Topic: Post Paypal announcement price (Read 3589 times)

Ding ding ding

At least you posted this in the speculation forum 'cause this is not happening anytime soon.

Where do you (and others) get these ideas? He was just talking about a FUNDING OPTION: Send Bitcoins to PayPal, get credited USD minus a fee. Coinheads happy, PayPal happy.

It's interesting to see how open these companies are towards Bitcoin, at least for what they tell the media.

I'd never let PayPal handle disputes if I had the choice. Because they obviously don't have a clue about handling virtual transactions and the buyer usually wins. So as a seller, I'd  ask that BTC be sent directly to me. If any buyer wants to go through PayPal to send BTC, I'd think they were a scammer. If the buyer wants some kind of escrow, that's fine. But we're not using PayPal.

Great analogy with the dog.

Also, if Paypall offer some sort of BTC integration this needn't mean they support full chargebacks for all types of BTC transaction.

It works both ways. It is like a man and a dog out walking at night; they lend each other respectability.

I think we're looking at this wrong.

Paypal doesn't just give Bitcoin cred.

Bitcoin gives Paypal cred as a still on the ball, ahead of the curve, tech savvy, (insert your fav cliche), forward looking financial outfit.

I selected "no change".
Though for 9.5.2013 I have target price 167,51 USD per 1 BTC

With Bitcoin you don't need to use a third party, but how big is the learning curve to do so with safety?

This is an enormous hurdle - Paypal isn't stupid, they know what the hurdles are and the potential market share + extra margin they could make on the transfers.

That is nonsense, because Bitcoin was designed so you don't need to place any trust on a third-party, thus is a natural enemy for Paypal. Paypal is that "trusted third party" to which you rely in order to transact electronically with your money.

Well, more than simply guarantee your funds (as you say, act as a bank of sorts), they also get back their status as an all in one payment solution (they were that before bitcoin...).

Also, It's clear you dont need Paypal to send bitcoin - you dont need paypal to send cash either (wire transfer), but there is a value add in the service they provide. This is enough niche for them to continue making billions as a financial services beast, whether we like it or not.

edited for clarity

Paypal has two big problems with the rise of bitcoin:

1) bitcoin replaces the need for paypal in many cases

2) Western Union - who is competition for PP - is looking at integrating bitcoin into their system (and for them it makes sense - walk up to a WU counter and send $200 to a bitcoin address... done, with their commission added on top).

Traditionally if large companies see competition or valuable technology originate outside of them, they will try to buy it up (buy out the company).  Since they can't with bitcoin, what other choice do they have than try to incorporate it into their business model?  I don't know if they can see exactly how to do it right now, but I think they are trying to figure out how they can, to fend off at least some of this threat.

So you propose Paypal to become a "bitcoin bank". They guarantee your funds for a %. It's indeed a service needed for a BTC wider adoption, but it is not Paypal's core business. And BTW, Paypal's core business is endangered by BTC, just because Paypal is that "trusted third-party" you don't need any more to transfer your money electronically.

Not everything happens in their network. If I like your post so much I decide to pp tip you AUD 10,000 which originates from my bank account and you immediately withdraw it as USD to your bank account then there is a corresponding flow of money from a bank in Australia to Paypal Australia then to Paypal USA then to a bank in the US. This is likely done periodically as the net of inward and outward transfers between the two. It seems unlikely that Bitcoin would be the cheapest way to do this.


Which is why fiat is better than Bitcoin, if you can trust the people in charge.

X-posted from my other post:

"The real value for the consumer here is the FDIC insured, household brand name wallet that makes them feel safe and cuddly when they hold their bitcoins there. Make no mistake about it, this is the smart and only play."

The biggest hole in bitcoin right now (for the majority of online users) is security and Paypal fills this hole with flying colors. They dont have to do anything else and people will happily pay 1-3% on every transaction just for the peace of mind of knowing its in a safe place and you dont have to be an expert in cryptography to store it. This is a no brainer in terms of strategy.

sorry for being harsh but you have no clue of what you are talking about.

1) What do you mean by Paypal uses bitcoin "internally"? BTC is a problem for Paypal, because it's REAL money. If you fuck up, you loose big time, because BTC transactions are irreversible. USD transaction in their network… Well, it's something they can control 100%, do chargebacks, etc. etc. etc.

2) THERE IS NO OVERHEAD IN TRANSFERRING USD INSIDE THE PAYPAL NETWORK - and by the way there's no overhead in transferring electronic money through the banking system in general. Is just electronic accounting, they delete X amount from A and add that amount to B. There's nothing easier than electronic FIAT.

3) Paypal takes the risk of using bitcoin, and thus they increased their profit margin significantly? What are you talking about?

I voted "<100" just for teh lulz.

But really. Having trouble comprehending how Paypal/WU could use Bitcoin?
1) Offer their regular service at their regular price

2) Use bitcoin INTERNALLY

3) Reduce overhead involved with transferring USD

4) People will still use it, since they "trust" paypal but they don't have the knowledge/don't trust bitcoin. Paypal takes the risk of bitcoin and sheep get to continue using their USD, it's just that now Paypal has increased their profit margin by a significant amount.

And yes, they are big boys, they know how to not get burned by exchange rate fluctuations. It's not like we don't already have thriving companies that have figured out how to manage.

That's just one of many options. They could also decide to become an exchange, wallet provider, or both. Of course they would provide a front-end that would be very vanilla and regulated compared to bitcoin - i.e. might only allow transfer to Paypal bitcoin accounts, would require identification, etc. etc. It would be like a watered-down version of Bitcoin for the sheep. Hey, still better than no bitcoin.

Again, just several options/ideas and I'm sure their executives are dreaming up strategies to incorporate it without driving people to actually abandon Paypal completely in favor of bitcoin.

I could see them launching their own cryptocurrency to compete with bitcoin but of course it would be centralized and price would be heavily controlled so I doubt that would really take off, especially with Paypal's fraudulent record as it is. They could also launch their own cryptocurrency but allow it to be exchanged with BTC. It'd be hilarious to see how this would play out, though.

That's not the question/issue of this thread.

i don´t think a company owned crypto will do. what is the difference between a fiat central bank and a company creating it´s own crypto...?

I'm interested to see if this puts more pressure on Western Union, who has already shown interest. Even if Paypal has no plans right now, the statement could still have an impact.

If they do it and they do it in a currency agnostic way it could be very beneficial.

But it will not happen until our exchanges confirm to industry standards (ie forex)