2013-07-17 For Bitcoin VCs, There’s No Sexier Word Than “Compliance”

[ganabb]

http://allthingsd.com/20130715/for-bitcoin-vcs-theres-no-sexier-word-than-compliance/

There are few things that people agree on about bitcoin, the virtual currency that has increasingly come under the media spotlight this year. But here’s one: If the controversial payment method is going to receive mainstream adoption, it’s going to have to get easier to both buy and sell.

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[kjlimo]

http://allthingsd.com/20130715/for-bitcoin-vcs-theres-no-sexier-word-than-compliance/

There are few things that people agree on about bitcoin, the virtual currency that has increasingly come under the media spotlight this year. But here’s one: If the controversial payment method is going to receive mainstream adoption, it’s going to have to get easier to both buy and sell.

and spend!

[aigeezer]

http://allthingsd.com/20130715/for-bitcoin-vcs-theres-no-sexier-word-than-compliance/

There are few things that people agree on about bitcoin, the virtual currency that has increasingly come under the media spotlight this year. But here’s one: If the controversial payment method is going to receive mainstream adoption, it’s going to have to get easier to both buy and sell.

and spend!

BTC is called a currency in one sentence and a payment method in the next (fragment). It is very different from what came before, and this leads to angst over ease of buying, selling, spending (I'd add earning) as people try to figure out its role. In the old familiar systems, people don't usually fuss about how to "buy money" or how to "spend a payment method" - it can happen (a store might not accept Visa, for instance) but it is relatively rare.

Early days. Growing pains. Journalists blather - most of it is white noise. I caricature journalism as "observe the status quo, note that it is not something else, rinse and repeat, new deadline tomorrow."

[kjlimo]

http://allthingsd.com/20130715/for-bitcoin-vcs-theres-no-sexier-word-than-compliance/

There are few things that people agree on about bitcoin, the virtual currency that has increasingly come under the media spotlight this year. But here’s one: If the controversial payment method is going to receive mainstream adoption, it’s going to have to get easier to both buy and sell.

and spend!

BTC is called a currency in one sentence and a payment method in the next (fragment). It is very different from what came before, and this leads to angst over ease of buying, selling, spending (I'd add earning) as people try to figure out its role. In the old familiar systems, people don't usually fuss about how to "buy money" or how to "spend a payment method" - it can happen (a store might not accept Visa, for instance) but it is relatively rare.

Early days. Growing pains. Journalists blather - most of it is white noise. I caricature journalism as "observe the status quo, note that it is not something else, rinse and repeat, new deadline tomorrow."

I was actually just wondering what it was like to use VISA when it was first released...

It's a little clunky using bitcoin for my first couple of beer purchases; however, perhaps they had the same growing pains when VISA was first used?

Anyone wanna search for some articles and shoot me links to stories covering the first VISA transactions... or was that before the internet existed, so no archives of such stories are online?

[aigeezer]

I was actually just wondering what it was like to use VISA when it was first released...

It's a little clunky using bitcoin for my first couple of beer purchases; however, perhaps they had the same growing pains when VISA was first used?

Anyone wanna search for some articles and shoot me links to stories covering the first VISA transactions... or was that before the internet existed, so no archives of such stories are online?

I remember using Visa (then called Chargex) for a cross-Canada trip in 1972. ARPANET-era, but no Internet in any modern sense. Most motels and restaurants took Chargex by then. I bought a camera with it at a camera store (remember them?). You got a carbon copy receipt for every transaction and the carbon soiled everything it touched. TV commercials had softened people up to accept the technology. The ubiquitous jingle sang "Will that be cash (clever pause to build suspense) or Chargex?"

Psychologically, it felt modern and hip to use the new plastic. Amex cards had been around for a while and were marketed upscale, so Chargex was sort of like Amex for the masses. There was danger for the unwary/undisciplined who might run up debt with their newfound credit. The 60s "Limeliters" folk group had a song out about a fictional "Marvin" who got a credit card and went wild with it.

Lyric sample from memory:

Marvin was a conscientious honest workin' guy
Who squeezed each weekly paycheck 'til the eagle had run dry.
He worked to pay his taxes and his bills when they came due
And living very frugally he saved a buck or two.

... plot develops until...

Marvin used his credit card to charter his own plane.

... and so forth, with the chorus

Glory glory hallelujah
Let the credit company sue ya
Don't you fret what happens to ya....

Bottom line - there was some resistance, some skepticism, some horror stories - but the technology was pushed aggressively top-down from TV sources, sort of like the "weapons of mass destruction" meme and the populace adapted quickly. BTC is much more like Napster in that regard, with bottom-up discovery and top-down resistance.

[kjlimo]

I was actually just wondering what it was like to use VISA when it was first released...

It's a little clunky using bitcoin for my first couple of beer purchases; however, perhaps they had the same growing pains when VISA was first used?

Anyone wanna search for some articles and shoot me links to stories covering the first VISA transactions... or was that before the internet existed, so no archives of such stories are online?

I remember using Visa (then called Chargex) for a cross-Canada trip in 1972. ARPANET-era, but no Internet in any modern sense. Most motels and restaurants took Chargex by then. I bought a camera with it at a camera store (remember them?). You got a carbon copy receipt for every transaction and the carbon soiled everything it touched. TV commercials had softened people up to accept the technology. The ubiquitous jingle sang "Will that be cash (clever pause to build suspense) or Chargex?"

Psychologically, it felt modern and hip to use the new plastic. Amex cards had been around for a while and were marketed upscale, so Chargex was sort of like Amex for the masses. There was danger for the unwary/undisciplined who might run up debt with their newfound credit. The 60s "Limeliters" folk group had a song out about a fictional "Marvin" who got a credit card and went wild with it.

Lyric sample from memory:

Marvin was a conscientious honest workin' guy
Who squeezed each weekly paycheck 'til the eagle had run dry.
He worked to pay his taxes and his bills when they came due
And living very frugally he saved a buck or two.

... plot develops until...

Marvin used his credit card to charter his own plane.

... and so forth, with the chorus

Glory glory hallelujah
Let the credit company sue ya
Don't you fret what happens to ya....

Bottom line - there was some resistance, some skepticism, some horror stories - but the technology was pushed aggressively top-down from TV sources, sort of like the "weapons of mass destruction" meme and the populace adapted quickly. BTC is much more like Napster in that regard, with bottom-up discovery and top-down resistance.

BTCeautiful summary!  I'll be sure to bring up the carbon copies next time someone complains about these initial transactions not going smoothly... eventually (probably quickly), the technology will go smoothy and be awesome, but for now, there are a few kinks to work out... especially for the FIRST ever restaurant in OHIO to accept bitcoin.

Gonna go get my lunch for BTCitcoin now...