Wall Observer BTC/USD - Bitcoin price movement tracking & discussion

[Rampion]

The mike from ebay guy is heavily involved in Paypal too, just Google his full name.

I still cannot believe they are seriously considering integrating BTC, that would be like AT&T selling phones with an open source version of Skype pre-installed  in order "to be ahead of the curve".

It just does not make sense for Paypal/Ebay. On the other hand a Paypal proprietary crypto would make much more sense.

[silversurfer]

This eBay initiative makes sense to me.  They could easily eat Coinbase's lunch and assume a leadership position in the BTC community.

[Miz4r]

Don't get ahead of yourselves, that Mike guy from eBay is probably still only gathering feedback and information. I doubt any official decision to incorporate it has been made. But it wouldn't surprise me, a couple months ago David Marcus, the President of Paypal, also was very positive about bitcoin and said they were thinking about incorporating it into Paypal.

[lebing]

The mike from ebay guy is heavily involved in Paypal too, just Google his full name.

I still cannot believe they are seriously considering integrating BTC, that would be like AT&T selling phones with an open source version of Skype pre-installed  in order "to be ahead of the curve".

It just does not make sense for Paypal/Ebay. On the other hand a Paypal proprietary crypto would make much more sense.

I disagree.

It's only a matter of time before either Paypal, western union or some other large money handling service takes the ball and runs with it. There are many ways both companies could easily and profitably integrate them into their businesses. Paypal for example simply acting as a 100% secure FDIC insured bitcoin wallet/ all in one payment solution (that is supposed to be their business model after all...) and western union as a way to lower their infrastructure costs. They know this and that's why guys like Mike are "trying to stay ahead of it". If they don't they know that their lunch is going to get eaten.

Paypal crypto will never happen for the same reason that a USA crypto will never happen (noone will use it).

[Nightowlace]

The mike from ebay guy is heavily involved in Paypal too, just Google his full name.

I still cannot believe they are seriously considering integrating BTC, that would be like AT&T selling phones with an open source version of Skype pre-installed  in order "to be ahead of the curve".

It just does not make sense for Paypal/Ebay. On the other hand a Paypal proprietary crypto would make much more sense.

I think the bigger picture for them is making money off of the sale of Bitcoin on their site. After all it would be the easiest way for the mass population to easily acquire bitcoin. What better way than on the worlds largest and "most trusted" site.
As far as the PayPal side of things I think allowing sellers to be paid in BTC for selling BTc would be a way around MSB guidelines because you are not converting currency PayPal is and they are a registered MSB. It would be just as if I sold something to someone who paid With Euros they give me USD. So if someone paid with USD they give me BTC. As far as BTC to BTC payments they would settle disputes based on the sale price. If I sold an item for $200 and the user paid me $200 worth of BTC and a dispute was filed an user won then they would deduct $200 from my fiat account and not my BTC account as that's not an option.

[Nightowlace]

The mike from ebay guy is heavily involved in Paypal too, just Google his full name.

I still cannot believe they are seriously considering integrating BTC, that would be like AT&T selling phones with an open source version of Skype pre-installed  in order "to be ahead of the curve".

It just does not make sense for Paypal/Ebay. On the other hand a Paypal proprietary crypto would make much more sense.

I disagree.

It's only a matter of time before either Paypal, western union or some other large money handling service takes the ball and runs with it. There are many ways both companies could easily and profitably integrate them into their businesses. Paypal for example simply acting as a 100% secure FDIC insured bitcoin wallet/ all in one payment solution (that is supposed to be their business model after all...) and western union as a way to lower their infrastructure costs. They know this and that's why guys like Mike are "trying to stay ahead of it". If they don't they know that their lunch is going to get eaten.

Paypal crypto will never happen for the same reason that a USA crypto will never happen (noone will use it).

For business models such as western union utilizing bitcoin as a transfer method vs a currency would reduce costs and third party permissions. If I wanted to send $1,000 USD to China I can walk into a WU give them the $1,000 they would then transfer BTC to their China office and dispense the cash to recipient. The sender would never have to use bitcoin at all. It would simply be a very easy transfer method.

[ShroomsKit]

Nightowlace is a well respected member of the community

+1

I might not write on this thread very often but I've been following it since about page 150 and have read plenty of his posts, I couldn't agree with you more.

Seriously! How does one become a well reprective member of this community after only having registered in April, 2013, and considering the following, which just so happens to coincide with the topic on hand?

So I have been selling my Casascius Coins on ebay and today I get a notice from paypal that my account has been placed on "limited activity" until I provide proof of my business intentions, my AML policy (anti money laundering) and other such documents that I do not have and will never be able to provide. So I am stuck on hold with about $5,000 locked up until someone decides that Casascius Coins are "collectible coins" as I have stated and they are from my own personal collection and I am not acting on behalf of any company. Or until they decide that I am actually acting as a Money Service Business in which case I will be locked down until I can provide all of the required documents.

I honestly can not wait until Bitcoin is they preferred way to pay for transactions.

When I got the voicemail that was my first concern. I assumed this was a follow up to the locking oft PayPal account and funds being held. I called my friend who introduced me to PayPal in late 2011. I told him that I didn't know if I felt comfortable with making a call like this to discuss a matter that had been settled. He said a call wouldn't hurt.

When I called back Mike was very nice. He stated that I have sold a lot of Bitcoin on eBay and wanted to know my experience with it and was it positive. I told him that it was a very good experience up until the PayPal incident. I let him know that I thought eBay was one of the quickest and easiest methods for people to acquire bitcoin because they already have accounts and funds attached so purchasing was easy an instant and most people don't want to wait when they want something. We laughed about living in a world where everything has to be "right now". He mentioned that they were considering policy changes to allow it to be sold but he stated that "we can't ask our user to register with Fincen" I agreed its too costly. We then discussed that campbx only makes you register your KYC and AML info if it is above $1,000 per day per person so maybe there is a level of sales they could permit without being a MSB? He said that was a good question and believes it may be a $1,000 threshold. Then we spoke about PayPal already being a MSB so when I sell something to someone abroad and they pay in Euros I don't receive Euros I receive USD so why couldn't PayPal convert the currency a user paid with to BTC and transfer me BTC for BTC? If I sold a bitcoin/Casascius coin for $200 and BTC was $100 at the time of payment they convert it and send me 2BTC instead of USD. Or instead of making that complicated since the payment was being made to PayPal who is a MSB and then transferred to me wouldn't that mean only Paypal had to be the MSB? We spoke a little more about it and he said they are just trying to wrap themselves around it and stay out front.

Like I said I would love to have any hero member call today and verify it to be a truthful conversation. It's pretty simple call him up and say "My acquaintance Adam Graham said that you reached out to him regarding Bitcoin and possibly allowing some use of it on eBay and PayPal and he suggested I give you a call, he felt I would be better equipped to handle some of your questions regarding it as I have been involved with bitcoin for quite sometime" and see where the conversation goes.

I think we will see a policy update in the near future allowing virtual currency sales in small amounts that don't violate Fincen guidelines and possibly BTC integrated into the PayPal system. BTC could easily be integrated into PayPal because you would still need a physical currency funding source attached to your account and if a claim was filed against you and they paid you $200 USD worth of BTC at the time of sale they would simply take $200 USD out of your fiat account. It's not that difficult if you think about it. User pays $200 USD PayPal sends $200 BTC, user files claim and wins, PayPal deducts $200 from your fiat account.

So who is going to call and verify I am telling the truth that I received a call regarding this?

That's is quite something different than your first post.

"Adam, this is Mike from eBay and we would like it if you could call me back. As a seller of bitcoin on eBay we would love to get some feedback and input about your experience with bitcoin as we work to incorporate it into eBay"

That's exactly what the voicemail was. And throughout our discussion questions were raised regarding whether eBay policies could be updated to allow the use of bitcoin on eBay.

Well, maybe i'm just reading it wrong, then i'm sorry.
What it looks like to me was your first post saying "as we work to incorporate it into eBay" and your 2nd post you make it sound as if they were just looking for some info really and there is absolutely no evidence they want to "incorporate it into eBay".

Either way it's totally awesome they are looking into Bitcoin at all.

[ChartBuddy]

[ElectricMucus]

Nightowlace do you happen to work for eBay deals as a tech guy? Like to keep the job?

[Nightowlace]

I'm registered as a business with eBay (I think) and I sold about $30,000 USD worth of Casascius Coins on eBay. When the original voicemail was left for me I think he was looking to gain information on whether or not I would return to selling BTC on eBay if their policies were adjusted to allow it, (hence the incorporating it into ebay as an allowable item to sell). Then when we got on the phone we began discussing how PayPal can eliminate or reduce the liability to the seller regarding Fincen guidelines.

[Nightowlace]

Nightowlace do you happen to work for eBay deals as a tech guy? Like to keep the job?

Negative.

[ElectricMucus]

cool story, I like how you are avoiding the question.

Seriously please stop it with the made up Bullshit, or at least don't do it here and make your own thread.

[crazy_rabbit]

I'm registered as a business with eBay (I think) and I sold about $30,000 USD worth of Casascius Coins on eBay. When the original voicemail was left for me I think he was looking to gain information on whether or not I would return to selling BTC on eBay if their policies were adjusted to allow it, (hence the incorporating it into ebay as an allowable item to sell). Then when we got on the phone we began discussing how PayPal can eliminate or reduce the liability to the seller regarding Fincen guidelines.

I'm pretty impressed by that little bitcoin video. That is very positive news in my opinion. Maybe paypal won't be our great enemy after all.

EDIT: On second thought, maybe I'm a bit more skeptical then I was at first.

[crazy_rabbit]

I'm registered as a business with eBay (I think) and I sold about $30,000 USD worth of Casascius Coins on eBay. When the original voicemail was left for me I think he was looking to gain information on whether or not I would return to selling BTC on eBay if their policies were adjusted to allow it, (hence the incorporating it into ebay as an allowable item to sell). Then when we got on the phone we began discussing how PayPal can eliminate or reduce the liability to the seller regarding Fincen guidelines.

I'm pretty impressed by that little bitcoin video. That is very positive news in my opinion. Maybe paypal won't be our great enemy after all.

Don't kid yourself. They just froze funds for Mailpile. They won't do anything until they have figured out how to corral Bitcoin into black-hole eBay branded wallets.

That would still probably make us rich = fine with me.

[lebing]

I'm registered as a business with eBay (I think) and I sold about $30,000 USD worth of Casascius Coins on eBay. When the original voicemail was left for me I think he was looking to gain information on whether or not I would return to selling BTC on eBay if their policies were adjusted to allow it, (hence the incorporating it into ebay as an allowable item to sell). Then when we got on the phone we began discussing how PayPal can eliminate or reduce the liability to the seller regarding Fincen guidelines.

I'm pretty impressed by that little bitcoin video. That is very positive news in my opinion. Maybe paypal won't be our great enemy after all.

Don't kid yourself. They just froze funds for Mailpile. They won't do anything until they have figured out how to corral Bitcoin into black-hole eBay branded wallets.

I'm sure they figured that out before they made this video.

http://deals.ebay.com/blog/whats-the-deal-with-bitcoins-anyway/

[adamstgBit]

I'm registered as a business with eBay (I think) and I sold about $30,000 USD worth of Casascius Coins on eBay. When the original voicemail was left for me I think he was looking to gain information on whether or not I would return to selling BTC on eBay if their policies were adjusted to allow it, (hence the incorporating it into ebay as an allowable item to sell). Then when we got on the phone we began discussing how PayPal can eliminate or reduce the liability to the seller regarding Fincen guidelines.

I'm pretty impressed by that little bitcoin video. That is very positive news in my opinion. Maybe paypal won't be our great enemy after all.

Don't kid yourself. They just froze funds for Mailpile. They won't do anything until they have figured out how to corral Bitcoin into black-hole eBay branded wallets.

I'm sure they figured that out before they made this video.

http://deals.ebay.com/blog/whats-the-deal-with-bitcoins-anyway/

where is the buy now button

[JimboToronto]

I've long wondered if Paypal were considering Bitcoin, not as a medium for eBay transactions, etc., but as a means to facilitate, speed up, and reduce the cost of large internal international transfers, and also as a way to make it easier for customers to add money to their accounts.

I don't use credit cards (don't believe in them) so adding funds to my Paypal account takes a week. I try to keep about $2000 in my account in case I need to buy something in a hurry on eBay or miss out.

If Paypal accepted  bitcoins, you could see an item on eBay, transfer sufficient funds to Paypal in minutes with Bitcoin, and immediately place a bid or execute a buy-it-now. Since your deposit is irreversible, Paypal would have no reason to make you wait a week.

If a Bitcoin deposit option were available I probably would have already used it a dozen times in the past year alone.

Just my 2 satoshis.

[prophetx]

I'm registered as a business with eBay (I think) and I sold about $30,000 USD worth of Casascius Coins on eBay. When the original voicemail was left for me I think he was looking to gain information on whether or not I would return to selling BTC on eBay if their policies were adjusted to allow it, (hence the incorporating it into ebay as an allowable item to sell). Then when we got on the phone we began discussing how PayPal can eliminate or reduce the liability to the seller regarding Fincen guidelines.

I'm pretty impressed by that little bitcoin video. That is very positive news in my opinion. Maybe paypal won't be our great enemy after all.

Don't kid yourself. They just froze funds for Mailpile. They won't do anything until they have figured out how to corral Bitcoin into black-hole eBay branded wallets.

I'm sure they figured that out before they made this video.

http://deals.ebay.com/blog/whats-the-deal-with-bitcoins-anyway/

It's the only thing to figure out, otherwise integration is really easy. Basically, you won't be able to fund eBay brand Bitcoins unless you can prove their pedigree, and you won't be able to send them anywhere that has not been pre-approved.

no integration is not easy.

unlike most fly by night btc websites, paypal could lose their msb licenses so they would need to understand how the sale, exchange, storage and transmission of btc impacts their current compliance operations.

[lebing]

I'm registered as a business with eBay (I think) and I sold about $30,000 USD worth of Casascius Coins on eBay. When the original voicemail was left for me I think he was looking to gain information on whether or not I would return to selling BTC on eBay if their policies were adjusted to allow it, (hence the incorporating it into ebay as an allowable item to sell). Then when we got on the phone we began discussing how PayPal can eliminate or reduce the liability to the seller regarding Fincen guidelines.

I'm pretty impressed by that little bitcoin video. That is very positive news in my opinion. Maybe paypal won't be our great enemy after all.

Don't kid yourself. They just froze funds for Mailpile. They won't do anything until they have figured out how to corral Bitcoin into black-hole eBay branded wallets.

I'm sure they figured that out before they made this video.

http://deals.ebay.com/blog/whats-the-deal-with-bitcoins-anyway/

It's the only thing to figure out, otherwise integration is really easy. Basically, you won't be able to fund eBay brand Bitcoins unless you can prove their pedigree, and you won't be able to send them anywhere that has not been pre-approved.

Any attempt to brand bitcoins would be met with nothing less than hilarious ridicule. They aren't stupid and they know this. They should be (and apparently are) trying to gauge public perception of the possibility of coins being integrated into both ebay and paypal.

[holysmokes]

I find it weird that the blog entry is missing comment section below the post.

different facebook "share" button.
no date.
the images are not hosted on their site.

I did not find this blog entry(still looking for it) after checking some of their older "deals blog" posts.


Also, I can still remember the fake blog @ CNN Politics Blog about an order by a judge to seize the assets of   BTC-e.