[ANN] Pay for DDOS Protection with Bitcoin! BlackLotus

[Stephen Gornick]

I'm always kind of curious about why people use credit cards to pay their monthly bills if they object to the way the processing system is set up.  Is there no simple way of paying your bills by direct deposit in the US

Some merchants want the customer to sign up for EFT / bank transfer.  But that is a pull-based system.  So when using that the customer gives the merchant permission to pull funds from the customer's bank account.  Of course, this is convenient but it hands all the control over to the merchant.   This is a problem particularly with subscription-based services or utilities whose business model depends on making it difficult for the customer to stop service (take your pick -- cell phone service, cable, gym membership, etc.).  

There's ones that require a credit card number where they have automation and issue a charge against the card each month.  But at least with that I can put a stop to further charges by draining the available funds from the card (to prevent a successful authorization attempt) or if needed, canceling the card.

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[IRCCo Jeff]

Good evening, my name is Jeff and I represent Black Lotus. I finally made it out of Newbie purgatory and intend to be a regular on these forums.

I wonder if this is the same BlackLotus from DDO on Orien.  If so, yeah, scumbag to the 10th degree.

I do not know what DDO or Orien is, so I can safely say we have no part in that rant.

Wasn't MTGox getting protection from BlackLotus last year? Maybe they can say something about their experience with them.

Yes, they were. They're with Prolexic now, and probably paying about 10 - 15 times as much as a result 

I would like to address the matter of these "reviews." None of the sites mentioned in this thread are genuine review sites. Anyone who wants to libel a competitor can easily swamp those sites with fabricated reviews without any type of validation or even disclosing their identity. If you do your research, I think you'll find that our reputation is beyond reproach in this industry.

In any case, we're glad to be here and happy to begin accepting Bitcoin. BitPay is doing great work in helping bridge the gap between traditional and alternative currencies, allowing us to venture into this new territory without having to stress over out-exchange.

[Gabi]

Welcome!

[hazek]

Welcome!

Yeah welcome from me too and just a quick question that I just thought of thinking about all this fantastic news lately of many businesses signing up with bitpay, Jeff, have you given any thought yet to managing your own Bitcoin wallet? I'm asking because, although I think what bitpay does it terrific, eventually I'd hope to see companies hold onto some of the bitcoins they get instead of instantly converting them. Any thoughts on this?

[Steve]

Welcome!

Yeah welcome from me too and just a quick question that I just thought of thinking about all this fantastic news lately of many businesses signing up with bitpay, Jeff, have you given any thought yet to managing your own Bitcoin wallet? I'm asking because, although I think what bitpay does it terrific, eventually I'd hope to see companies hold onto some of the bitcoins they get instead of instantly converting them. Any thoughts on this?

Many merchants start out converting everything to USD (or other local currency), but then after some period of time start increasing the percentage they keep in BTC.  Merchants will probably need to convert some of their receivables into local currency for quite a while (until more of their supply chain accepts BTC), but this is a very good sign.  We also caution them about wallet security, etc (it's still far too easy to make a mistake and have bitcoins lost or stolen...for that reason, I think it's too early for the average person to keep any significant savings in BTC).

[justusranvier]

Many merchants start out converting everything to USD (or other local currency), but then after some period of time start increasing the percentage they keep in BTC.

Does your fee prorate based on the percentage received in BTC vs local currency?

[BCB]

Theymos. Didn't the bitcointalk server get hit by a DDOS attack a while back? 

BlackLotus  maybe you could offer some protection as a service to the community if it happens again.

[IRCCo Jeff]

Theymos. Didn't the bitcointalk server get hit by a DDOS attack a while back? 

BlackLotus  maybe you could offer some protection as a service to the community if it happens again.

I would be happy to do so if the appropriate person wishes to reach out to me.

Regarding keeping our own Bitcoin, the problem we run into is that banks and investors will not regard BTC as "real money," meaning revenue we earn by BTC that is not "repatriated" does not count as revenue, and impacts our perceived performance. In our current stage of growth this is a very real issue for us.

[Stephen Gornick]

Many merchants start out converting everything to USD (or other local currency), but then after some period of time start increasing the percentage they keep in BTC.

Does your fee prorate based on the percentage received in BTC vs local currency?

I think the following, from another thread, answers your question:

Merchants can now split their proceeds into two currencies. For example, a merchant can elect to receive 20% bitcoins and 80% Canadian Dollars. The processing fees are only applied to the prorated amount that is to be converted.

[FreeMoney]

Theymos. Didn't the bitcointalk server get hit by a DDOS attack a while back? 

BlackLotus  maybe you could offer some protection as a service to the community if it happens again.

I would be happy to do so if the appropriate person wishes to reach out to me.

Regarding keeping our own Bitcoin, the problem we run into is that banks and investors will not regard BTC as "real money," meaning revenue we earn by BTC that is not "repatriated" does not count as revenue, and impacts our perceived performance. In our current stage of growth this is a very real issue for us.

Are you looking for investors now?

[IRCCo Jeff]

Theymos. Didn't the bitcointalk server get hit by a DDOS attack a while back? 

BlackLotus  maybe you could offer some protection as a service to the community if it happens again.

I would be happy to do so if the appropriate person wishes to reach out to me.

Regarding keeping our own Bitcoin, the problem we run into is that banks and investors will not regard BTC as "real money," meaning revenue we earn by BTC that is not "repatriated" does not count as revenue, and impacts our perceived performance. In our current stage of growth this is a very real issue for us.

Are you looking for investors now?

Please contact me in private and we'll discuss.