Bitcoin powered Amazon Web Services

[jasonKidd]

Anyone interested in a new app that would allow for AWS to be consumed using bitcoins as payment method?


I have the framework and there are no issues with Amazon's TOS to offer this, however anyone violating the AWS EULA/TOS for consumption (ie. hosting bad stuff) would be booted.

If there is enough interest in the community I'll build an MVP and open it up. Would love to get feedback if anyone has any particular ideas or use cases.

thanks!

[1714906500]

1714906500

[becoin]

Anyone interested in a new app that would allow for AWS to be consumed using bitcoins as payment method?

I'm interested in a new app that would allow for Amazon Webstore http://www.amazonservices.com/content/webstore-by-amazon.htm?id=hm1 to be consumed using bitcoins as payment method?

[jasonKidd]

That's trickier.  Amazon owns the payment flow on that product.  Not sure how you see a bitcoin integration working there.

[becoin]

That's trickier.  Amazon owns the payment flow on that product. 

They'll get what they expect. They expect a credit card transaction. Every bitcoin purchase on the front end will trigger corresponding credit card transaction on the back end. This will be the credit card of web store owner.

[jasonKidd]

That's trickier.  Amazon owns the payment flow on that product. 

They'll get what they expect. They expect a credit card transaction. Every bitcoin purchase on the front end will trigger corresponding credit card transaction on the back end. This will be the credit card of web store owner.

Amazon controls the payment experience, including client side AFAIK - there is no "back end" to trigger a CC transaction.  It sounds like a good idea but I don't see how its feasible.



In any case, if anyone thinks that an AWS bitcoin purchasing app has legs let me know, i'll probably just start doing some simple MVP work, but if there is more interest I'll ramp it up quicker.

[markm]

I would have been interested until for some reason I had to visit the bank down the street and happened to chat with the teller in some way that brought up the problem of Network Solutions pretending to accept paypal but then once you get down it it ends up rejecting paypal if you don't have a credit card linked to your paypal account.

That led to her claiming the bank can issue debit cards that are disguised/coded as credit cards, so that those accepting them cannot just take one look at the card number/code and go like hey that is no credit card, gedoutahere!

Free!

At that price, how could I refuse? So now I have what purportedly ought to pass on the net as a credit card, and it was lack of such a tool that had kept me from getting into AWS several times over the last few years, if only for the free trial level year.

Which come to think of it would be a way of testing if that card really does perform as the teller claimed.

I guess I'll have to get back to you when the freebie runs out or I fail to get it or when I decide to upgrade it, since getting money into my bank account to feed the card would involve selling bitcoins for fiat anyway.

One gotcha that does worry me though is if I get AWS myself there is only Amazon to worry about. If I get it through you who will Amazon consider to be the owner of the code and data I put on their system, me or you?

-MarkM-

[jgarzik]

In any case, if anyone thinks that an AWS bitcoin purchasing app has legs let me know, i'll probably just start doing some simple MVP work, but if there is more interest I'll ramp it up quicker.

It would be really nice to have that option.  Bitcoin-funded AWS accounts seem like niche that needs filling.

[jasonKidd]

One gotcha that does worry me though is if I get AWS myself there is only Amazon to worry about. If I get it through you who will Amazon consider to be the owner of the code and data I put on their system, me or you?

That's a great question. For avoidance of doubt I would write up a TOS that ensures no partnership/ownership implied. That is pretty standard stuff.   AWS TOS says something similar. 

However, if  someone's usage violated AWS TOS in terms of content,etc, it would have to be shutdown immediately (standard practice, but even more important with an arm's length financial arrangement like BTC cloud).

I'm thinking something a bit more like EngineYard (but with generic servers/templates) than just passing through an AWS account.

What would be more compelling?

[evoorhees]

Very interested. Please pm me if this happens.

[BkkCoins]

If you plan to accept Bitcoins without checking user identity then I think you'd quickly find yourself dealing with a lot of problems. The Bitcoin history being what it is I think anonymous payments for AWS would very quickly get used as a platform for "bad stuff", even if just anonymous proxies for doing hacks and such. I know they have other ways to do these things but it would "lower the bar" and make it more accessible.

Anyway, I use EC2 and would be interested as well... it would depend on the cut you take. And on privacy as I shouldn't have to share my access keys with you - again, given the history here that would just be silly of me.

[jasonKidd]

If you plan to accept Bitcoins without checking user identity then I think you'd quickly find yourself dealing with a lot of problems. The Bitcoin history being what it is I think anonymous payments for AWS would very quickly get used as a platform for "bad stuff", even if just anonymous proxies for doing hacks and such. I know they have other ways to do these things but it would "lower the bar" and make it more accessible.

I agree. A rigorous response to AWS TOS violations would be necessary.

Anyway, I use EC2 and would be interested as well... it would depend on the cut you take. And on privacy as I shouldn't have to share my access keys with you - again, given the history here that would just be silly of me.

I probably wouldn't be giving out AWS access keys at all. More like a hosting scenario, I would allow access to specific objects/calls (ie. EC2 instances) and have zero knowledge of the access credentials on those servers (stream the .pem file to customer and not store it).  I can't think of another way to do it.

[scrybe]

I have a partner who might be interested in providing legitimate consulting and resale of AWS services for BitCoin.

This would be intended as a service that hosts/maintains the VM's for you, with a target of building a pass-through web control panel for Bitcoin customers to self-manage.

I'm personally not interested in any service that does not have the cooperation of Amazon, the risks of having the one account banned because of the actions of a single customer are too high.

The downside to the partner path is that it requires a market ready to buy at least $2000+/month of services from Amazon, plus about $5-10K of startup costs (low side requires a programmer who will work for stock.) The upside is that individual customer accounts pass through to EC2, and I honestly think we could make it work pretty well.

Anyone think we honestly have a market for >$2k/month of AWS?

(I also have contacts with partnerships with Azure, Rackspace, TerraMark, SAVVIS and a few other clouds, but the same types of requirements tend to apply, feel free to PM me if you have some big serious need that I can use to get them to "shut up and take your money")