Steam is no longer supporting Bitcoin

[vv181]

http://steamcommunity.com/games/593110/announcements/detail/1464096684955433613

As of today, Steam will no longer support Bitcoin as a payment method on our platform due to high fees and volatility in the value of Bitcoin.

What do you think the largest game platforms stop using Bitcoin?
And how it will affect the Bitcoin acceptance on others services?

[1714520400]

1714520400

[1714520400]

1714520400

[GrannyC]

Bitcoin miners have transformed the coin in a reserve currency. I think that paradoxically that lowers its value.

[ninche]

btc high fees will force people to stop using it

[radmoreos]

The reason it seems steam has stopped using it because it is to volatile atm man! by the time the transfer goes through the price has changed so people are being charged twice in a lot of cases so in till the transactions are quicker or the price has become more stable steam will stay out ^^

[HeRetiK]

The reason it seems steam has stopped using it because it is to volatile atm man! by the time the transfer goes through the price has changed so people are being charged twice in a lot of cases so in till the transactions are quicker or the price has become more stable steam will stay out ^^

Let's be real here, although volatility has been cited it definitely is the smaller issue. The transaction fees are currently too prohibitive for Steam purchases, especially since they strike twice once refunds are considered. At least lightning network seems to be progressing well, it is indeed much needed right now.

[...]

What do you think the largest game platforms stop using Bitcoin?
And how it will affect the Bitcoin acceptance on others services?

I wouldn't be surprised if other services soon follow suit as well, but it won't be because of Steam. I guess Steam is more heavily affected by transaction fees than some of the other services, due to relatively small purchase amounts mixed with a very permissive refund system.

[2fresh]

More will follow suit. The holders and the fee's have caused btc to be a store of wealth, it's no longer a viable currency.

[PX-Z]

http://steamcommunity.com/games/593110/announcements/detail/1464096684955433613

As of today, Steam will no longer support Bitcoin as a payment method on our platform due to high fees and volatility in the value of Bitcoin.

What do you think the largest game platforms stop using Bitcoin?
And how it will affect the Bitcoin acceptance on others services?

It's obviously said and that is actually true that the fees was too high now to send btc, imagine of 3-5 dollars for the fees only lol
Anyway acceptance of Steam with bitcoin as payment method last year dont give a huge impact and this was discussed to many times already and will never brings down bitcoin, look the current price now, 14k$ was reached via coinmarketcap

[Sadlife]

I dont think steam has stop using it because of it's volatile nature but because of it's high fees especially when steam has a small price in their products that will take to long to process in bitcoin that is conflicting with their refund system. Miners has transformed bitcoin as a digital asset not for micro transactions.

[shield132]

http://steamcommunity.com/games/593110/announcements/detail/1464096684955433613

As of today, Steam will no longer support Bitcoin as a payment method on our platform due to high fees and volatility in the value of Bitcoin.

What do you think the largest game platforms stop using Bitcoin?
And how it will affect the Bitcoin acceptance on others services?

I already said for many times that it's fees can affect bitcoin's popularity and usability in a bad way but no one was listening to me and some shitposters were repeating or copy/pasting: current fees (when fees were more than 400 satoshis/byte) are very fair. Let's say goodbye to steam with bitcoins and other services too, amazon and bitcoin together will be infinitive dream for you.
But bitcoin only could make biggest profit for them because price increased amazingly, seems their bitcoin services related team failed.

[k@suy]

http://steamcommunity.com/games/593110/announcements/detail/1464096684955433613

As of today, Steam will no longer support Bitcoin as a payment method on our platform due to high fees and volatility in the value of Bitcoin.

What do you think the largest game platforms stop using Bitcoin?
And how it will affect the Bitcoin acceptance on others services?

I already said for many times that it's fees can affect bitcoin's popularity and usability in a bad way but no one was listening to me and some shitposters were repeating or copy/pasting: current fees (when fees were more than 400 satoshis/byte) are very fair. Let's say goodbye to steam with bitcoins and other services too, amazon and bitcoin together will be infinitive dream for you.
But bitcoin only could make biggest profit for them because price increased amazingly, seems their bitcoin services related team failed.

Yes,its the fees that will affects the adaptability of bitcoin. I just read this morning from my facebook wall being shared by gamers.Yes its bullish now but when the fees when sending it is high ,this will turn off people of using it and possibly will affects its support base.People will always looks for a cheapest and reliable alternative.

[Tyrantt]

fees probably... Today I've tried to buy some coins on a private wow server from the spare btc I got left over in my wallet... I can just say it didn't go too well. I've payed for them coins 1$ and  I've spend another 4$ on a fee... and didn't get even one confirmation after few hours and if you ask me, fees are a little over the top right now and all over the place. If they we're fixed amount, that would be amazing.

[stompix]

I dont think steam has stop using it because of it's volatile nature but because of it's high fees especially when steam has a small price in their products that will take to long to process in bitcoin that is conflicting with their refund system. Miners has transformed bitcoin as a digital asset not for micro transactions.

Yeah, micro transactions via BTC suck.

And most importantly, the thing that everybody forgets is that the receiver has also to pay fees when they deal directly with coins.
They have to collect all the payments from the addresses and send it to a col wallet or exchange.

Yeah, I pay 5$ fee  for a coffee, that is what I choose , but the coffee shop owner will have to pay another 2-3$ dollars for each payment when he collects the dust.

This news is pretty hard to swallow sincerely especially with the bull ride we're having.
We need LN usage to overcome this.

[gentlemand]

It's unfortunate but unsurprising.

Though it's very useful, merchant acceptance is ultimately a sideshow at best. Even if fees weren't an issue, spending will always be very limited as people will never want to spend something that might be worth more in the future. Lightning networks won't make any difference to that attitude.

There must be Steam game collections now worth more than a nice house if you could get the BTC spent on them back.

[brotherwood12]

i think its not surprising at all because of the price bitcoin right now and the fee of bitcoin transaction ,if you want buy cheap game , the value of fee will be higher than the game itself
maybe that the reason why steam stop using bitcoin as payment 

[gujbvtij]

I think this is just a temporary situation. There are many players who have the need to use bitcoin, but the high cost of bitcoin restraining this demand. Maybe steam will use another kind of encrypted currency instead of this service

[mk4]

It really just shows how we really really need a solution as soon as possible. We cant really achieve mass adoption with these transaction fees and transaction times. Right now, we currently have what? 117,000 unconfirmed transactions? If this goes on longer I really won't be surprised if bitcoin gets kicked out of the #1 spot to be honest.



https://blockchain.info/unconfirmed-transactions

I think this is just a temporary situation. There are many players who have the need to use bitcoin, but the high cost of bitcoin restraining this demand. Maybe steam will use another kind of encrypted currency instead of this service

How is "high cost of bitcoin" restraining this demand? Shouldn't it be more beneficial for them if they're accepting a currency that goes up in value? And how is removing a payment method a "solution"??

[gentlemand]

It really just shows how we really really need a solution as soon as possible. We cant really achieve mass adoption with these transaction fees and transaction times. Right now, we currently have what? 117,000 unconfirmed transactions? If this goes on longer I really won't be surprised if bitcoin gets kicked out of the #1 spot to be honest.

For better or worse I think the Digital Gold role is winning out in which case its number 1 position is cemented forever.

That also means fees will never return to alt levels. Let's see if lightning networks deliver anything before completely giving up on currency usage, but despite what some people would tell you, no one's ever going to use it as a true currency, just the occasional spending of gains.

And Bitpay agree - https://twitter.com/bitpay/status/938572385346899970

[darklus123]

http://steamcommunity.com/games/593110/announcements/detail/1464096684955433613

As of today, Steam will no longer support Bitcoin as a payment method on our platform due to high fees and volatility in the value of Bitcoin.

What do you think the largest game platforms stop using Bitcoin?
And how it will affect the Bitcoin acceptance on others services?

This is really sad. Especially  that I am one of those peopld who are taking advantage of their service. Now that they are now not supporting bitcoin as one of their payment option, I also loses my profit. Hopefully we could find a ways for this rridiculous fees(it actually destroys the purpose of why bitcoin created)

[Sachinist]

Not surprised at all but no big deal. It will be back when lightning strikes.

[scout5]

Not surprised at all but no big deal. It will be back when lightning strikes.

It is a big deal. Steam is one of the best (if not the best) gaming platforms out there. Lightning network doesn't guarantee them accepting bitcoin again. One of their reasons of removing bitcoin is due to the volatility, not purely on the transaction fees and times.

[richardivan]

Even though steam support Bitcoin, steam use bitpay as third person for payment. Bitpay force us to pay transactions's incredibly high
Example: buy steam voucher around $7 bitpay ask to pay $15 it's double the price

[stompix]

It really just shows how we really really need a solution as soon as possible. We cant really achieve mass adoption with these transaction fees and transaction times. Right now, we currently have what? 117,000 unconfirmed transactions? If this goes on longer I really won't be surprised if bitcoin gets kicked out of the #1 spot to be honest.



https://blockchain.info/unconfirmed-transactions

I think this is just a temporary situation. There are many players who have the need to use bitcoin, but the high cost of bitcoin restraining this demand. Maybe steam will use another kind of encrypted currency instead of this service

How is "high cost of bitcoin" restraining this demand? Shouldn't it be more beneficial for them if they're accepting a currency that goes up in value? And how is removing a payment method a "solution"??

https://blockchair.com/bitcoin/mempool/transactions?s=size(desc)



I'm pretty sure those are "normal" transactions , done by "normal" users, with absolutely no malicious intent.
Scroll down the list , about 10M of tx with the same size and number of outputs, and that before I got bored from scrolling.

Some are sitting there for almost one week...

It really just shows how we really really need a solution as soon as possible. We cant really achieve mass adoption with these transaction fees and transaction times. Right now, we currently have what? 117,000 unconfirmed transactions? If this goes on longer I really won't be surprised if bitcoin gets kicked out of the #1 spot to be honest.

For better or worse I think the Digital Gold role is winning out in which case its number 1 position is cemented forever.

That also means fees will never return to alt levels. Let's see if lightning networks deliver anything before completely giving up on currency usage, but despite what some people would tell you, no one's ever going to use it as a true currency, just the occasional spending of gains.

And Bitpay agree - https://twitter.com/bitpay/status/938572385346899970

I hate when I have to admit that the scenario above has about 99% +/- 1% chances of becoming true.

I hate the idea of digital gold.
I hate the idea of one coin for investments, one coin for large transactions, one coin as gold, one for small transactions, one for god knows what. But seems like step by step we're getting there.

[TheBusinessMan]

sad news for the community for sure.

[gentlemand]

I hate when I have to admit that the scenario above has about 99% +/- 1% chances of becoming true.

I hate the idea of digital gold.
I hate the idea of one coin for investments, one coin for large transactions, one coin as gold, one for small transactions, one for god knows what. But seems like step by step we're getting there.

It's conceivable that second layers will make Bitcoin all things to all people. That's always been the intention. We've yet to see one in operation so let's see if one pops up and what it can do before deciding fates are set in stone.

[Tux99]

http://steamcommunity.com/games/593110/announcements/detail/1464096684955433613

As of today, Steam will no longer support Bitcoin as a payment method on our platform due to high fees and volatility in the value of Bitcoin.

What do you think the largest game platforms stop using Bitcoin?
And how it will affect the Bitcoin acceptance on others services?

It is bad news and disappointing. However bitcoin acceptance and price will not get really big effect. People know the reason why steam no longer accept bitcoin as payment and most people involve not because bitcoin as currency but bitcoin as investment.

[Chris!]

There must be Steam game collections now worth more than a nice house if you could get the BTC spent on them back.

Lol maybe if you spent like 20k on games. If you did that's really sad either way.

Steam only just start accepting bitcoin last year! I forget when, but it really wasn't that long ago.

[gentlemand]

Lol maybe if you spent like 20k on games. If you did that's really sad either way.

Steam only just start accepting bitcoin last year! I forget when, but it really wasn't that long ago.

You're right. I'm talking out my arse.

It was introduced in April 2016 when the price was around $450. If you'd splurged on a few top ten games that day you'd certainly be out a nice car right now. Houses will follow some day.

[Chris!]

Lol maybe if you spent like 20k on games. If you did that's really sad either way.

Steam only just start accepting bitcoin last year! I forget when, but it really wasn't that long ago.

You're right. I'm talking out my arse.

It was introduced in April 2016 when the price was around $450. If you'd splurged on a few top ten games that day you'd certainly be out a nice car right now. Houses will follow some day.

Okay if you spent enough to buy a nice car now that would be much more realistic haha. We can agree on that. Spending $500 on games would be completely normal.

[AngelJoshua]

Ohhh come on im planning to buy some account there using bitcoin but they not accepting it now  i think this is because of the ongoing bitcoin value increasing day by day , they cant afford it now in using as a game credits i think more of that will going to give up on bitcoin in using it or they will no longer other games will going to try it to their game.

[abbv21b]

It is unfortunate but completely understandable because of the volatility. I hope it will stabilize soon (meaning within a year from now) so more merchants will start treating it as a currency. Volatility, even rapid gains, is difficult to deal with.. just think about refunds/chargebacks etc. that merchant has to do.

[nc50lc]

They should (steam) at least change the the way they accept bitcoin.
They should develop an in-platform wallet that could be used by the user for purchasing their services. That way, there won't be any problems with refunds and (few from) transaction fees.
And is it final? Maybe they are open for suggestions.

[jseverson]

That's discouraging. Volatility and high fees have always been a barrier, but Bitcoin has grown so much over the past few weeks that they're getting more and more prominent. Satoshis are worth more than ever, transactions in the mempool are building up, all the while the price just keeps on growing. I can't really blame them. I hope the few others which accept Bitcoin doesn't follow suit.

Also, would you really use Bitcoins for transactions at this point? Even if you ignore the fact that it's way too volatile and the fees are too high for small transactions (which Steam falls under, sadly), the rate that it has been growing just makes it un-spendable. It's growing so fast that I would rather let it sit there.

[tinystone26]

I think the way we can do is buy to steam in our localcoins if you don't like a high fees on your buying game kits and that's what I'm doing better for the good sake and maybe they just test if bitcoin can do more than our fiat.