Expedia To Accept Bitcoin 87
An anonymous reader writes With the debacle of Mt. GoX, Bitcoin's future was looking a little murky. But in a significant mainline acceptance, Expedia has said they will begin accepting Bitcoins as a form of payment. At first, they will accept it for hotel bookings only, will accept it only in USA, and also will not be holding Bitcoins for any length of time — converting it to dollars as soon as they can. But, quoting Emily Spaven, managing editor of Bitcoin news site CoinDesk, as told to the BBC, the move was "brilliant news" and it "brings digital currency further into the consciousness of the mainstream." So you can't quite fly to Galt's Gulch to your newly Bitcoiin-purchased real estate without switching currencies.
Re:We're not there yet (Score:5, Insightful)
...Bitcoin will not fulfill its promise: keeping cash flow untaxable, allowing people to hold on to their hard-earned income instead of the state taking it away from them at gunpoint.
Bitcoin makes no such promises. The only "promises" (goals, really) bitcoin purports to make are centered around the current trust-based model of payment processing and it's unnecessarily high transaction costs. [bitcoin.org] Only people (like you, apparently) with an agenda/ax to grind believe bitcoin promises anything else.
Re:they do not accept bitcoins (Score:4, Insightful)
Yup, they do not accept Euros either. They convert your Euros into US dollars, which they accept.
Re:Bitcoin lost 11.6% of its value this week ... (Score:3, Insightful)
All of what you said simply re-enfoces the fact that the general public will never accept this form of payment period. I fail to see how YOU can't see that. People are risk adverse, especially with money. They lock them up in banks with trivial amounts of interest vs. holding or investments because they're terrified of losing / investment losses. You seriously think the common man will accept this in a world of "I lost my CC, can you please issue a new one?" VS.. Oh shit, I lost my digital wallet thing, my entire life savings has been wiped out. crap.