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Bitcoin The Almighty Buck

PayPal Integrates Bitcoin Processors BitPay, Coinbase and GoCoin 56

Posted by Soulskill from the betting-on-bits dept.
An anonymous reader writes: PayPal today announced partnerships with three major Bitcoin payment processors: BitPay, Coinbase and GoCoin. The eBay-owned company wants to help digital goods merchants accept Bitcoin payments, although it is starting with those located in the U.S. and Canada first ("We are considering expanding to other markets," a PayPal spokesperson told TNW. "Stay tuned.")

PayPal says it chose to integrate the third-party functionality directly in the PayPal Payments Hub because the aforementioned trio already offers its customers protections when dealing with the virtual currency. The company envisions anything that can be obtained digitally, such as video games and music, being sold in Bitcoin.
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PayPal Integrates Bitcoin Processors BitPay, Coinbase and GoCoin More

PayPal Integrates Bitcoin Processors BitPay, Coinbase and GoCoin

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  • it will be easier for paypal to steal your coins than it will for them to steal money from you.
    Because you didn't really think that they were freezing your account for a 'good' reason other than to line their own pockets right?

    • Because you didn't really think that they were freezing your account for a 'good' reason other than to line their own pockets right?

      Also Federal money laundering laws.

  • and so the concentration of bitcoin into a few rich hands goes forward.

    • Re:betrayed, the paypal haters were #yoda (Score:4, Insightful)

      by mythosaz ( 572040 ) on Tuesday September 23, 2014 @08:33PM (#47979531)

      As long as those "few rich hands" are BitPay, Coinbase and GoCoin - because PayPal still isn't actually accepting "bitcoin."

      PayPal takes "BitPay," "Coinbase" and "GoCoin."

      BitPay, Coinbase and GoCoin take BTC.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by GNious ( 953874 )

        One thing I'd like to know is, how do BitPay, Coinbase and GoCoin avoid ending up with 90%+ of all BTC?

        Since most stores that take BTC also take a "real" currency, the idea that people would convert their normal currency to BTC in order to pay with BTC, seems to me to be a bit silly. Why not just pay with regular money?

        • Coinbase has 1.7 million user wallets ( https://coinbase.com/about [coinbase.com] ). I buy my bitcoins from them because I can pay via ACH transfer from my bank account. It's very convenient. My understanding is BitPay recycles their coins through exchanges.

          > Why not just pay with regular money?

          Most merchants who take bitcoin are online (76,000 total merchants, 5000 physical locations). Even in the US not everyone has access to a bank card, and outside developed countries the majority don't. Bitcoin doesn't arbit

  • a little bit.

  • A company owned by paypal the does like zero business relatively is considering allowing partners that deal in bitcoin. Woohoo!

    Saying paypal has anything to do with this is like saying you like chocolate because your brothers, wifes, uncles dog does.

    • Saying paypal has anything to do with this is like saying you like chocolate because your brothers, wifes, uncles dog does.

      Whoah, it's like saying there's a dog that can eat chocolate without getting sick or dying [webmd.com]. I know that's not the point you were trying to make; but it's important for people to understand this. Cue "the more you know" music...

      • you know, i am so sick of this story? dogs will eat anything, including motor oil.

        • dogs will eat anything, including motor oil.

          Yes, but while only the most extreme idiot or sicko would fill Fido's water dish with motor oil, there are probably still a significant number of uninformed owners who might feed him chocolate. For evidence I suggest you google "number of dogs brought to the vet due to chocolate poisoning" vs. "number of dogs brought to the vet due to motor oil poisoning".

          • chocolate: 1.4m results. motor oil: 10.1m results. this proves my point that chocolate is less poisonous than motor oil.

      • So you are saying it analogous to businesses directly dealing in bitcoin then? :P

    • TFS says "PayPal says it chose to integrate the third-party functionality directly in the PayPal Payments Hub"
      Sounds to me like, from a user's point of view, PayPal will be accepting Bitcoin. When you use your Visa card with Paypal, it goes through at least two third-party banks, but you as a customer don't know or care about that. It sounds like paying with Bitcoin will be similar to paying with your Visa card. In both cases, Paypal works with third parties, but you as a PayPal customer don't have to th

      • It sounds like paying with Bitcoin will be similar to paying with your Visa card.

        With a subtle difference difference:
        if you pay with your VISA card, not only does paypal need to collaborate with a bank, that in turn collaborates with Visa Inc., but that requires you to also have an account in a bank that also works with Visa Inc.
        By being at one side of the transaction (merchant) Visa Inc. forces itself on your side of the transaction (consumer). You have no choice.

        if you pay with bitcoin payment protocol, you're free to pick your way of handling the payment:
        enven if the merchant use Pay

        • > if you pay with your VISA card, not only does paypal need to collaborate with a bank, that in turn collaborates with Visa Inc., but that requires you to also have an account in a bank that also works with Visa Inc.

          Very slightly different. As you know, Visa doesn't issue cards, Visa is just a brand and thousands of banks issue cards and slap the Visa logo on them.
          Just like lots of places create Bitcoin, lots of places create Visa cards. We can s/Visa/Bitcoin/g and it's still true:

          if you pay with your

          • Just like lots of places create Bitcoin, lots of places create Visa cards.

            Uh.... No. bitcoin is a protocol that anyone is free to use (or not).
            There are no "places that create bitcoin", just lot of software instances using the bitcoin protocol to push BTCs around.

            We can s/Visa/Bitcoin/g and it's still true:
            if you pay with your Bitcoin, not only does paypal need to collaborate with a bank, that in turn collaborates with Bitcoin, but that requires you to also have an account in a that also works with Bitcoin.

            ...except for the part that there is no company called Bitcoin. There is no "Bitcoin Inc." controlling how bitcoin work and collecting fees.
            There's an optional concept of "fees" in the bitcoin world. But that's not collected by an entity, that's a tip for miner to encourage them into including your transaction into the

  • bitcoin (and altcoins) are circling the drain (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Ritz_Just_Ritz ( 883997 ) on Tuesday September 23, 2014 @08:29PM (#47979515)

    Look at the drop in the value of bitcoin (in dollar terms) over the last year. The same goes for any of the alt coins, at least the ones with enough volume in the market to be remotely useful.

    It's all over but the shouting. The pump and dumpers are making some money, but as a currency it's just too risky to hold since the value is tanking.

    • Re:bitcoin (and altcoins) are circling the drain (Score:5, Informative)

      by mythosaz ( 572040 ) on Tuesday September 23, 2014 @08:35PM (#47979543)

      Look at the drop in the value of bitcoin (in dollar terms) over the last year.

      Uh, wut?

      It was almost $100 on this day, a year ago, and now it's about $440.

      • It's more stable than most Biotech stocks.

      • Re:bitcoin (and altcoins) are circling the drain (Score:4, Informative)

        by Ritz_Just_Ritz ( 883997 ) on Tuesday September 23, 2014 @09:00PM (#47979701)

        And it was over $1000 in November 2013 and just a few days ago it was in the 300's. It's whipsawing up and down at the whim of the Russian and Chinese mob. Way too unstable to be used as a currency. No thanks.

        • I'll take my profits, thanks (Score:1)

          by Anonymous Coward

          I'm perfectly happy with you NOT making profits off the wild swings on this currency.

          I'm also very happy with you NOT owning the bitcoin that I have since it has been worth more every year since it's inception. Conversely, the non-digital fiat currency in my pocket has studiously gone DOWN in value every year that bitoin has come out. (And it's gone down in value for hundreds of years since it was first minted)

          You're so lucky you're so smart to stay away from bitcoin.

          Thanks!

          • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

            by Anonymous Coward
            Sounds like you agree with the GP: you're not using it as a currency; you're using it as an investment vehicle, effectively scamming other people stupid enough to buy into BitCoin out of their money.
        • The Rusky & Sino Mafia? Srsly? You know it's really easy to look that up, right? http://www.coindesk.com/price/ [coindesk.com] It had an epic exponential rise starting late last year, ended up WAY overpriced, and has been correcting to a more reasonable price since then it's not whipsawiing up and down , (There is pictures and everything)

    • Re:bitcoin (and altcoins) are circling the drain (Score:4, Informative)

      by Tokolosh ( 1256448 ) on Tuesday September 23, 2014 @09:59PM (#47979983)

      Gold price today: $1,222
      A year ago: $1,327 (down from $1,775)

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Actually, the gold price remained steady, and the dollar value went down. But maybe that was your point.

    • One does not need to "hold" a bitcoin in order to utilize the Bitcoin protocol.

    • Yup, the value of BTC does vary a lot. That doesn't make the bitcoin payment protocol any less valuable to exchange money around.
      That only means that, if you want stability and predictibility, you'd better hold you value in a currency like EUR or USD, and exchange it to BTC only to do the payment (automatically by a payment processor - e.g. one of the listed 3 or any other one, or manually at an exchange).

      But don't think this is about enabling BTC as yet another account currency at PayPal (in fact, that's n

  • Ah, slashdot. (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I only come here for the bitcoin stories now. The better the news, the harder the slam-dunk declarations that bitcoin is a huge failure. And yes, I bring my popcorn. When news of bitcoin first broke on slashdot back in 2009 I kinda thought you guys would be behind it. Apparently 'left behind' is more appropriate. You may now slay the troll.

  • Yep - Let the paypal bashing begin. Wait until Paypal acts as it's own clearinghouse for bitcoin transactions. It wants to keep control over refunds to the buyers and still wants to be able to 'freeze' your account like it does now.

  • I find this all very ironic.

    Fairly recently, Paypal had been executing a series of direct attacks on people found to (or suspected to) be selling digital currency. They were relentless, reversing transactions without sufficient information, throwing multiple collection agencies at people and not answering legal inquiries; probably because they feel they are above the law. And in fact, if what I've been reading is true, they have been getting away with quite a bit.

    Now, here we are with Paypal finally attem

    • Protect us from fraud, theft, and violence (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      I think a good example of regulation is the recent raid of Butterfly Labs, a bitcoin ASIC manufacturer who had been defrauding customers about delivery dates. Protection from fraudsters is helpful but "tighter rules" aren't - why do you think the banks are still so terrible despite the regulations you're asking for? Every time you close a loophole you complicate the law and make it easier for lawmakers to get away with accepting bribes. For any random person to start their own rival to PayPal, the barrier t

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