It's Public Now: MasterCard Offically Lobbying on Bitcoin in U.S Congress

[keithers]

This is definitely not good news.   Since BTC ultimately poses a long term threat to Mastercard's bottom line, you can bet the house that they aren't there lobbying in support of cryptos.

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[ParsnipCommander]

Is there any scenario where Mastercard can join with BTC and help innovate it and work with it - keeping it's bottom line?

[Arghhh]

There is literally no fucking way they are lobbying anything in bitcoin's favor. Prepare for a fight.

[vpitcher07]

With services like zapo which will soon allow you to use a debit card via mastercard / visa to spend bitcoin. Sounds like a really good idea to me.

[keithers]

Although there is not a chance in hell that this is why they are in Washington, it would be great if Mastercard came out publicly and said that their credit cards can be used to purchase BTC.   Or BTC could be used to pay the monthly credit card bill!

[nextgencoin]

This all goes to show that Bitcoin can't die. Those in power are desperate to control it and those who stand to lose from it are either trying to control it or hop on board in some way.

It's a simple concept that even some Bitcoiners don't get. Bitcoin can't die. Maybe it can be superseded by another Bitcoin type system but it can't die. Because you can really regulate the unregulatable and you will never stop people seeking to freely pass around wealth. Add an indestructible element and you will never kill it.

[bryant.coleman]

Is there any scenario where Mastercard can join with BTC and help innovate it and work with it - keeping it's bottom line?

No. Bitcoin was created to end the exploitative practices of greedy corporates such as Master / Visa / Paypal / Western Union. If Master want to join the BTC, then they will have to eliminate their greed, which I think is never going to happen.

[gagalady]

Indeed If we compare Bitcoin with master/visa cards bitcoin is nothing. So yes what we can do is just try to spread bitcoin word as much as possible till It gets Its power.

[ParsnipCommander]

Typewriters are still around... so maybe the Mastercard lobbyists are trying to at least save them enough maybe to cater to the older than 50 years crowd who will find it harder believe in bitcoin? Mastercard will soon be cute like a typewriter...

[PuffMo]

From article comments.


“Stay away. Bitcoin is a mirage. It’s a method of transmitting money. It’s a very effective way of transmitting money and you can do it anonymously and all that. A check is a way of transmitting money, too. Are checks worth a whole lot of money just because they can transmit money? Are money orders? You can transmit money by money orders. People do it. I hope bitcoin becomes a better way of doing it, but you can replicate it a bunch of different ways and it will be. The idea that it has some huge intrinsic value is just a joke in my view.”—Warren Buffett (March 2014)

Kinda makes sense I think coin start then goes up then it finds its price level. Something like that.

[Crossbow376]

From article comments.


“Stay away. Bitcoin is a mirage. It’s a method of transmitting money. It’s a very effective way of transmitting money and you can do it anonymously and all that. A check is a way of transmitting money, too. Are checks worth a whole lot of money just because they can transmit money? Are money orders? You can transmit money by money orders. People do it. I hope bitcoin becomes a better way of doing it, but you can replicate it a bunch of different ways and it will be. The idea that it has some huge intrinsic value is just a joke in my view.”—Warren Buffett (March 2014)

Kinda makes sense I think coin start then goes up then it finds its price level. Something like that.

What about Paypal and WesternUnion lol? How much does the companies worth?
Bitcoin is even way better than PP and WU IMO.

[PuffMo]

How much paypal is worth. Strictly business wise - amount they generate in commissions and fees from the merchant accounts minus costs. Aka profit per year X say by 10. Plus brand is worth something as they can launch new services to somewhat loyal customers. And in times where data is worth alot, data held also adds to the valuation.

And

Well if you have read comments there you would see -

Marc Andreessen is hard at work blowing hot air into Bitcoin, undoubtedly for the sake of his investments therein; he’s also a director of eBay Inc., a most unscrupulous commercial organisation demonstrably involved in knowingly and calculatingly facilitating massive auction fraud activity on the consumers of the world.

From article comments.


“Stay away. Bitcoin is a mirage. It’s a method of transmitting money. It’s a very effective way of transmitting money and you can do it anonymously and all that. A check is a way of transmitting money, too. Are checks worth a whole lot of money just because they can transmit money? Are money orders? You can transmit money by money orders. People do it. I hope bitcoin becomes a better way of doing it, but you can replicate it a bunch of different ways and it will be. The idea that it has some huge intrinsic value is just a joke in my view.”—Warren Buffett (March 2014)

Kinda makes sense I think coin start then goes up then it finds its price level. Something like that.

What about Paypal and WesternUnion lol? How much does the companies worth?
Bitcoin is even way better than PP and WU IMO.

[iluvpie60]

It shows how scared MasterCard is due to the rise of Bitcoin. It's ironical that in their recent risk disclosure statements, MasterCard & Visa did not disclose Bitcoin as a risk! But from deep inside they are totally scared.

Full news story here:
http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/business-a-lobbying/204733-mastercard-lobbying-on-bitcoin

I think the community or the Bitcoin foundation need to wear their Lobbying hats NOW!

I think now I can confidently say: Bitcoin to the moon (AKA: $10,000) -- in medium to long term, of course.

Are you joking?

http://www.coindesk.com/new-mobile-payment-system-paym-poses-challenge-bitcoin/


Do you know how easy it is for most credit card companies / banks to implement this "Paym" solution(it already exists in some major banks)? Like I have always said, Bitcoin doesn't help the normal average person almost at all in any way shape or form. Most people don't ever pay any fees on any banking services, especially when credit cards give you 5% off on rotational categories and 2% on every day purchases.

The case is closed on how much BTC helps average person, it doesn't.


however, tech people will use it always no matter what, so there is certainly a niche that won't go away.

I gotta say, it has been a good run, but Bitcoin can easily be shoved into the back of the closet.  A few gifted coders did create something that is good yes. But everyone is very entrenched in loans with USD and banks and CCs. Bitcoin taking down the USD as the world reserve currency is a complete joke. That is like saying Apple will gain more market share in operating systems for computers/laptops. Never gonna happen ever.

yeah banks are giving us money for using their services... best business model ever. seriously... you are aware that they are massively charging merchants for using their services. I do not know if you are familiar with poker, but your 5% or 2% are at best a rakeback from the rake you pay to the provider. it is obviously more cost efficient not to pay rake at all.

my thesis is that systems without a middlemen are always more cost efficient than systems with a middle men - that is for me the most convincing reason why crypotcurrencies will succeed

0% annual fee, 0% banking fee, 0% transfer fee, 0% late fee(I am never late and always pay off anyways).

So that 2% to 5% I rake back, is purely going back to me. Credit card companies lose money on me, I am a pure money pit to them. I NEVER PAY INTEREST to any cc company as I always have auto pay set to pay my balance. My dad taught me this, get a cc with no fees that has rewards and its an easy way to get money back.

Not to mention I signed up for a few different credit cards so i can take advantage of the rotating 3 month promotional 5% categories. Example, discover might give 5% off gas for the next 3 months so I only use that to buy gas, my chase preferred visa might be 5% off home improvement items so i only buy home improvement items with that. BTC gives absolutely nothing off and is volatile, so yeah not using that to buy anything, + you get to pay a nice transaction fee and you have to keep track of it and provide the details when filing your taxes(no thanks lol). although obviously it would be hard for them to catch you "NOW" but once they start getting systems put together that tie in your bank account that you used to link to coinbase or whatever, they link it back to you, few years down the road something shows up for thousands of dollars worth of BTC transactions with your name on it, and they are auditing you gotta love how the blockchain can be used to go back into the past and fuck you huh?

[durrrr]

I think that honestly what is going to happen is going to be that MasterCard and or visa and bitcoin are going to merge and they are going to find a way to use bitcoin

[pabpete]

Who exactly owns the "rights" to bitcoin anyways. I think one day soon all of this will be changed in court. Assuming MasterCard believes bitcoin a threat.

[Sindelar1938]

Not surprising, merely a matter of time
Game on...

[RodeoX]

Well, they have to do something. 

[C.Steven]

Not surprising, merely a matter of time
Game on...

+1.
If bitcoin gets more and more successful, the credit card companies will have less business and less profit. So, it is not surprised to read something like that.

[BTCisthefuture]

It's worth noting that it's not yet clear if they are lobbying for bitcoin or against bitcoin.  While most of us would assume a negative, it could very well be that they are lobbying to get better rules and regulations to allow them to get into the crypto currency market one way or another.  As someone else said, this could just be so they have legal clarity on what they can or can't do and is an attempt to get politicians to get on the ball and make things more clear in a quicker manner.

[MegaHustlr]

Hmm... bad news.... MasterCard / Visa have billions of $$$ in their hands to do the lobbying. Unfortunately we don't even have 1% of that amount. Now the only realistic option is to align with the enemies of Master / Visa, such as Russia.

We should begin buying bitcoin with their cards just to pump wealth into btc.