Marketing Bitcoin with Merchants: Irreversible Payments

[cloud9]

Bitcoin should really be promoted for acceptance by all mainstream Merchants for the fact that it allows for irreversible payments (when a buyer has downloaded an application or some electronic work, for example).

It will be important for the merchant to do an immediate exchange from BTC to his currency of choice though if he would prefer not to be exposed to the BTC exchange rate.  Available current BTC market depth on the exchanges will play the biggest role for the merchant to price his goods in BTC.  With all this data available and interchangeable online (MtGox.com and bitcoincharts.com), this can all be done programmatically.

[legiteum]

Bitcoin should really be promoted for acceptance by all mainstream Merchants for the fact that it allows for irreversible payments (when a buyer has downloaded an application or some electronic work, for example).

It will be important for the merchant to do an immediate exchange from BTC to his currency of choice though if he would prefer not to be exposed to the BTC exchange rate.  Available current BTC market depth on the exchanges will play the biggest role for the merchant to price his goods in BTC.  With all this data available and interchangeable online (MtGox.com and bitcoincharts.com), this can all be done programmatically.

While Bitcoin does this, so does every other digital currency, and stablecoins make a lot more sense for the average merchant. Bitcoin is very slow to transact and extremely expensive compared to a typical credit card transaction.

[Bastketsrus]

Bitcoin should really be promoted for acceptance by all mainstream Merchants for the fact that it allows for irreversible payments (when a buyer has downloaded an application or some electronic work, for example).

It will be important for the merchant to do an immediate exchange from BTC to his currency of choice though if he would prefer not to be exposed to the BTC exchange rate.  Available current BTC market depth on the exchanges will play the biggest role for the merchant to price his goods in BTC.  With all this data available and interchangeable online (MtGox.com and bitcoincharts.com), this can all be done programmatically.

While Bitcoin does this, so does every other digital currency, and stablecoins make a lot more sense for the average merchant. Bitcoin is very slow to transact and extremely expensive compared to a typical credit card transaction.

That's true for on-chain transactions, but Lightning solves a lot of that. Fast payments and low fees are exactly why many merchants are starting to use it.

[legiteum]

That's true for on-chain transactions, but Lightning solves a lot of that. Fast payments and low fees are exactly why many merchants are starting to use it.

Lightning is an idiotic waste of time, which is why almost nobody uses it, even after 10 years. Stablecoins do $trillions in transactions now. That is the future of payments.

Bitcoin is an investment, not a payment method.

[KiaKia]

That's true for on-chain transactions, but Lightning solves a lot of that. Fast payments and low fees are exactly why many merchants are starting to use it.

Lightning is an idiotic waste of time, which is why almost nobody uses it, even after 10 years. Stablecoins do $trillions in transactions now. That is the future of payments.

Bitcoin is an investment, not a payment method.

This is true, I've come accross online merchants that are accepting Bitcoin and only very few of them made lightening network payment option available, if bitcoin lightening network is the solution to transaction speed on bitcoin why isn't everyone using it?

People are far more ok with the actual bitcoin speed itself, and this is why Bitcoin for making online payments is way better and easier than using bitcoin to make payment in a local store yourself.

It seems like people don't have the need to be in hurry when making payments online, compare to local stores where they will want instant deals and they will want to move on quickly, and by the way, everything that Bitcoin can do every other payment solutions can also do.

[YOSHIE]

Bitcoin should really be promoted for acceptance by all mainstream Merchants for the fact that it allows for irreversible payments (when a buyer has downloaded an application or some electronic work, for example).

Too scared, that's what some merchants told me to accept Bitcoin as a payment method.

In 2020+2021, if I'm not mistaken, Covid/pandemic, there were several traders in my area who used the Bitcoin payment method directly to the wallet or exchange they owned, but entering 2023 until now 2026 they no longer serve Bitcoin payments.

Long story short, I dared to ask, why don't you accept payments in Bitcoin anymore, if you are a trader it's certainly easier.
The answer, short of my loss receiving Bitcoin payments in my trades, he said so.
He once sold his trade for $2000 in Bitcoin, At that time, two days before the Bitcoin price fell, the trading price was $1500 in Bitcoin at that time, a long process of waiting for the Bitcoin price to rise.

And something like that happened several times, because of which he concluded that he would no longer accept Bitcoin payments anymore.

[BlackHatCoiner]

The problems with merchants and Bitcoin adoption are two:

• Capital gains tax: By law, most merchants have to pay capital gains tax on top of income tax.
• Accepting a different currency adds a lot of friction. There is very little to gain for a merchant by adopting an internet currency. If irreversible payments (for practical matters) is important, they can go with a stablecoin.

[d5000]

Lol. Seems nobody noticed that here someone hijacked an 15 year old thread, where even MtGox is still mentioned (do Gen Alpha Bitcoiners know that name still?). But yeah, it's one of my favourite topics ...

Too scared, that's what some merchants told me to accept Bitcoin as a payment method.

In 2020+2021, if I'm not mistaken, Covid/pandemic, there were several traders in my area who used the Bitcoin payment method directly to the wallet or exchange they owned, but entering 2023 until now 2026 they no longer serve Bitcoin payments.

It's strange but I got the exact opposite impression. As I wrote in another thread, some big platforms have added Bitcoin payment option in the last 3 years.

My guess is that perhaps the 2022 bear wiped some smaller merchants with bad hedging strategy out, but then the 2024 ETF approval instead inspired confidence again and larger merchants enabled it. In some cases, like Dynadot, it looks they accept it even natively without Bitpay-style processor. Of course where I stumbled upon Bitcoin payments always also stablecoins are accepted, but I've never seen a place where I only can pay with stablecoin, but not with Bitcoin.

You have many options for hedging without using a payment processor and avoid the high fees (and possibly even KYC):

- connect the deposit addresses with an exchange via an automated software solution (i guess that is what some merchants do now, and there may be IT service providers who install and maintain such a solution)
- try to design a strategy, like selling BTC income if the market looks overheated, and hodl it when the market is falling or in the crypto winter.
- or use BTC as part of a long term holding.

Regarding capital gains tax, there are several software solutions to automate tax calculation and you also of course only pay that tax if Bitcoin is worth more than in the previous year.

[Moreno233]

The problems with merchants and Bitcoin adoption are two:

• Capital gains tax: By law, most merchants have to pay capital gains tax on top of income tax.
• Accepting a different currency adds a lot of friction. There is very little to gain for a merchant by adopting an internet currency. If irreversible payments (for practical matters) is important, they can go with a stablecoin.

Taxes are not among the major problems with Bitcoin in my country as there is practically no taxes on Bitcoin. What stand as a major obstacle here is the volatility of Bitcoin which makes most people skeptical about accepting it and the few that does do no hesitate to convert to stablecoins. Majority of the people that hold own Bitcoin here are mostly holders who do not care about the volatility but are holding for long.