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Bitcoin Gets Its First TV Ads

Posted by samzenpus on from the as-seen-on-TV dept.

MRothenberg writes Bitcoin's not just for libertarians and drug dealers any more! Electronic payment service BitPay this week launched a campaign aimed at making Bitcoin transactions more appealing to mainstream business owners — the first time Bitcoin has been featured in a TV spot. Conceived by Felton Interactive Group, the two new ads promote Bitcoin and BitPay as a secure alternative to traditional credit-card transactions.

11 of 127 comments (clear)

  1. Because no one ever ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 2

    ... lost any bitcoins and stuff.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  2. No matter how much lipstick you put on it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Bitcoin's still terrible for an economy because in the end it punishes people for spending it. Each person's share of the pool goes down as population grows, since the pool is practically a fixed size. So get ready for yearly or monthly pay cuts if BitCoin takes over.

    Just because you have a technical solution doesn't mean you have an economic solution.

    1. Re:No matter how much lipstick you put on it... by myforwik · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You clearly know nothing about economics. If pay decreased because of scarcity, so would the price of things you spent your pay on. It's a complete myth that currency has to expand with the economy. Before modern fiat currencies when gold was money the economy out grew the mining of gold, wages deceased and goods decrease in price, economic growth continued. Modern fiat currencies require no deflation because the currency is not moved but created as debt.

    2. Re:No matter how much lipstick you put on it... by tlhIngan · · Score: 2

      You clearly know nothing about economics. If pay decreased because of scarcity, so would the price of things you spent your pay on. It's a complete myth that currency has to expand with the economy. Before modern fiat currencies when gold was money the economy out grew the mining of gold, wages deceased and goods decrease in price, economic growth continued. Modern fiat currencies require no deflation because the currency is not moved but created as debt.

      Actually, economic growth slowed greatly when gold got hard to find. The economy is not about money. It's about the movement of money. A strong economy is one where money is moving around.

      Deflation makes economic activity halt. If something you want is going to be cheaper tomorrow, will you buy it today, or tomorrow? Sure, some items will have to be bought - there are certain necessities to life after all. However, you can bet big time that alternatives to spending money in a deflationary cycle will happen - if the good is food, people will grow their own or form community gardens and try to avoid spending as much as possible (because it gets cheaper tomorrow).

      Or if that's too foreign, perhaps you had to talk to someone about getting say, a computer. Or other advanced tech product. They'll say "well, tomorrow a new model is coming out" or "next year will have a better model" and the end result is... no purchase. Because something better is around the corner and they're not willing to commit and lose out on that something better.

      So in a deflationary cycle, hoarding or saving of money is the name of the game because it'll always be cheaper tomorrow.

      That's why we moved to fiat currencies - economic growth was being limited by the available supply of gold - if we couldn't mine more, we couldn't pay people more, so existing stock got more valuable and people stopped spending, stalling out the economy.

      That said, inflationary economies aren't good either - too much inflation and people get paid less and less - see Zimbabwe.

      So one needs to balance inflation - not too much, but not too little that you risk going into a deflationary cycle which will not just stall any economic recovery, but completely bury it because people immediately stop spending when they know goods tomorrow are cheaper.

    3. Re:No matter how much lipstick you put on it... by Locando · · Score: 2

      That's a pretty wild view of economics you have there, not something that's supported by conventional views of capitalism. I mean, you could just be speaking about the 1800s and the gold rushes and imperialism therein, but then you use the present tense: "It's a complete myth that currency has to expand with the economy." And then that talk about "before modern fiat currencies" while still talking about wages as a normal way of earning income (I assume?) leads me to believe that you're not talking about working completely within the bounds of capitalism in doing your analysis. So what system are you describing, then?

    4. Re:No matter how much lipstick you put on it... by drooling-dog · · Score: 2

      You are a true believer that perpetually growing spending (wasting) is the only way your idea of economy survives. What a load of BS!

      Unfortunately for resource conservation, that's about the gist of it. Modern capitalist economies require growth to survive. Once they go into deflation, investment stops and they fall into a downward spiral that's very difficult to escape (although massive public investment in global war has worked in the past). If you don't believe that deflation knocks out investment, I know some petroleum exploration companies that will eagerly take your money at the value they commanded when crude was still selling at $120/barrel.

      If you want stability with a deflating fixed-supply currency like gold or bitcoin, you're going to have to consider a planned economy where production, prices, and wages are managed in fine detail, and hope that nothing unexpected happens to upset the five-year plans. The experience with these isn't very promising, however. Feudalism is another option that seems more acceptable (and maybe even desirable) to libertarians, or at least the ones that think they'll be living in the castle at top of the hill.

  3. What's in it for consumers? by timholman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The two new ads promote Bitcoin and BitPay as a secure alternative to traditional credit-card transactions.

    Yes, BTC is exactly that for a business, but exactly what incentive does a consumer have to use it?

    Right now, if I want to buy something with U.S. dollars, I pull out my credit card or my cell phone, and I buy it. The transaction is completed in a matter of seconds (no waiting for verification via a blockchain), and if I use Apple Pay or Google Wallet, it is extremely secure.

    On top of that, if I am cheated by the merchant, I can contact the credit card company and dispute the charges. Furthermore, even if my credit card is somehow compromised, I am only liable for $50 maximum by law, without having to go to court or sue anyone.

    What does BTC do for me? First, I have to buy BTC, and then spend it quickly before the value changes. Second, if the merchant cheats me, too bad. BTC gives him all the power - transactions are irreversible. Third, if my BTC wallet is compromised, I can kiss my BTC goodbye. All of the consumer protections that I enjoy with credit cards are gone. So exactly what do I get out of the deal?

    For the average consumer, Bitcoin is a solution in search of a problem. BTC may be a great way to buy contraband, or to send money to someone in a 3rd world country, but that is hardly something the average person bothers with on a regular basis.

    Bitcoin is a niche product, and will remain so, despite every effort by BTC evangelists to persuade consumers to give them real money in exchange for their cryptocoins. Someone give me a reason to use BTC on a regular basis that doesn't involve some idealistic "screw the establishment, fiat currency is evil" rationalization. As a consumer, I don't see the point.

  4. Re:Keep On Pumping by bloodhawk · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Given the gradual decay in prices and there being absolutely no reason for the average person to ever want to use bitcoin as it has all of the disadvantages of real money with none of the legal protections of credit cards or bank accounts. It is a insane risk for the average consumer with zero upsides.

  5. Bitcoin Bowl? by clancey · · Score: 3, Informative

    Did you miss the Bitcoin Bowl game, NCST vs UCF, on the 26th of December from St. Petersburg, FL? They had a few commercials on tv that day.

    --
    clancey
  6. What's in it for consumers? by BitcoinBenny · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Perhaps you are the wrong type of consumer at this point the development curve of Bitcoin?

    If you wanted to send money back home to the Philippines, or engage in any type of remittances you may find value in being able to do it at a substantially lower rate than existing commercial offerings. I'm obviously biased, but to discount everything about Bitcoin because you don't see a use case for YOU right now is incredibly short sighted. Remember the early internet? The exact same kinds of arguments, why would you ever want to watch video online, whats the point of taking a class remotely, etc, etc etc. The reality is that Bitcoin redefined how we do trusted transfer of information on the Internet, and the first use case for this technology is in almost friction-less payments. From experience I can say paying engineers abroad in 5 seconds for 4 cents beats the hell out of an international wire transfer.

    Before people start screaming volatility, there are ways to combat that, like not holding bitcoin when you don't want it to fluctuate. I know its novel, but since its digital currency you can acquire it, transfer it, and sell it very quickly, and that entire process is being automated such that Bitcoin becomes the conduit rather than the value store. Programmable money.

    Slashdot surprises me because in general the people here have a very uninformed opinion when it comes to digital currency, despite the fact that it is the most exciting technical innovation in the last ten years by far. The value is in the network.

  7. Re:What a waste of resources by itzly · · Score: 3, Insightful

    When a currency costs more to produce than its worth, there is already an economic crisis and the currency is no viable.

    Sure, but that doesn't apply to bitcoin. When the mining profits no longer cover the electricity cost, people will stop mining. At the current price, total mining profits are 3600 * $315 per day, or slightly over $1 million. That means that worldwide electricity cost to operate the bitcoin mining must be less than that. Compared to the cost related to maintaining regular currencies, or investments done for high frequency trading on stock market, that's not very much.

    Proof of work is actually required to avoid the double spend problem associated with all distributed currencies, not to prevent spam.