2012-08-25 americanbanker.com - The Week In Banking (video)

[julz]

The Week In Banking

Marc Hochstein/Daniel Wolfe
2012-08-25



http://www.americanbanker.com/video/paypal-discover-dunkin-starbucks-bitcoin-mastercard1052104-1.html
http://bcove.me/niuc65ib  (video only)

Bitcoin briefly discussed from 1:10

...
Another alternative payment system... *really* alternative payment system.. is ah.. going a little bit more mainstream.. is Bitcoin.

I finally actually used Bitcoin this week.. it is very hard to get in and out of that system.. to acquire the currency.. but once you're in - it is butter smooth.
I sent some money to a guy in London just to test it out... he had it within minutes.. and it cost me.. like, some fraction of a penny.
...
There is a company called BitInstant here in New York - they are coming out with a way that is trying to ease the choke points to get in and out of that system so they're gonna have
a prepaid mastercard in 8 weeks... where you can convert your Bitcoins that you're holding in your Bitcoin address to dollars that'll be held on this card.
So.. you can send money using Bitcoin, but you can now spend it at the mall.
...

[Stephen Gornick]

but once you're in - it is butter smooth.

He didn't mention which client he uses.   I wished he had, as now a bunch of people are going to go download the client to see if Marc's experience is accurate -- whether it truly is butter smooth.  Many of them will possibly not end up describing the experience with those same words.

But there are others who read that, numbering in orders of magnitude greater, and will take Marc's words at face value and associate Bitcoin transactions as being smooth and cheap.


Here's Marc's article from this week:
 - http://www.americanbanker.com/bankthink/lightning-fast-dirt-cheap-bitcoin-shows-what-banking-could-be-1052108-1.html


What is interesting is why Bitcoin gets the attention it does here.  The other topics discussed in this video were PayPal being accepted wherever Discover card is accepted by physical merchants and how Dunkin Donuts copied Starbucks by creating a mobile app for loading and spending from a stored value account.

Bitcoin got as much press time here as these developments by absolutely huge players in the payments space.  The editor's responsibility it is to make sure the readers (and viewers, in this instance) are aware of developments that could or will be changing the landscape in the banking and payments industries.  He gives little ole bitcoin, which sees just tens of thousands of transactions a day, top tier attention.

That to me is something fairly peculiar and interesting.

[matonis]

What is interesting is why Bitcoin gets the attention it does here.  The other topics discussed in this video were PayPal being accepted wherever Discover card is accepted by physical merchants and how Dunkin Donuts copied Starbucks by creating a mobile app for loading and spending from a stored value account.

Bitcoin got as much press time here as these developments by absolutely huge players in the payments space.  The editor's responsibility it is to make sure the readers (and viewers, in this instance) are aware of developments that could or will be changing the landscape in the banking and payments industries.  He gives little ole bitcoin, which sees just tens of thousands of transactions a day, top tier attention.

That to me is something fairly peculiar and interesting.

Not sure what you mean here. Are you implying that bitcoin does not have uniquely-different potential for changing the landscape that banks can prepare for and take advantage of...or, are you suggesting that editor may have other, external motives for discussing bitcoin?

[Stephen Gornick]

Are you implying that bitcoin does not have uniquely-different potential for changing the landscape that banks can prepare for and take advantage of.

Nope, .. but I see Bitcoin as having an impact on P2P and bricks and mortar payments even.  And you see it.  And Marc sees it (he's been writing on bitcoin since the 2011 price peak). 

But what causes actual bricks and mortar to become interested?

(Incidentally, BitPay says they are just under 1,000 merchants using their payment network ...  so there are more and more obviously getting onboard, it just doesn't happen organically (interest coming from the merchants themselves, but instead expands only when an intermediary is involved).