Web wallets with no transaction fees charged, for how long?

[Patatas]

Xapo and Coinbase are web wallets which allow transferring bitcoins free of charge.

Never used either.What else are you compromising for the few satoshi's saved as transaction fees ? Your anonymity I tell you.It is ethically wrong in the bitcoin world to do that.Against the correct use of bitcoins I'd say.

Maybe, there are a few other wallets that do the same and pay the transaction fees for their users. But what would happen if Bitcoin price rises manyfold and the fees rise proportionately in fiat terms? Will these wallets raise the transfer amounts above which the network transaction fees will still be paid by themselves or will they just begin charging their clients the fees in full?

No one knows.The rise in the price of bitcoins would hike the value of coins in your wallets as well so exchanges giving free transactions shouldn't be a problem.Blockchain.info does charge for tx,use that as an alternative.

[tee-rex]

Xapo and Coinbase are web wallets which allow transferring bitcoins free of charge.

Never used either.What else are you compromising for the few satoshi's saved as transaction fees ? Your anonymity I tell you.It is ethically wrong in the bitcoin world to do that.Against the correct use of bitcoins I'd say.

Methinks, people stick to web wallets primarily thanks to the ease of use, and not because they despise or just neglect the Bitcoin ethics, if there is any. Setting up and then keeping up a desktop wallet is not an easy task for the majority of ordinary Bitcoin users, who often have to ask someone to reinstall their Windows after it gets massively infested by all kinds of worms, trojans, and other malware.

[neochiny]

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And will people continue to use Coinbase after they start charging fees? Also, what would happen if Bitcoin surges in price a dozen times and the transactional fees grow proportionately in terms of fiat thanks to that? Methinks, wallets like Coinbase would attract even more clientèle, especially in the case the transactional fees should grow to a burdensome percentage in respect to amounts typically transferred.
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That might well be the case, and horrible if it is. But this alone won't make people stay away from these wallets.

That could very well be the case especially if bitcoin value to fiat rises in the tens of thousands fiat. Most people would definitely turn in droves to coinbase and such that will pay for their transaction fees. That way,they really could save some amount.

But this is when assuming that these 'free' exchanges do stay free, which I highly doubt. It's still a business after all. As long as they got their user base, they'll start charging especially if bitcoin fiat value rises really high. Or maybe selective fees, or a certain percent of the fees. One thing for sure is they won't lose out in any way.

[tee-rex]

But this is when assuming that these 'free' exchanges do stay free, which I highly doubt. It's still a business after all. As long as they got their user base, they'll start charging especially if bitcoin fiat value rises really high. Or maybe selective fees, or a certain percent of the fees. One thing for sure is they won't lose out in any way.

That's the reason why I started this thread.

Some people here claim that the wallets that pay themselves for transactions instead of their clients are all-round Bitcoin businesses (which is hardly the case but still). Therefore, it would be irrelevant for them how high Bitcoin might shoot in this regard. Though this doesn't mean that they won't start charging mining fees one day, of course. But, on the other hand, if their payment of transaction fees and reimbursement of these expenses doesn't really involve fiat, there is no reason to start collecting fees other than to get more profits. Since there are quite a few web wallets in the Bitcoin world, the wallet that won't do that will get the prize. Then why others should undermine their business unless they first collude with regard to charging fees from their clients?

[bL4nkcode]

Xapo and Coinbase are web wallets which allow transferring bitcoins free of charge. Maybe, there are a few other wallets that do the same and pay the transaction fees for their users. But what would happen if Bitcoin price rises manyfold and the fees rise proportionately in fiat terms? Will these wallets raise the transfer amounts above which the network transaction fees will still be paid by themselves or will they just begin charging their clients the fees in full?

To mods, if this thread doesn't belong here, please move it to its home board.

I really doubt that this kind of service though I used this web wallets before when I started in bitcoin world. But time goes I changed my bitcoin wallet and I already thought that why they do this kind of service for free without charge, though its business and we know that business will run from the fee they get from their services or from their customers but this companies are different, seems like it smells  

[tee-rex]

Xapo and Coinbase are web wallets which allow transferring bitcoins free of charge. Maybe, there are a few other wallets that do the same and pay the transaction fees for their users. But what would happen if Bitcoin price rises manyfold and the fees rise proportionately in fiat terms? Will these wallets raise the transfer amounts above which the network transaction fees will still be paid by themselves or will they just begin charging their clients the fees in full?

To mods, if this thread doesn't belong here, please move it to its home board.

I really doubt that this kind of service though I used this web wallets before when I started in bitcoin world. But time goes I changed my bitcoin wallet and I already thought that why they do this kind of service for free without charge, though its business and we know that business will run from the fee they get from their services or from their customers but this companies are different, seems like it smells   

Smells fishy? They might be earning in a lot of other ways to cover their expenses connected with paying miner fees. Coinbase as well as Xapo also issue Bitcoin payment cards, and I'm inclined to think that their fees are not small. But even before setting out with payment cards, both wallets had been heavily engaged in exchange operations. On this account, attracting new clients by offering free of charge transactions might have paid off really well in the long run.

[satmas]

Yes, you can be asked to pay fees at any moment:

Does Coinbase pay miner fees?

Aug 23, 2016  
Yes, Coinbase pays the miner fees on external transactions in order to ensure these transactions propagate throughout the bitcoin network quickly. For very small transaction amounts you may be prompted to pay the transaction / miner fee.

Miner fees are a small amount of digital currency that is included in transactions as a reward/incentive to the people who operate the network. They help the network continue to grow and provide an incentive for your transactions to be verified quickly.

Remember, Coinbase to Coinbase wallet transactions are always free of fees, no matter how much you are sending.

https://support.coinbase.com/customer/portal/articles/815435

How is coinbase able to maintain fee-free transactions between coinbase wallets(second post of the thread)?

[tee-rex]

Yes, you can be asked to pay fees at any moment:

Does Coinbase pay miner fees?

Aug 23, 2016   
Yes, Coinbase pays the miner fees on external transactions in order to ensure these transactions propagate throughout the bitcoin network quickly. For very small transaction amounts you may be prompted to pay the transaction / miner fee.

Miner fees are a small amount of digital currency that is included in transactions as a reward/incentive to the people who operate the network. They help the network continue to grow and provide an incentive for your transactions to be verified quickly.

Remember, Coinbase to Coinbase wallet transactions are always free of fees, no matter how much you are sending.

https://support.coinbase.com/customer/portal/articles/815435

How is coinbase able to maintain fee-free transactions between coinbase wallets(second post of the thread)?

I think they are not using Bitcoin addresses for internal transfers. If you send money to your Coinbase wallet, you will soon see that the money gets moved from your address, where you have sent it, to some other address. In this fashion, when you transfer funds to someone else who is also using a Coinbase wallet wallet, the money doesn't get transferred anywhere. I mean transfers that result in transactions seen on the blockchain.