Topic: [EXPIRED] [BOUNTY] 1000 BTC for getting a major business to accept Bitcoin - page 3. (Read 9415 times)
October 05, 2011, 10:24:36 AM
sirius, would a non-profit qualify? Kiva.org seems interested.
October 05, 2011, 10:20:17 AM
Why do you think that there is a fraud risk?
The fraud risk is because bitcoind(.exe) doesn't produce a proper audit trail.Various gullible or crafty code monkeys peddle modified bitcoin programs that tamper with the basic functionality of the protocol (most often related to the chain reorganization).
I'm actually very thankfull that Gavin Andresen strenously defends the code and doesn't accept the patches that would interfere with the chain reorg logic. It allows any professional to quickly dismiss idiots and crooks: just ask how their software handles chain reorganization and how they tested it.
It does really matter whether the particular bitcoin-related software was designed by an idiot or a crook. The observable end result will be the same: the smart people wont buy it.
October 05, 2011, 09:43:39 AM
Before a milion $ company can use bitcoin, as explained some posts ago by nmat, they must be widely used by smaller ones to avoid big prices fluctuaction.
This is just wishfull thinking. Obviously: no one can tell when, if, and how many would adopt bitcoin in future. But IMO the path should pass from little-mid companies.
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The clasic counter-example is the failed "web currency" beenz, which was used almost exclusively by huge companies.
beenz was totally different from bitcoin: centralized and more similar to fidelity point in his structure than to a true monetary system.
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Stability is one thing. The other is fraud-resistance. The big businesses actually have money and skill to audit the source code.
You can scam a small businessman into believing that the bitcoin doesn't allow chargeback. Big businessman will hire somebody to read the code and will ask pointed questions like: what is this code doing erasing transactions and removing money from my wallet?
You can scam a small businessman into believing that the bitcoin doesn't allow chargeback. Big businessman will hire somebody to read the code and will ask pointed questions like: what is this code doing erasing transactions and removing money from my wallet?
I don't get the point
Bitcoin is secure enough for transactions. Online transactions and big money movements can be approved with a sufficent number of confirmation to make them absolutely non-fraudable. The code is open sourced so is readable by everyone.
Why do you think that there is a fraud risk?
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Big businessman also knows that a self-deluded enthusiast is completely indistinguishable from a persuasive and skilled scammer.
Again don't get the point
October 05, 2011, 09:18:42 AM
POS would change all that. If some small machine on the countertop could beep and spit out a receipt showing that some certain funds (with an equivalent amount shown as dollars) were received... and the clerk could CYA (cover his ass) by sticking that receipt in the register as though it were equivalent to federal reserve notes... and the boss knew that the bitcoins were safe on the block chain and only he can access them... then he might just bite. Without that, it's just not practical yet.
I'm not sure if you are joking or never maintained auditable accounts for an enterprise.Neither. I have also never performed heart surgery. I'm a software engineer, not an accountant, and not a heart surgeon.
Slips of paper in the register are for mom&pops and to protect against petty crime. To be considered serious you need to produce an audit trail on the accounting server in conformance with the GAAP. Everything else will be dismissed as too prone to the white-collar crime.
Slips of paper are an example of a control. Organizations of all sizes use them. When I make a deposit into my bank, they want a deposit slip. If I eat at Olive Garden, the slip I sign is their evidence supporting the tip charge against my credit card. Neither of these organizations are what most people would call mom-n-pop. I'm not an accountant, but I employ accountants, and at no time has any of them told me that GAAP mandates the abandonment of paper records. Which would be pretty silly to begin with.
A good Bitcoin POS system would produce a paper record which could be used where appropriate (or disabled if not needed), and would also offer detailed records online, on the back-end website supporting the service.
October 05, 2011, 08:51:39 AM
Before a milion $ company can use bitcoin, as explained some posts ago by nmat, they must be widely used by smaller ones to avoid big prices fluctuaction.
This is just wishfull thinking. The clasic counter-example is the failed "web currency" beenz, which was used almost exclusively by huge companies. Stability is one thing. The other is fraud-resistance. The big businesses actually have money and skill to audit the source code.You can scam a small businessman into believing that the bitcoin doesn't allow chargeback. Big businessman will hire somebody to read the code and will ask pointed questions like: what is this code doing erasing transactions and removing money from my wallet?
Big businessman also knows that a self-deluded enthusiast is completely indistinguishable from a persuasive and skilled scammer.
October 05, 2011, 04:50:54 AM
Rather than wasting your time trying to "convince" large corporations to accept something, it would be better to spend your time (and bounty) on more realistic targets and get sites or organisations to accept btc regardless of their size. Particularly sites or organisations accepting donations are a good candidate for this. Ive contacted Democracy Now and The Real News network. I have never heard back from DN, but TRNN has looked in to it, and recently told me they are likely to implement it. Do they make $100 million? No, probably not 1/10th of that, but they do reach 10s of 1000s of viewers, many of whom might be sympathetic to an alternative currency. Rome wasnt built in one day, but if organisations like TRNN start accepting BTC and spreading the word, thats a mighty big step in the right direction IMHO. Spamming Bestbuy or Wallmart will do nothing.
October 05, 2011, 04:38:14 AM
Before a milion $ company can use bitcoin, as explained some posts ago by nmat, they must be widely used by smaller ones to avoid big prices fluctuaction. In this way the POS idea of Casascius can works very well.
When hundreds of small shops will use bitcoins the price will mantain more stable and so bigger shops/firms could enter the game.
Anyway a digital POS can be easily interfaced to an external software to make audit trail at near 0 cost.
But, as explained, IMHO the path to follow is
small shops/private -> medium shops/small companies -> big shops/medium companies -> everyone
When hundreds of small shops will use bitcoins the price will mantain more stable and so bigger shops/firms could enter the game.
Anyway a digital POS can be easily interfaced to an external software to make audit trail at near 0 cost.
But, as explained, IMHO the path to follow is
small shops/private -> medium shops/small companies -> big shops/medium companies -> everyone
That's interesting to point that out. It gives small/local businesses opportunity to establish success (in affiliation with bitcoin cryptocurrency) before large corporations/monopolies.
October 05, 2011, 03:36:34 AM
POS would change all that. If some small machine on the countertop could beep and spit out a receipt showing that some certain funds (with an equivalent amount shown as dollars) were received... and the clerk could CYA (cover his ass) by sticking that receipt in the register as though it were equivalent to federal reserve notes... and the boss knew that the bitcoins were safe on the block chain and only he can access them... then he might just bite. Without that, it's just not practical yet.
I'm not sure if you are joking or never maintained auditable accounts for an enterprise.Slips of paper in the register are for mom&pops and to protect against petty crime. To be considered serious you need to produce an audit trail on the accounting server in conformance with the GAAP. Everything else will be dismissed as too prone to the white-collar crime.
Before a milion $ company can use bitcoin, as explained some posts ago by nmat, they must be widely used by smaller ones to avoid big prices fluctuaction. In this way the POS idea of Casascius can works very well.
When hundreds of small shops will use bitcoins the price will mantain more stable and so bigger shops/firms could enter the game.
Anyway a digital POS can be easily interfaced to an external software to make audit trail at near 0 cost.
But, as explained, IMHO the path to follow is
small shops/private -> medium shops/small companies -> big shops/medium companies -> everyone
October 05, 2011, 02:25:20 AM
POS would change all that. If some small machine on the countertop could beep and spit out a receipt showing that some certain funds (with an equivalent amount shown as dollars) were received... and the clerk could CYA (cover his ass) by sticking that receipt in the register as though it were equivalent to federal reserve notes... and the boss knew that the bitcoins were safe on the block chain and only he can access them... then he might just bite. Without that, it's just not practical yet.
I'm not sure if you are joking or never maintained auditable accounts for an enterprise.Slips of paper in the register are for mom&pops and to protect against petty crime. To be considered serious you need to produce an audit trail on the accounting server in conformance with the GAAP. Everything else will be dismissed as too prone to the white-collar crime.
October 05, 2011, 01:17:12 AM
I am hoping that a working Bitcoin POS project - like the one I have proposed - helps pave the way for this prototypical big business to accept bitcoin.
Right now, an executive can say "I want to accept bitcoin", but he has no practical way to do it. His employees don't understand how bitcoins work, there's no way he can be assured they won't be destroyed or stolen, and there's no simple way for his employees to know whether they've accepted a bitcoin payment. (loading the blockchain on the retail counter isn't typically an option)
POS would change all that. If some small machine on the countertop could beep and spit out a receipt showing that some certain funds (with an equivalent amount shown as dollars) were received... and the clerk could CYA (cover his ass) by sticking that receipt in the register as though it were equivalent to federal reserve notes... and the boss knew that the bitcoins were safe on the block chain and only he can access them... then he might just bite. Without that, it's just not practical yet.
Right now, an executive can say "I want to accept bitcoin", but he has no practical way to do it. His employees don't understand how bitcoins work, there's no way he can be assured they won't be destroyed or stolen, and there's no simple way for his employees to know whether they've accepted a bitcoin payment. (loading the blockchain on the retail counter isn't typically an option)
POS would change all that. If some small machine on the countertop could beep and spit out a receipt showing that some certain funds (with an equivalent amount shown as dollars) were received... and the clerk could CYA (cover his ass) by sticking that receipt in the register as though it were equivalent to federal reserve notes... and the boss knew that the bitcoins were safe on the block chain and only he can access them... then he might just bite. Without that, it's just not practical yet.
October 05, 2011, 12:14:22 AM
I doubt that any business with 100 millions USD of revenue would accept bitcoins right now. Do you realize how much a 1% shift in Bitcoin price (which happens everyday) would affect the company? Million dollar companies don't play the roulette with their revenues. Every dollar is accounted for.
October 04, 2011, 11:19:07 PM
I don't understand this offer. In my point of view it doesn't make any sense. You could also say: "I will give 1000 BTC for free, if you are a big company and accept Bitcoins".
I don't mind if the bounty recipient works for the big company. You can freely divide the bounty in any way you want. What I care about is that the big company starts accepting BTC
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It is nearly impossible to "convince" a huge company to accept Bitcoins. And even if I'm successful and get a company to accept Bitcoins, why should the company tell anyone that it was me who had the idea for it? In fact, if they get to know that you will pay 1000 Bitcoins, they will just create a fake account and get the money for themselves. Even if I post in this thread that I've asked company xyz to do it, someone else (or a fake account from the company) could show up and say "I asked them 3 days ago! I was first!".
So what's the point?
So what's the point?
You should contact me when the business has initially shown interest in accepting BTC. You can make any arrangements you want that help you prove that you should get the bounty. I'll use my best judgement to reward the right person.
October 04, 2011, 08:23:30 PM
Thinkgeek.com is the obvious choice.
also see https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/do-you-accept-bitcoin-909
October 04, 2011, 08:23:06 PM
So what's the point?
It is a page from the playbook of pump&dump-ers. Do anything to move the inventory.Bitcoin itself is not a stock, but some synthetic security. But the promotional efforts around it are straight from the "caveat emptor" section of the OTC Markets Group (if you allow me a little bit of USA-centrism).
http://www.otcmarkets.com/otc-101/otc-market-tiers
I just love their icon for the "caveat emptor" section of the "pink sheets":
October 04, 2011, 08:02:37 PM
I don't understand this offer. In my point of view it doesn't make any sense. You could also say: "I will give 1000 BTC for free, if you are a big company and accept Bitcoins".
It is nearly impossible to "convince" a huge company to accept Bitcoins. And even if I'm successful and get a company to accept Bitcoins, why should the company tell anyone that it was me who had the idea for it? In fact, if they get to know that you will pay 1000 Bitcoins, they will just create a fake account and get the money for themselves. Even if I post in this thread that I've asked company xyz to do it, someone else (or a fake account from the company) could show up and say "I asked them 3 days ago! I was first!".
So what's the point?
It is nearly impossible to "convince" a huge company to accept Bitcoins. And even if I'm successful and get a company to accept Bitcoins, why should the company tell anyone that it was me who had the idea for it? In fact, if they get to know that you will pay 1000 Bitcoins, they will just create a fake account and get the money for themselves. Even if I post in this thread that I've asked company xyz to do it, someone else (or a fake account from the company) could show up and say "I asked them 3 days ago! I was first!".
So what's the point?
October 04, 2011, 07:27:52 PM
I e-mailed Netflix
No reason they would have much difficulty accepting BTC for subscriptions.
No reason they would have much difficulty accepting BTC for subscriptions.
October 04, 2011, 06:24:30 PM
/r/Bitcoin has this up http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/l11df/in_this_thread_reddit_raises_1000_btc_for_charity/ suggesting Reddit be the one to accept the Bitcoin for the 3 months to get the 1000 btc, and then they could donate that to charity or whatever they want.
I however, come with this in mind, and I hope goons are reading this, SomethingAwful should do it
I however, come with this in mind, and I hope goons are reading this, SomethingAwful should do it
October 04, 2011, 04:45:37 PM
Thinkgeek.com is the obvious choice.
Unfortunately, thinkgeek (Geeknet) only has a revenue in the millions, not 50-100million.
October 04, 2011, 04:12:32 PM
I have an a idea about a VERY BIG business to contact, but the bounty is way too low for the excuse i will be using to convince the business itself. It should be at least ten fold that.
October 04, 2011, 02:14:19 PM
Hope someone is able to claim this bounty!
Could be a breakthrough, especially if the major business accepting bitcoins did so by using their own innovative way of doing so. Could drive bitcoin further away out of the amateur stage.
Could be a breakthrough, especially if the major business accepting bitcoins did so by using their own innovative way of doing so. Could drive bitcoin further away out of the amateur stage.
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