[2019-04-22] You Can Now Shop With Bitcoin on Amazon Using Lightning

[mich]

https://www.coindesk.com/you-can-now-shop-with-bitcoin-on-amazon-using-lightning



Bitcoin spenders can now use the lightning network to shop at e-commerce sites like Amazon.

Crypto payment processing startup Moon announced today that any lightning-enabled wallet can now also be used through Moon’s browser extension. Before this lightning feature, roughly 250 beta users already used Moon to spend crypto on e-commerce sites by connecting the browser extension to exchange accounts like Coinbase.

Moon CEO Ken Kruger told CoinDesk:
“[The extension] will pop up a QR code and it will have the lightning invoice, which you could also copy and paste if you can’t use the QR code for some reason, and you’ll be able to pay with your favorite lightning wallet.”

To be clear, Amazon itself never touches bitcoin. Kruger declined to specify which traditional financial institutions are helping convert the bitcoin to fiat on the backend so that Amazon merchants actually receive fiat currency for their wares. However, Kruger added that by 2020 the lightning-enabled feature should work on almost any e-commerce site, regardless of whether that platform accepts bitcoin directly.

“There’s no direct merchant integration,” Kruger said, clarifying that Moon also manages payment channels and merely offers a simple interface for sending payments.

“We’re integrating with the Visa and Mastercard networks and we get a cut of the interchange fees that merchants pay every time they receive a credit card transaction,” he said.

Moon was founded in New York last year and grew to a staff of three people with just $100,000 invested by the Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator. The accelerator’s managing director, Murat Aktihanoglu, told CoinDesk he sees Moon as one of the “anchor” crypto businesses with lucrative potential over the next five years.

“We invested in Moon as a long-term portfolio company,” Aktihanoglu said.

In the meantime, Kruger said his startup is looking to raise a Series A in 2019 and continue learning from user behavior.

“There’s a lot of opportunities to help solve some of those usability problems and getting people onto the lightning network, increasing adoption in that way,” Kruger said. “We’re going to engage with other folks in the lightning community to see what people are doing, what they’re working on and if there are any significant gaps. We’d love to step in and help whenever possible.”

UPDATE (April 22, 14:10 UTC): The extension’s lightning network functionality is still being reviewed by the Chrome Web Store and is now anticipated to launch on Wednesday, according to Moon.

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[bL4nkcode]

So merchants will not receive or any options to receive bitcoin instead fiat nor even Amazon itself.

Though this is really a huge significant adoption and another milestone for bitcoin as a huge company like amazon integrate it as one of its payment method. It's a matter of when for the other marketplace/company integrate bitcoin as payment method especially with lightning. edited as I stand corrected.

[1Referee]

So merchants will not receive or any options to receive bitcoin instead fiat nor even Amazon itself.

Though this is really a huge significant adoption and another milestone for bitcoin as a huge company like amazon integrate it as one of its payment method. It's a matter of when for the other marketplace/company integrate bitcoin as payment method especially with lightning.

Amazon didn't integrate anything. I don't even think Amazon is aware of this at all. 

It's just a browser extension you can link to pretty much any site accepting similar legacy payment options. It's still cool, but less cool than it looks.

I have been using PurseIO for over a year now, and while they are a big blocker service, they do offer a very useful service to Bitcoiners to buy any item from Amazon with discounts up to 25%, now that's what I consider super cool.

[anu1908]

It's a matter of when for the other marketplace/company integrate bitcoin as payment method especially with lightning.

amazon is not integrating any bitcoin crypto. this third party payment processor act as a third party who'll send fiat via Visa/Mastercard to pay your bill on Amazon if I get it correctly.

so actually, there's no real adoption by amazon. just somebody who'll help you shop at amazon through ln.

[hugeblack]

This article reflects the influence of some news site and words in the dissemination of services.
Perhaps the reason for the spread of this topic "I have seen 3 posts & posted one of those posts." Is the use of some words [lightning network, Amazon] and coindesk as a source of news.

There are some privacy warnings when using this add-on, so be careful before downloading it ----> https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5111634.msg49921454#msg49921454.

[bL4nkcode]

amazon is not integrating any bitcoin crypto. this third party payment processor act as a third party who'll send fiat via Visa/Mastercard to pay your bill on Amazon if I get it correctly.

Thanks for the heads up, never read the whole article that's why... that's why. But I just read some related threads so... ''

Amazon didn't integrate anything. I don't even think Amazon is aware of this at all.  

Okay, I get it now, just ignore my previous post.

[hatshepsut93]

There are some privacy warnings when using this add-on, so be careful before downloading it ----> https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5111634.msg49921454#msg49921454.

This is so frustrating, crypto's biggest selling point is that it is giving users freedom and privacy, and these people put spyware in their crypto products. I hope it backfires and no one will use this service so it will fail and die. Crypto community should be sending a clear message to crypto companies that will not tolerate any kind of shady behavior that traditional companies like social networks and banks are usually engaged in. If not, then I don't see any big point in crypto at all.

[Kemarit]

This is still a far cry from the adoption that we wanted to see from Amazon. Just some company (and a shady one) decided to create a browser extension and tie it to your account to be able to shop in Amazon. Really scary, and I wouldn't even used and download that extension. You don't want to be caught in the middle with high fees and the likelihood that your account can be compromised.

[gentlemand]

Crypto community should be sending a clear message to crypto companies that will not tolerate any kind of shady behavior that traditional companies like social networks and banks are usually engaged in. If not, then I don't see any big point in crypto at all.

If this company offered a 10% discount and said there was a 1 in 10 chance of them emptying your wallet you'd still get 100x more customers than haters.

The crypto community is largely made up of greedy dimwits and there's a few billion more to come.

[BitHodler]

This is still a far cry from the adoption that we wanted to see from Amazon.

I am quite sure that even when Amazon actually starts accepting Bitcoin payments, that aside from some initial payment traffic, it will end up being a big disappointment after a year or so.

Merchants having accepted Bitcoin in the past have stopped doing so solely because of the lacking user interest. They blame the volatility and high fees, but that's nonsense.

Most people don't want to spend their coins, and I can't really blame them for that. Bitcoin is too precious to spend, especially when we're going through a bull market. Today's purchase will be tomorrow's regret.

[gentlemand]

Most people don't want to spend their coins, and I can't really blame them for that. Bitcoin is too precious to spend, especially when we're going through a bull market. Today's purchase will be tomorrow's regret.

There's an interesting, and painfully obvious, dichotomy. Holders want merchant adoption with the idea that the masses will pour in to buy Bitcoin so they can buy something else.

Of course no one's going to do that. The handful of weirdos who do quickly realise they don't want to let go of it either so they become another holder urging some other sap to try again and follow through this time around.

I happily spend all the time and apart from a few painful exceptions I'm perfectly content to buy something knowing there may be a huge price rise some day. At the time the amount of BTC fit and I only buy things that'll make my life better.

If the price goes into dreamland territory I won't really care if it doubles or triples again if I buy some big ticket items. It will have gotten high enough for whatever my needs may be.

[carlfebz2]

Most people don't want to spend their coins, and I can't really blame them for that. Bitcoin is too precious to spend, especially when we're going through a bull market. Today's purchase will be tomorrow's regret.

Completely agree with this thing yet even with these integrations would be on full scale I don't think that it would give out success.It might be a good option
to take but wont really be effective yet most people would just choose on keeping or holding their coins since they do know its value and potential profits in future.

On the topic, I was little bit hyped that amazon already accepted it but I was wrong yet its an another add-ons doing. 

[squatter]

I have been using PurseIO for over a year now, and while they are a big blocker service, they do offer a very useful service to Bitcoiners to buy any item from Amazon with discounts up to 25%, now that's what I consider super cool.

Have you done a lot of volume through Purse? I probably spend 5-figures a year on Amazon and I've always been tempted by those discounts on Purse, but the fraud risk concerns me. I remember seeing this story and after that I decided not to try it.

[o_e_l_e_o]

I remember seeing this story and after that I decided not to try it.

Anything that seems too good to be true probably is. Spend your bitcoin and get a 20% discount on Amazon prices seems too good to be true to me.

The fact is that the majority of gift cards being sold here or on any other site, for Amazon or any other service, have either been stolen or bought with stolen/hacked/phished credit cards/debit cards/bank accounts/etc. No one can buy giftcards legitimately at a price that then allows them to sell at a 20% discount and still make a profit.

[hatshepsut93]

Crypto community should be sending a clear message to crypto companies that will not tolerate any kind of shady behavior that traditional companies like social networks and banks are usually engaged in. If not, then I don't see any big point in crypto at all.

If this company offered a 10% discount and said there was a 1 in 10 chance of them emptying your wallet you'd still get 100x more customers than haters.

The crypto community is largely made up of greedy dimwits and there's a few billion more to come.

Well, Bcash and SegWit2x were promising people cheap transactions, and it was still not enough to convince them to switch, and majority of the users stayed with BTC. But there's probably a risk that in the future governments will start backing centralized coins like ETH and XRP, which will cause their prices to skyrocket, and many people will be switching to them.

[1Referee]

Have you done a lot of volume through Purse? I probably spend 5-figures a year on Amazon and I've always been tempted by those discounts on Purse, but the fraud risk concerns me. I remember seeing this story and after that I decided not to try it.

Not a lot, more like a few hundred bucks per month at most.

I have read similar stories in the past, which for me was a factor to avoid it, but it seems that they have been improving a lot, and for over a year I haven't had a single problem with any of my purchases. I guess the risk is technically still there, but it's negligible in my opinion.

Perhaps you can try it out with a few smaller purchases to see how it goes, but I don't expect any problems at all, else we would see the web flooded with complaints.

[pixie85]

Most people don't want to spend their coins, and I can't really blame them for that. Bitcoin is too precious to spend, especially when we're going through a bull market. Today's purchase will be tomorrow's regret.

Maybe that's the future role of Bitcoin and we should accept it. There's so much talk about bitcoin as a new payment system and merchant acceptance but adoption doesn't have to follow this path. There are many uses of bitcoin like a micropayment system, reserve currency, tradable asset and a store of value like gold. Maybe the last one will be the most important.

Again this is being introduced on Amazon.com and the other Amazons will take months if not years to add it.