Author

Topic: To developers of Bitcoin ad option to send BTC of total value X in currency Y (Read 1170 times)

legendary
Activity: 1400
Merit: 1005
If you use the blockchain.info wallet, it does this.  Not sure what the source of the data is, but I would assume MtGox.
legendary
Activity: 1246
Merit: 1016
Strength in numbers
The reference implementation (Satoshi client) should definitively not link to any centralized source of information, specially for an unnecessary future.

And even the suggestion above of letting the user specify the exchange source, I don't know... IMHO, the developers of the main client should focus on bitcoind and the protocol itself, i.e., "core development". User-features like that would be better left for the developers of fancy clients like Armory or Multibit...
Maybe even the development of the QT GUI should be completely decorrelated from the reference implementation (bitcoind), and become a client of its own... the "Satoshi client" would be only bitcoind, no GUI, so to avoid the development of one thing to interfere with the development of the other.

+1, just agree on a rate or an amount of coins with your trading partner.
legendary
Activity: 1106
Merit: 1004
The reference implementation (Satoshi client) should definitively not link to any centralized source of information, specially for an unnecessary future.

And even the suggestion above of letting the user specify the exchange source, I don't know... IMHO, the developers of the main client should focus on bitcoind and the protocol itself, i.e., "core development". User-features like that would be better left for the developers of fancy clients like Armory or Multibit...
Maybe even the development of the QT GUI should be completely decorrelated from the reference implementation (bitcoind), and become a client of its own... the "Satoshi client" would be only bitcoind, no GUI, so to avoid the development of one thing to interfere with the development of the other.
legendary
Activity: 2618
Merit: 1007
Oh and btw. something like this is not even possible with huge established currencies - depending on where you look, the value of 1 EUR in USD can shift quite a bit.

It might be possible to have a small box to enter a conversion number of your own choice (e.g. "1 BTC = ____") to make it easier for you not having to use a calculator. It is NOT possible though to do this automatically without adding a huge amount of trust needed to an exchange website, another website that combines exchange websites... and then you'd still miss out on the trades that take place via cash.

So until there's "Eurocoin" and bitcoin can _only_ be traded for Euro using "Eurocoin", there's no way for anyone to know all trades between BTC <--> EUR and subsequently know the real value of 1 bitcoin in EUR.
hero member
Activity: 655
Merit: 500
istar , although i find it interesting there are many variables on this.
Value according to who?one exchange?
lets say that i have an exchange and i say that 1 bitcoin is valued 500$ (i know its overstretched example)
Is one exchange a solid point of reference?
My thinking takes me that you could trade by using the same currency. e.g. i want to send you 19.54214001 for this service..
so in conclusion , to my opinion, a feature like this is not needed.
legendary
Activity: 1072
Merit: 1181
I've once proposed an optional URL that can be specified by a user, which provides an exchange rate history with a particular currency. The client could then show amounts in transactions and balances in that currency, and even add virtual "exchange rate profit/loss" ledger entries that correspond to a varying exchange rate.

Not much response back then Smiley
hero member
Activity: 523
Merit: 500
There is no way of knowing how much USD 1 Bitcoin is "worth" at the moment. It is it's own currency, so there is no fixed value of USD <--> BTC that you could apply and everything else would just mean querying a centralized database/source.

If you need something like this, maybe take a look at BitPay.

Yes, and is there a good reason to not do so?

I know that Bitcoinspinner does this, but only on the homepage but not on the sendpage.
I can see the value of my total coins on that page.
So it should be possible.

But when I need to send a value of X in a currency I need to bring my calculator.
 
legendary
Activity: 2618
Merit: 1007
There is no way of knowing how much USD 1 Bitcoin is "worth" at the moment. It is it's own currency, so there is no fixed value of USD <--> BTC that you could apply and everything else would just mean querying a centralized database/source.

If you need something like this, maybe take a look at BitPay.
hero member
Activity: 523
Merit: 500
Something basic thats really missing.

When sending funds, you can only select how many Bitcoins.

I often find myself wanting to send Bitcoins of a certain amount of value.

Example a value of $23 but in another currency.

Its a very annoying and slow process, I have to find the value of Bitcoin in USD, calculate the value over to my currency and than calculate  the amount of Bitcoins to send.

If you could just select.

Send Bitcoins
A with a total value of X in currency y.
B N number of Bitcoins.

I added this suggestion to the Bitcoin spinner client, and as Technomage pointed out this is badly needed in most clients and in the bitcoin world so I hope this bring this to the attention of all clients.


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