Meta-Exchange: Use LTC on BTC infrastructure

cunicula

legendary

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Quote from: Deprived on November 17, 2012, 10:18:00 AM

Quote from: crazy_rabbit on November 17, 2012, 03:07:33 AM

First of all- we need more LTC exchanges.

Second of all- just like BitPay immediately sells the BTC you send them on the open market, when you pay for something using BTC, why not build some sort of "Meta" payment processor: something that immediately sells your LTC for BTC and then enters the BTC into Bitpay processing? Bitpay locks your exchange rate for 15 minutes when you purchase- more then enough time for an intermediary to sell LTC for BTC.

That said- we need more LTC exchanges so the market gets more depth.

How does more exchanges give more depth?

All more exchanges does is spread the depth thinner across more sites - leading to very shallow order books everywhere and an exchange-rate that fluctuates even more wildly due to increased arbitragin opportunities.

The way to get more depth (And more stability) is to have more uses for LTC - it's really that simple. Right now the exchange-rate is set long-term by whim and short-term by bots(mainly) and traders arbitraging across LTC/BTC and LTC/USD to correct imbalances caused by changes in the BTC/USD market. Meaningful stability is still a long way off even for BTC - let alone LTC -as nothing of note is priced in BTC (price is set in fiat then converted temporarily to BTC for the transaction).

I'm not AGAINST more exchanges - but increased depth isn't what they'd provide (other than if they're in a currency not support yet - in which case it isn't more depth it's new depth in a new market).

Yes, more exchanges doesn't help. In fact, it would appear to make things worse (or at least more complex).

Deprived

hero member

Activity: 532

Merit: 500

Quote from: crazy_rabbit on November 17, 2012, 03:07:33 AM

First of all- we need more LTC exchanges.

Second of all- just like BitPay immediately sells the BTC you send them on the open market, when you pay for something using BTC, why not build some sort of "Meta" payment processor: something that immediately sells your LTC for BTC and then enters the BTC into Bitpay processing? Bitpay locks your exchange rate for 15 minutes when you purchase- more then enough time for an intermediary to sell LTC for BTC.

That said- we need more LTC exchanges so the market gets more depth.

How does more exchanges give more depth?

All more exchanges does is spread the depth thinner across more sites - leading to very shallow order books everywhere and an exchange-rate that fluctuates even more wildly due to increased arbitragin opportunities.

The way to get more depth (And more stability) is to have more uses for LTC - it's really that simple. Right now the exchange-rate is set long-term by whim and short-term by bots(mainly) and traders arbitraging across LTC/BTC and LTC/USD to correct imbalances caused by changes in the BTC/USD market. Meaningful stability is still a long way off even for BTC - let alone LTC -as nothing of note is priced in BTC (price is set in fiat then converted temporarily to BTC for the transaction).

I'm not AGAINST more exchanges - but increased depth isn't what they'd provide (other than if they're in a currency not support yet - in which case it isn't more depth it's new depth in a new market).

cunicula

legendary

Activity: 1050

Merit: 1003

The exchanges should do this directly. They just need to bear the risk of 0 or 1 confirmation txns directly in exchange for an additional fee.

[AFAIK, they are presently set up to minimize double spend risk to essentially zero. That will not work for this purpose.]

daybyter

legendary

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I once started a data model for an ltc exchange, but it seems there's not much interested in such an exchange...

ElectricMucus

legendary

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Marketing manager - GO MP

Why not build a Bitpay clone instead? Bitpay will probably jump on once they realize what they are missing.

FYI: litepay.net is available, ltcpal.com too...first come first serve.

daybyter

legendary

Activity: 965

Merit: 1000

@rabbit: it seems, noone is using bitparking or vircurex? Maybe users are content with btc-e alone?

cunicula

legendary

Activity: 1050

Merit: 1003

That is a very good idea. It would actually make litecoin silver to bitcoin's gold or whatever. It allows LTC to piggyback on BTC's network effects to a greater degree.
(of course I think LTC sucks dog balls and see PPC as the only potentially legitimate coin but let's ignore that for the moment)

1) You go to a checkout with BTC page. They give you a BTC address and a amount
2) Simultaneously, you go to the intermediary checkout with LTC, PPC, etc. page.
3) You input the BTC payment address and amount
4) They give you a LTC/PPC/etc. payment address and amount
5) You send your alt coin. They receive the LTC/PPC/etc. payment and then send the BTC.

There is some double-spend risk. Thinking from a broader perspective. This is good. It would be a good test of the alt chains ability to defend against double-spends.

The payment processor can make a margin off the spread as usual.

crazy_rabbit

legendary

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RUM AND CARROTS: A PIRATE LIFE FOR ME

First of all- we need more LTC exchanges.

Second of all- just like BitPay immediately sells the BTC you send them on the open market, when you pay for something using BTC, why not build some sort of "Meta" payment processor: something that immediately sells your LTC for BTC and then enters the BTC into Bitpay processing? Bitpay locks your exchange rate for 15 minutes when you purchase- more then enough time for an intermediary to sell LTC for BTC.

That said- we need more LTC exchanges so the market gets more depth.

Topic: Meta-Exchange: Use LTC on BTC infrastructure (Read 1290 times)