is Venmo a huge roadblock to Bitcoin?

[majamalu]

Accusations of money laundering in 3, 2, 1...

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[Rassah]

I don't think the point that "Venmo uses fiat" is going to win anyone over. No one really cares. People only care about how easy it is to covert what comes in as paychecks into stuff they can buy to make themselves happy. I guess global convenience is the main major selling point to push now.

[majamalu]

People only care about how easy it is to covert what comes in as paychecks into stuff they can buy to make themselves happy.

What if they want something that their government forbids them?

EDIT: For example, protecting their purchasing power, donating to a certain organization, gambling online, etc..

[FreeMoney]

People only care about how easy it is to covert what comes in as paychecks into stuff they can buy to make themselves happy.

What if they want something that their government forbids them?

EDIT: For example, protecting their purchasing power, donating to a certain organization, gambling online, etc..

+1

Show me Venmo to online poker in minutes and I'll be worried.

[Andrew Vorobyov]

Ok.. somebody please contact MTGOX and ask them to implement it as withdraw option like Rassah Said

[Rassah]

People only care about how easy it is to covert what comes in as paychecks into stuff they can buy to make themselves happy.

What if they want something that their government forbids them?

EDIT: For example, protecting their purchasing power, donating to a certain organization, gambling online, etc..

I'm not disputing that Bitcoin will still have niche markets. I'm still very long Bitcoin, too. Just that the biggest advantage people were trying to sell to others (easy free money transfers) is now gone. With this, it's now basically a hacker's currency.

[BadBear]

I'd think of it as more of a stepping stone, not a roadblock.

[majamalu]

People only care about how easy it is to covert what comes in as paychecks into stuff they can buy to make themselves happy.

What if they want something that their government forbids them?

EDIT: For example, protecting their purchasing power, donating to a certain organization, gambling online, etc..

I'm not disputing that Bitcoin will still have niche markets. I'm still very long Bitcoin, too. Just that the biggest advantage people were trying to sell to others (easy free money transfers) is now gone. With this, it's now basically a hacker's currency.

No need to wait for the death of the dollar. The black market is not a niche: it is huge, and growing rapidly.

[Stephen Gornick]

Takes money out of credit card or bank
Zero fees

Slight correction on that claim about zero fees:

Venmo allows the payment to be funded from a credit card.   That used to be provided at par (no fee for the transfer from a card).  Now they charge 3% apparently  (though for new users, the first $500 of charges is free from any fees).

 - http://help.venmo.com/customer/portal/articles/429494-why-is-venmo-charging-credit-card-fees-

[Rassah]

Takes money out of credit card or bank
Zero fees

Slight correction on that claim about zero fees:

Venmo allows the payment to be funded from a credit card.   That used to be provided at par (no fee for the transfer from a card).  Now they charge 3% apparently  (though for new users, the first $500 of charges is free from any fees).

 - http://help.venmo.com/customer/portal/articles/429494-why-is-venmo-charging-credit-card-fees-

I got that e-mail a few days ago, too. Was actually very happy to hear that 

[EuSouBitcoin]

I see Venmo as another service in an already crowded field of competitors offering services to transfer USD, either with fees or without. The market is splintered and for each service you need to set up another account. All of these services are subject to chargebacks. How is Venmo any different from these services which have mobile apps you can use to send USD
1) PayPal
2) Chase QuickPay https://www.chase.com/online/services/quickpay.htm
3) ING Direct's P2p2 http://home.ingdirect.com/products/htmls_content/demo_p2p.html

How will all of this shake out? Probably some consolidation, but around which service, who knows?

[Rassah]

I see Venmo as another service in an already crowded field of competitors offering services to transfer USD, either with fees or without. The market is splintered and for each service you need to set up another account. All of these services are subject to chargebacks. How is Venmo any different from these services which have mobile apps you can use to send USD
1) PayPal
2) Chase QuickPay https://www.chase.com/online/services/quickpay.htm
3) ING Direct's P2p2 http://home.ingdirect.com/products/htmls_content/demo_p2p.html

How will all of this shake out? Probably some consolidation, but around which service, who knows?

At this point, it's pretty much PayPal (if you use the gift option), so I'm not worried. Before this recent change, being able to add any source of funds, including credit cards, and transfer money back and forth for free (my friends were tossing $0.01 back and forth all day for the hell of it) made it stand out quite a bit. I guess doubters were right, that system was unsustainable.
Don't forget, for Bitcoin to be useful, you also need to set up another account (Gox, Dwolla, Bit-Pay, etc)

[Stephen Gornick]

How is Venmo any different from these services which have mobile apps you can use to send USD
1) PayPal
2) Chase QuickPay https://www.chase.com/online/services/quickpay.htm
3) ING Direct's P2p2 http://home.ingdirect.com/products/htmls_content/demo_p2p.html

There are multiple categories of mobile apps that send USD.  The categories are:

- Mobile banking
- Mobile e-commerce
- Mobile money transfer
- Mobile payment

Excluding the mobile banking apps (which nearly every major bank offers) and the B2B and B2C-only mobile payment apps (e.g., the Starbucks payment app, Google Wallet, TabbedOut, Jumio Netswipe, LevelUp/Scvngr, BokU, etc.) then your list also would include:

4.) Serve (AmEx)
5.) Dwolla
6.) Venmo
7.) AlertPay
8.) Skrill / MoneyBookers
9.) Clover
10.) HyperWallet
11.) Slash8 App
12.) Klunki
13.) KuaPay
14.) OpenCuro
15.) Boom (m-Via)
16.) Square
17.) GoPayment (Intuit)
18.) PAYware (Verifone)
19.) Stripe (to some degree can be P2P)
20.) WePay (to some degree can be P2P)

And that's just USD or primarily for the U.S.  Then there are:
 
21..) PayFirma (like Square, but Canadian)
22.) PingIT (Barclay's - UK)
23.) OboPay
24.) M-Pesa (Kenya)
25.) AirTel App (India)
26.) GCash (Philippines)
27.) Smart Money (Philippines)

and ... oh, a slew of others around the world.

The one thing they all have in common?  They are all basically methods to do what banks themselves haven't been doing.  They exist to reduce some of the friction of working with the banking system.  Some day they'll see major competition from apps that link to bitcoin (or will incorporate that functionality themselves.)