Slashdot Mirror
Mastercard Denies Plans For BitCoin Credit Card
judgecorp writes "Reports that BitCoin is to issue a credit card have turned out to be false — or at least premature. Mastercard has denied there are any such plans and given details of the procedural barriers to creating such a card."
How did "a major international bank" turn into "only MasterCard?" Surely there are other international banks -- or have I missed recent news?
...the almost complete lack of interest or trust expressed in just about every online forum or news outlet we leaked this to.
A worldwide, multi-billion dollar company doesn't want to help promote a new competitor that undercuts their price and their control over the global flow of money? I never saw that one coming!
Oh and also, bitcoin is 100% digital so any internet-capable device can send bitcoins anywhere in the world in under 10 minutes "to clear" time. So a plastic card would just help regulate it and add another layer of complication and control by an outside force. Not 1 single bitcoin user would have gone for such a product. This story had fake written all over it from the beginning.
...for one racket in this town, son...
- In Soviet Korea, only old people loose all their bases to Natalie Portman's petrified hot grits overlords.
I have confirmation re the Bitcoin MasterCard from the most authoritative source imaginable. I read about it on Slashdot.
...given details of the procedural barriers to creating such a card
Like you can't block Wikileaks with it.
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3062943&cid=41068717
So it was just a photoshop job, eh? I'm not surprised...
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law
TFS says "Mastercard has denied there are any such plans and given details of the procedural barriers to creating such a card.". TFA doesn't give those details - there is only a vague reference to "screening". Is there another article about this?
from MasterCard...would introduce a serious flaw into the bitcoin model. Namely, the ability to override the corporate and political will of a major multinational financial processor with strong ties to the US Government.
the huge appeal of BitCoin is the ability to treat it like anonymous cash, a privilege previously enjoyed only by the upper echelons of the rich and powerful as they finance things like proposition 8 or the next GOP candidate.
Good people go to bed earlier.
BitCoin is going to issue a credit card right after LiNux opens up a app store and HTTp holds a networking conference.
It's not illegal now, and still bitcoin owners seem to be mostly criminals. The only significant use I've heard of for them are buying things on that online dope store.
BitInstant does not have anything to do with Mastercard directly. The bank that they are working with are doing that. So, there is nothing Mastercard could have to deny.
These days I get the feeling the frequent slashdot posts are the main thing keeping bitcoin "alive"...
this tells us more about you than about bitcoin.
hey now, currency speculation is a noble, time-honored pursuit, and a perfectly legitimate way to round out your portfolio with some very risky investments.
/no risk, no reward!
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
There are no "Barriers" There is no magical thing blocking them from using this technology. They simply choose not to and that's it, period. Who do you think made the.. err I mean bribed the government officials to get all the asinine rules and regulations we have now in the first place? So it's not like they can't just do what they want and use Bitcoin.
They really should too. I've used it several times at various sites and a couple of places and it's far faster, easier and more secure than a credit card or a bank. And BTW no, my purchases did not have anything to do with drugs directly or indirectly, some games, computer parts for cheap, some clothes, some snacks...
I always see people trying to point how insecure it is, because of all these site owners that have no idea what they are doing, end up getting hacked. So you see these articles like OMG the world is ending, bitcoin site lost 50,000 coins or yet another exchange hacked blah blah ... bitcoinica zomg.... But in the scheme of things, it's nothing. Now look over at the big media and "real" players or whatever you want to call them, you know the huge corporations, banks and credit companies?.... oh yeah what was that a little while back... *cough* Sony? How many Millions of user credit card and other personal information did you have stolen not long ago? And that's piddily crap. There have been several security breaches resulting in HUNDREDS of Millions of credit numbers, names, personal information... getting stolen and it's not like it's just a one time thing. There are lots. Several billion if you count up the big ones, plus all the minor ones of just a few million.
but OMG bitcoin is so insecure right? lol
BitCointards manage to squeeze in yet another Bitcoin story on Slashdot.
Have gnu, will travel.
LOL sounds like you must make a living as an exec at one of the world's major banks!
Today's Bitcoin story retracts yesterday's Bitcoin story, and tomorrow's will probably refute today's.
Can we just stop with the Bitcoin horseshit already? The news about Bitcoin is just about as stable as the "currency."
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
Did you know that modern web browsers have added new feature that will let you avoid reading stories which make you feel uncomfortable? All you have to do is not click on the link.
Try it out sometime and see if it works on your browser.
Yeah, but remember when slashdot used to run bittorrent stories every fucking day and it was like for fuck sakes enough of this bittorrent shit and then.... suddenly bittorrent is the next big thing. i'm not saying bitcoin is the next big thing but sometimes when slashdot mushes turds against the wall long enough they stick,
How strong did bitcoin get before investors dumped their bitcoins and developed a rumor to eliminate buying confidence and dramatically reduce the bitcoin value against the dollar? What was the bitcoin exchange rate trend before the story broke, and what is it now?
I don't think that bitcoin development is a bad idea on its face (anonymous money), and I don't see any pyramid scam, but without regulation or oversight, the bitcoin market is ripe for manipulation with impunity.
The Admin and the Engineer
Discover Card and American Express are also accepted at a majority of US businesses. The big box stores are constantly soliciting their customers for to sign up for their in store credit cards. Try buying something on paypal, without them hawking their revolving line of credit product. Then there are PIN based debit card for which transactions which Visa/Mastercard don't get their cut.
If bitcoin is a ponzi scheme, then so is life. People who are born earlier in life have an advantage of people who are born later in life.
This also makes video games ponzi schemes too... people who start playing video games early have advantage over late adopters! PONZI SCHEME!
The Bitcoin ecosystem has always had trouble converting Bitcoins to something more useful. Most of the ways to get money out of the Bitcoin system involve multiple intermediaries, payment rate limits, delays, and finger-pointing between the intermediaries when the system breaks. Mt. Gox finally, as of June 26, 2012, started offering wire transfers out of their system.
Mt. Gox is in Japan, which allows non-banks to operate money transfer services. This is a new law from 2009, and specifically addresses electronic transfers and "server-based electronic money". In Japan, cell phone companies are in the money transfer business in a big way. Companies which take that route have to maintain a bank balance in a real bank representing all the customer assets they're holding. They cannot engage in "fractional reserve" banking, and they're supposed to be audited.
Under this law, companies which offer "server-based electronic money", like gift cards, must have a bank balance of half the value stored. Bitcoin might be considered to qualify, which would reduce the reserves Mt. Gox must have in banks. Half the value of the Bitcoins Mt. Gox holds should be in a bank in a non-Bitcoin currency.
It's not known if Mt. Gox is in compliance. There are supposed to be audits, but no figures have been published.
The gold on my World of Warcraft characters is worth more than BitCoin.
Tells you what, that he reads Slashdot?
http://news.slashdot.org/story/12/08/07/1910238/bitcoin-based-drug-market-silk-road-thriving-with-2-million-in-monthly-sales (posted about two weeks ago if you missed it)
Other than some T-shirts and novelty things, and the (no longer accepted) EFF donations, that's the only use of Bitcoin I've yet read about...
Well, I'll slashvertize my game: Dragon's Tale is a gambling MMORPG where every physical object in the world is a different sort of novel gambling game. Some are skill based, some pure luck. It's like Disney World for gamblers, and it accepts *only* Bitcoin. I'm also the designer of A Tale in the Desert, a game that's been covered on Slashdot and pretty much every major gaming site (back in the day - it was released in 2003) and is pretty highly regarded.
So now you know of two places that use Bitcoins. Oh, and if you look here you'll find several thousand more. (But I suppose then you could no longer say "I've yet to read about...")
Over the past couple days, there has been significant press attention regarding what’s known as the BitInstant Paycard, which is to be a pre-paid debit card.
While BitInstant did not intend for this news to be released in exactly this way, or quite this early, the company has been happy to respond to reporters’ questions. As discussed in many of the articles, BitInstant plans to release the Paycard in roughly eight weeks and is working with its partners to make this card program happen.
However, some reporters contacted MasterCard directly for comment on the program, which is understandable, and MasterCard denied any knowledge of it. This is because formal negotiations are in progress with the MasterCard affiliate partners prior to full MasterCard submission.
BitInstant’s partners, who are issuing the card, have been working with MasterCard for many years, and the specific relationship will be between these partners and MasterCard (not directly between MasterCard and BitInstant). :http://blog.bitinstant.com/blog/2012/8/22/public-statement-regarding-the-bitinstant-paycard.html
from
It should also be stated that BitInstant’s Paycard program follows the strict AML and KYC policies which are required for such programs. All balances for the purposes of the card are held and collateralized in USD (or the cardholder’s native currency). BitInstant instantly funds the cards in USD, after receiving the user’s Bitcoins. These will not be “anonymous” debit cards, but rather a highly convenient means for verified customers to spend Bitcoin value around the world.
The card program is moving forward and the arrangement with MasterCard will be handled in due time at the proper stage of the process by the partners who work directly with that company. Bringing legitimacy, ease of use, and familiarity to the revolutionary – though often misunderstood – Bitcoin technology is a primary goal of BitInstant, and the Paycard program will do just this.
-The BitInstant Team
http://blog.bitinstant.com/blog/2012/8/22/public-statement-regarding-the-bitinstant-paycard.html
don't worry your in much company...
http://blog.bitinstant.com/blog/2012/8/22/public-statement-regarding-the-bitinstant-paycard.html
Erik Voorhees Posted on DateWednesday, August 22, 2012 at 12:01PM
Over the past couple days, there has been significant press attention regarding what’s known as the BitInstant Paycard, which is to be a pre-paid debit card.
While BitInstant did not intend for this news to be released in exactly this way, or quite this early, the company has been happy to respond to reporters’ questions. As discussed in many of the articles, BitInstant plans to release the Paycard in roughly eight weeks and is working with its partners to make this card program happen.
However, some reporters contacted MasterCard directly for comment on the program, which is understandable, and MasterCard denied any knowledge of it. This is because formal negotiations are in progress with the MasterCard affiliate partners prior to full MasterCard submission.
BitInstant’s partners, who are issuing the card, have been working with MasterCard for many years, and the specific relationship will be between these partners and MasterCard (not directly between MasterCard and BitInstant).
It should also be stated that BitInstant’s Paycard program follows the strict AML and KYC policies which are required for such programs. All balances for the purposes of the card are held and collateralized in USD (or the cardholder’s native currency). BitInstant instantly funds the cards in USD, after receiving the user’s Bitcoins. These will not be “anonymous” debit cards, but rather a highly convenient means for verified customers to spend Bitcoin value around the world.
The card program is moving forward and the arrangement with MasterCard will be handled in due time at the proper stage of the process by the partners who work directly with that company. Bringing legitimacy, ease of use, and familiarity to the revolutionary – though often misunderstood – Bitcoin technology is a primary goal of BitInstant, and the Paycard program will do just this.
-The BitInstant Team
Please direct any questions to Erik Voorhees, Director of Marketing and Communications at erik@bitinstant.com or 720.382.4326
The first post of Bitcoin was about creating a credit/ATM card. The original story mentions MaterCard but this is to explain how widely used the card could become. This had nothing to do with actually cutting a deal with MaterCard from them to make the card or be involved in this project. Obviously they would not be involved because they cannot hoard the money to themselves. And they rates of the card from MaterCard fees would pretty much kill the idea. I questioned the idea of BitCoin creating a card becuase of other slashdot stories over there lack of security among other problems.
In fact, most stock offerings are very nearly scams at first.
Not sure which way that argues relative to bitcoin, but it seems to me that bitcoin is still currency in search of a (real) value context.
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
You realize the users of Slashdot choose which stories are submitted to and appear on Slashdot, right?
http://blog.bitinstant.com/blog/2012/8/22/public-statement-regarding-the-bitinstant-paycard.html "BitInstant’s partners, who are issuing the card, have been working with MasterCard for many years, and the specific relationship will be between these partners and MasterCard (not directly between MasterCard and BitInstant)."