Steam No Longer Accepts Bitcoin

[heirdeux]

High transaction fees and a constantly changing value are to blame for Valve's reluctance to support the cryptocurrency.

Steam No Longer Accepts Bitcoin : Read more

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Good decision by STEAM.

 

[Rock_n_Rolla]

In Addition :

This is one good example of disadvantage of using crypto currency when u buy a product or services that needs a refund due to different reasons or needs a huge change amount where a real monetary (option or means) is not available (online transactions).

I agree with STEAM's decision.

 

[kellner.james]

I agree. Good choice steam. Garbage pyramid scheme "currency".

 

[AnonymousAndy]

When did steam ever even accept bitcoin?
I missed that entirely. Or is this just a click-bait article?

 

[Zaporro]

Good, first miners ruined gamers market for PC parts and now they want to use gaming platform.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies should go down the gutter drain.

 

[Olle P]

I see no reason why Steam shouldn't be able to accept any other currency that is more stable and has a less expensive exchange fee.

This is one good example of disadvantage of using crypto currency when u buy a product or services that needs a refund ... where a real monetary (option or means) is not available (online transactions).

How do you mean?
The Steam prices were not set in BTC but in EUR (here in Europe). If the price is €30 you could pay the equivalent in BTC at the time of purchase, and then get the equivalent of €30 back in case of a refund. If the exchange rate changed in the mean time you'd just get a different amount of BTC back compared to what you paid, just as if you use any other currency.
The only difference is that the BTC is very unstable and the exchange fees are way too high for small transactions.

 

[mapesdhs]

The article mentions people getting rich; only if they cashed in their BTCs for normal money, otherwise it's still digital vapourware that can vanish overnight. But then, normal money can do that too I guess, just ask the Cypriots. :\

 

[ubercake]

This simple announcement can drop the value 50%.

 

[bloodroses]

I'm honestly surprised any retailer takes BitCoin atm. As the article mentions, it is still way too volatile with values swaying quite a bit from day to day.

The other thing is without any true backing, BitCoin could all of a sudden one day drop by a extremely large amount (90%+); something stocks do not do anymore since after the Stock Market Crash there is government protection preventing a stock from falling too far in one day. BitCoin isn't considered money, but an asset. Valve would lose tons of money if something like that happened and right now it is too much of a risk for them.

For those who don't think a drop like this is possible, if one or 2 of the major holders of BitCoins decides to suddenly sell off all his coins one day (for massive profit), the value of the coin will plummet.

 

[mapesdhs]

... something stocks do not do anymore since after the Stock Market Crash there is government protection preventing a stock from falling too far in one day. ...

Wow, talk about over-confidence in the state. Here we are with state debts in the tens of trillions and people think the state can prevent a market crash because Reasons.

Of course there'll be another crash some day, and artificial measures can't stop them, infact they just make it worse by preventing natural corrections (when markets are allowed to reopen, the values just drop even more), and indeed numerous corrections that should have happened ages go get kicked down the road via ever more borrowing. "Too big to fail" is probably the most stupid invention of politicians in the last 20 years.

Bitcoin is volatile because it has no real connection to actual wealth creation, and no proper infrastructure to help keep it stable. It's a massive gamble based on perceived value, in which there will be winners and losers. The winners will be delighted, the losers will moan and throw a hissy fit, but it was their own choice to take the risk. Bitcoin is as potentially ephemeral as a chunk of astatine.

Ian.

 

[bloodroses]

... something stocks do not do anymore since after the Stock Market Crash there is government protection preventing a stock from falling too far in one day. ...

Wow, talk about over-confidence in the state. Here we are with state debts in the tens of trillions and people think the state can prevent a market crash because Reasons.

Of course there'll be another crash some day, and artificial measures can't stop them, infact they just make it worse by preventing natural corrections (when markets are allowed to reopen, the values just drop even more), and indeed numerous corrections that should have happened ages go get kicked down the road via ever more borrowing. "Too big to fail" is probably the most stupid invention of politicians in the last 20 years.

Bitcoin is volatile because it has no real connection to actual wealth creation, and no proper infrastructure to help keep it stable. It's a massive gamble based on perceived value, in which there will be winners and losers. The winners will be delighted, the losers will moan and throw a hissy fit, but it was their own choice to take the risk. Bitcoin is as potentially ephemeral as a chunk of astatine.

Ian.

It has nothing to do with overconfidence with the state. The stock market is setup so that if a particular stock drops by 20% in one day, it is instantly closed for trading for the day. The idea is to prevent the quick mass hysteria that results from the sudden drop and people sell off in a fit of panic. And yes, they can continue to drop the next day; but it won't be due to knee jerk reactions.

BTW, here was a temporary example of it that happened with Ethereum:
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/22/ethereum-price-crash-10-cents-gdax-exchange-after-multimillion-dollar-trade.html

 

[Marcus52]

If Valve wasn't so wonky they would realize that they could manage their Bitcoin purchases just fine with little if any risk to themselves. Might even make a few dollars beyond what they were paid in the first place.

 

[mapesdhs]

.. The stock market is setup so that if a particular stock drops by 20% in one day, it is instantly closed for trading for the day. The idea is to prevent the quick mass hysteria that results from the sudden drop and people sell off in a fit of panic. And yes, they can continue to drop the next day; but it won't be due to knee jerk reactions.

I know; my point is that it's a contradiction, inflated markets encouraged on the back of *feeling* good about the economy over a long period of time, which makes no sense when there exist staggering debts, but oh we can't allow those same markets to crash when a sollid dose of reality hits home. The state should keep its dirty fingers out of this, then perhaps we wouldn't have such enormous debts and unfunded liabilities in the first place. Protectionist measures of this kind are just an extension of the obsession with free stuff, in this case free from risk, when risk is precisely what ought to be keeping things running along more sensibly. Investors shouldn't be protected from their own bad decisions, and bailing out companies with money nicked from the public just makes it more likely to happen again in the future.

Ian.

 

[berezini.2013]

I will LOL so hard when it crashes.

 

[AnonymousAndy]

I will LOL so hard when it crashes.

It crashes daily.... Hourly even

 

[Olle P]

... The idea is to prevent the quick mass hysteria that results from the sudden drop and people sell off in a fit of panic.

This has little to do with "people". The exponential growth of rapid value changes come because software is used to automatically sell/buy if/when the value pass pre-determined levels.
A temporary hold on all sales won't prevent this from happening unless those values are changed during the hold.

Cryptocurrency is pretty much just another form of fiat currency. The main difference is that no state has a bank (or equivalent) ordered to use artificial means to keep the currency stable. AFAIK there's no current currency that actually has some concrete value. The first (major) currency to "go out the window" was the USD when USA went bancrupt in the early 70:ies. Before that the USD was fixed relative to gold. GBP used to be fixed to Sterling silver (1GBP = 1£ silver), but that was withdrawn after USD went fiat...

There's no reason why a larger vendor with a good cash flow shouldn't be able to accept a crypto currency for payments and have an account of their own to spread the risk of fluctuation in value of their main currency.

 

[Icehearted]

No love lost for Bitcoin, here or elsewhere. Looks like people are fed up; I wonder how fast this will spread to anyplace else accepting crypt-currency. Beginning of the end? Let's hope.