitcoin solves that problem and doesnt require stashing money into a
> mattress

Some people feel more comfortable with their understanding of physical
security than digital security.

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VLM
I don't think anyone disagrees with the historical results around the Cyprus
disaster.

What makes the debate interesting is Greece vs Cyprus discussions or now vs
recently discussions. I'm not sure if there is much if any difference between
Cyprus and Greece WRT BTC so that leaves any recent changes in the overall BTC
scene, also not much. So the BTC focused greek situation should be very much
like the historical cyprus event.

Very theoretical discussions about what people want or wish for are not
relevant to recent/current events although they could be interesting in a very
abstract, perhaps long term, sense.

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rasz_pl
Bitcoin hahaha, more likely Chinese will ride on their white horses and bail
out Greece by investing crapload of money.

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fuck_bitcoin
Very amusing to see Bitcoin fans trot out their usual nonsense.

