is Venmo a huge roadblock to Bitcoin? - page 2.

Phinnaeus Gage

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Bitcoin: An Idea Worth Spending

Quote from: Rassah on March 12, 2012, 12:03:58 PM

One easy use is to withdraw Bitcoin to Venmo. MtGox is trusted enough for that, and I doubt they would o chargebacks on their customers.

Hell, a new company could be formed based on the same business model. Call it Algocy (in the spirit of coining new words, e.g. Venmo). (note no tongue-in-cheek image, for I'm serious)

~Cackling Bear~

Rassah

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One easy use is to withdraw Bitcoin to Venmo. MtGox is trusted enough for that, and I doubt they would o chargebacks on their customers.

cypherdoc

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Quote from: Rassah on March 12, 2012, 11:40:56 AM

Quote from: kangasbros on March 12, 2012, 11:21:28 AM

How does Venmo make money?

Two ways. First, they work like a combination of Twitter and Foursquare, collecting information about where people spend money, how much, and what they think of the product. That data is very valuable to businesses (though is very anti-anonymous)
Second, you need to withdraw money into your own bank after you receive it. Chances are, people will keep it there and send it to someone else later, so transactions are within network, and don't cost Venmo anything. In effect, they are creating their own currency chain, and all that idle money can earn them a lot of interest.

Edit: I found mentions of Venmo on this forum going as far back as 2010, so they're apparently not going anywhere. Regarding MtGox, I suspect they are either as risky, and/or as risk averse as PayPal when it comes to Bitcoin. Especially with having credit cards in the mix.

that really doesn't sound sustainable to me.

cypherdoc

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Quote from: Kluge on March 12, 2012, 11:41:54 AM

Quote from: Phinnaeus Gage on March 12, 2012, 11:39:04 AM

Quote from: Kluge on March 12, 2012, 11:35:33 AM

Quote from: cypherdoc on March 12, 2012, 11:31:02 AM

still based on a USD system where the 0.01% have total control. i don't get your point.

You could check out election results in the US to see the vast majority of people either have no problem with the status quo, or have no interest in monetary policy.

Anyway, Venmo sounds quite similar to Dwolla, except they somehow work with credit card companies without charging a fee. It seems their business model relies on businesses being willing to pay fees. It's effectively just a money pit right now for whoever decided to invest in it. Can't imagine they'll stay around for more than a few months.

Then again Mt Gox could start using them, and with the help of the Bitcoin community Venmo will be as big as Dwolla, whereupon in a few months Venmo would get another, let's say, $5M in funding, then...

Gox might even be willing to pay the fees to allow Venmo to sustain itself, too. I imagine chargeback problems would cause another big clusterfuck, though.

yeah, Dwolla is what first came to mind for me too.

maybe gox could exploit this situation by using Venmo to create a bunch of new biz but prevent chargebacks somehow. Grin

Phinnaeus Gage

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Bitcoin: An Idea Worth Spending

Quote from: Rassah on March 12, 2012, 11:40:56 AM

Quote from: kangasbros on March 12, 2012, 11:21:28 AM

How does Venmo make money?

Two ways. First, they work like a combination of Twitter and Foursquare, collecting information about where people spend money, how much, and what they think of the product. That data is very valuable to businesses (though is very anti-anonymous)
Second, you need to withdraw money into your own bank after you receive it. Chances are, people will keep it there and send it to someone else later, so transactions are within network, and don't cost Venmo anything. In effect, they are creating their own currency chain, and all that idle money can earn them a lot of interest.

Edit: I found mentions of Venmo on this forum going as far back as 2010, so they're apparently not going anywhere. Regarding MtGox, I suspect they are either as risky, and/or as risk averse as PayPal when it comes to Bitcoin. Especially with having credit cards in the mix.

Note to self: Next time show image of tongue-in-cheek when commenting to Rassah. Wink

Kluge

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Quote from: Phinnaeus Gage on March 12, 2012, 11:39:04 AM

Quote from: Kluge on March 12, 2012, 11:35:33 AM

Quote from: cypherdoc on March 12, 2012, 11:31:02 AM

still based on a USD system where the 0.01% have total control. i don't get your point.

You could check out election results in the US to see the vast majority of people either have no problem with the status quo, or have no interest in monetary policy.

Anyway, Venmo sounds quite similar to Dwolla, except they somehow work with credit card companies without charging a fee. It seems their business model relies on businesses being willing to pay fees. It's effectively just a money pit right now for whoever decided to invest in it. Can't imagine they'll stay around for more than a few months.

Then again Mt Gox could start using them, and with the help of the Bitcoin community Venmo will be as big as Dwolla, whereupon in a few months Venmo would get another, let's say, $5M in funding, then...

Gox might even be willing to pay the fees to allow Venmo to sustain itself, too. I imagine chargeback problems would cause another big clusterfuck, though.

Rassah

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Quote from: kangasbros on March 12, 2012, 11:21:28 AM

How does Venmo make money?

Two ways. First, they work like a combination of Twitter and Foursquare, collecting information about where people spend money, how much, and what they think of the product. That data is very valuable to businesses (though is very anti-anonymous)
Second, you need to withdraw money into your own bank after you receive it. Chances are, people will keep it there and send it to someone else later, so transactions are within network, and don't cost Venmo anything. In effect, they are creating their own currency chain, and all that idle money can earn them a lot of interest.

Edit: I found mentions of Venmo on this forum going as far back as 2010, so they're apparently not going anywhere. Regarding MtGox, I suspect they are either as risky, and/or as risk averse as PayPal when it comes to Bitcoin. Especially with having credit cards in the mix.

Phinnaeus Gage

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Activity: 1918

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Bitcoin: An Idea Worth Spending

Quote from: Kluge on March 12, 2012, 11:35:33 AM

Quote from: cypherdoc on March 12, 2012, 11:31:02 AM

still based on a USD system where the 0.01% have total control. i don't get your point.

You could check out election results in the US to see the vast majority of people either have no problem with the status quo, or have no interest in monetary policy.

Anyway, Venmo sounds quite similar to Dwolla, except they somehow work with credit card companies without charging a fee. It seems their business model relies on businesses being willing to pay fees. It's effectively just a money pit right now for whoever decided to invest in it. Can't imagine they'll stay around for more than a few months.

Then again Mt Gox could start using them, and with the help of the Bitcoin community Venmo will be as big as Dwolla, whereupon in a few months Venmo would get another, let's say, $5M in funding, then...

Phinnaeus Gage

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Bitcoin: An Idea Worth Spending

Quote from: kangasbros on March 12, 2012, 11:21:28 AM

In United States and other western countries I don't see that bitcoin will become mainstream anytime soon. The first "real" applications could be in 3rd world countries and in international trade, such as the remittance business.

How does Venmo make money?

Perhaps this: http://blogs.hbr.org/hbr/hbr-now/2009/09/is-reverse-innovation-like-dis.html

Kluge

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Quote from: cypherdoc on March 12, 2012, 11:31:02 AM

still based on a USD system where the 0.01% have total control. i don't get your point.

You could check out election results in the US to see the vast majority of people either have no problem with the status quo, or have no interest in monetary policy.

Anyway, Venmo sounds quite similar to Dwolla, except they somehow work with credit card companies without charging a fee. It seems their business model relies on businesses being willing to pay fees in the future (they state they currently have no partnerships). It's effectively just a money pit right now for whoever decided to invest in it. Can't imagine they'll stay around for more than a few months.

cypherdoc

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still based on a USD system where the 0.01% have total control. i don't get your point.

kangasbros

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In United States and other western countries I don't see that bitcoin will become mainstream anytime soon. The first "real" applications could be in 3rd world countries and in international trade, such as the remittance business.

How does Venmo make money?

Rassah

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I just found out about Venmo this past weekend. Features:
Pay by phone
Takes money out of credit card or bank
Zero fees

Aside from Bitcoin's other killer features (international, anonymous, no need for a bank account, not subject to federal regulation or inflation), I this this service takes away the biggest reasons to use it for every day people: transferring money easily and for free. But unlike Bitcoin, it's also extremely easy: just link your credit card number to it and you're good to go.
I'm really worried this alternative may make convincing people to accept Bitcoin much more difficult. Thoughts?

Topic: is Venmo a huge roadblock to Bitcoin? - page 2. (Read 9524 times)