For those that don't yet know about paysafecard, they have an elegant solution to purchasing items online without revealing any of your personal details. Basically, you purchase a 16-digit code (with cash) at any of the 350,000 sales outlets around the world and then use that code on a website for purchase. It is ideally suited to purchasing small quantity bitcoin, globally.
Since several of my clients are interested in the paysafecard product and since it's currently accepted on VirWoX.com for virtual currencies, I asked paysafecard about their merchant acceptance policy for other bitcoin exchanges. Here is their exact written response (which they did not want to attribute to any single individual at the company):
"Paysafecard is an anonymous payment option – there is no customer identification. By establishing a connection with another anonymous payment service as Bitcoins we would not only lose complete control over the flow of funds but also collide with local AML regulations. At this point we will not work with bitcoin exchanges."
"We allow paysafecard to be used on Virwox as Linden Dollars is a closed loop payment method, it can only be used for 2nd Life. The concern we have with working with a bitcoin exchange is we would enter into a payment cycle where we lose an element of control. If someone uses paysafecard to buy bitcoins we have not control how those bitcoins are used. They could be cashed out through another payment method or used on sites such as Silk Road, which goes completely against our merchant acquisition policy."
The full January 2012 article is entitled
"paysafecard Could Be Huge" and it can be found here:
http://themonetaryfuture.blogspot.com/2012/01/paysafecard-could-be-huge.html
