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Steam Computer Gaming Network Now Accepting Bitcoin (fortune.com)

Posted by msmash on from the bitcoin-refuses-to-die dept.

An anonymous reader shares an article on Fortune Magazine: The popular Steam computer game network has started accepting bitcoin in a move aimed at making it easier for players in countries like Brazil and China to make payments. Bitcoin transactions will be integrated into game shopping from Steam, which is owned by Valve Software and claims over 100 million users worldwide. Users will be able to use any bitcoin wallet to scan and pay for games or other items without revealing sensitive financial information via software from Bitpay.

30 of 54 comments (clear)

  1. finally, proper use! by astrodoom · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Simple international payments for a product that doesn't require instant confirmation. Exactly what the technology was designed for! Well done, Steam.

    1. Re:finally, proper use! by astrodoom · · Score: 1

      You're not big on reading, are you? Steam identified payment as a problem, so apparently they weren't buying the games or were having significant trouble doing so.

    2. Re: finally, proper use! by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Then what is it?

      Technology has always been abused for evil, from the time the first club was made to make hunting bears possible and Urk found out that it could be used to bash in Kruk's head. By your logic the invention of gunpowder, explosives, carpet knives and airplanes was evil because without, 9/11 could not have happened.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re:finally, proper use! by cfalcon · · Score: 1

      The point is that MORE users will be able to buy Steam games now. I think it's interesting that Bitcoin is somehow the best way to make this happen, but it doesn't seem out of line. Certainly, Bitcoins are suited about as well as they can be for buying Steam stuff. Bitcoin suffers from a bunch of problems that don't really hit this type of purchase.

    4. Re: finally, proper use! by gweihir · · Score: 1

      That must be the most idiotic comment I have read for a long time. Well done!

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    5. Re:finally, proper use! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Fun fact:

      There are over 400 free-to-play games available on Steam (including DOTA 2 and Team Fortress 2). It's not hard to imagine that some portion of users who are unable to acquire a credit card (or unwilling to trust Valve with credit card information) and are currently only playing F2P games would expand their Steam library to include paid titles using bitcoin.

    6. Re:finally, proper use! by astrodoom · · Score: 3, Informative

      "And with the way Bitcoin works now, one can easily scam Steam out of a sale, play the game and beat it in a couple of days, reverse the transaction, get banned, repeat with new account and wallet, and Steam will never be able to stop them." The reversing of transactions is only possible for zero-confirmation transactions. That's ~10 minutes you have to beat the game, not a couple days.

    7. Re:finally, proper use! by astrodoom · · Score: 1
      "The difference between you and me is that I read these claims with a degree of skepticism, while you swallowed them whole."

      No, the difference between you and me is that I don't insert strawmen into an argument. The situation you tried to claim was easier (paying with a credit card) is not the situation they were trying to address. I pointed that out, and now you're trying to back-pedal.

      Steam is accepting Bitcoin, so apparently they thought it would be beneficial in addition to their current payment options. You can go claiming it's not beneficial as much as you want, but Steam apparently disagrees with you.

    8. Re:finally, proper use! by HaZardman27 · · Score: 1

      Yeah this AC seems to either hate Steam, cryptocurrency, or both.

      Maybe this will turn out to do nothing for Valve's bottom line, but I feel relatively safe making the assumption that Valve had some amount of data which would suggest this can increase sales. Or, maybe some people at Valve are just fans of cryptocurrency and had enough clout to get Steam to support it. Either way, it means nothing to me since I neither use cryptocurrency nor intend to do so in the foreseeable future. All of this leads to me giving exactly zero fucks about this development, and I can't fathom why AC is so angry about it.

      --
      Apparently wizard is not a legitimate career path, so I chose programmer instead.
    9. Re:finally, proper use! by HaZardman27 · · Score: 1

      I'd be interested in how Valve's return policy is going to work with Bitcoin. Will it be based on the value of bitcoin at the time of purchase, or the value of bitcoin at the time of the refund? You can sit on a game for up to 14 days and get a refund for it, as long as you don't play it for over 2 hours during that time. Cryptocurrencies have fluctuated great deals in that period of time before. If they decide to refund the Bitcoin amount of the purchase, then people could use this as a short-term investment scam. Buy some games if you think the price of Bitcoin will jump in the next two weeks, get refunded for more valuable Bitcoins than you spent.

      --
      Apparently wizard is not a legitimate career path, so I chose programmer instead.
    10. Re:finally, proper use! by cfalcon · · Score: 1

      > How many MORE users are there on Steam that have been sitting around not buying anything because the only way they have to process a transaction is with bitcoin?

      Well, probably at least one. But that's not really the question, is it? If I accept A, B, C, and D, and you can only pay with E, F, and G, you'll be happy if I implement E, F, or G.

      I'm sure if there was no market for it all, they wouldn't have done it. So presumably it it worth it, to some measure.

    11. Re:finally, proper use! by Khyber · · Score: 1

      " However, it's pretty easy to detect if someone is attempting this longer time period attack,"

      Not really. The current state of bitcoin is such that detecting this among people not paying the speedy transaction fee is next to impossible. Keep the blockchain busy enough and you're able to stretch this out a couple of weeks or more.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    12. Re:finally, proper use! by Maritz · · Score: 1

      Classic argument from personal incredulity.

      Is it really that surprising to you that a business would want to accept payment via as many methods as possible?

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
    13. Re:finally, proper use! by Maritz · · Score: 1

      That's an interesting point. Perhaps Steam will state an equivalent currency value at the time of purchase and then only refund the equivalent of that in Bitcoin.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
    14. Re:finally, proper use! by HaZardman27 · · Score: 1

      My "fuck to give" was about AC's crybaby tantrum, not about Valve's decision to accept Bitcoin.

      --
      Apparently wizard is not a legitimate career path, so I chose programmer instead.
    15. Re:finally, proper use! by Khyber · · Score: 1

      Steam is falling for it already.

      Plenty of drug dealers are falling for the attack.

      Many bitcoin ATMs are currently vulnerable.

      It's easy money theft right now. Bitcoin is (has always been) completely untrustable.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  2. First they mocked us... by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

    First they mocked us...now Bitcoin is accepted everywhere! Even in apps!

    1. Re:First they mocked us... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      We still mock you

    2. Re:First they mocked us... by Ash-Fox · · Score: 1

      Please, you're still being mocked.

      --
      Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
    3. Re:First they mocked us... by jbssm · · Score: 1

      First they mocked us...now Bitcoin is accepted everywhere! Even in apps!

      Some people have a very limited concept of "everywhere".

  3. Re:Money Laundering by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    I dunno, that sounds incredibly convoluted. Say what you want, that doesn't really come close to the ease of use of a Panama account.

    Although, one has to admit, it takes probably a bit more than a few bucks to do this.

    So yes, I agree. Money laundering should be kept in the hands of the experts, not something every little asshole with a few bucks can do!

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  4. Steam/Valve are not accepting Bitcoin by YesIAmAScript · · Score: 4, Informative

    Bitpay is. Valve will continue to accept only actual money. Bitpay will provide a service (for a fee) of turning your bitcoin into the actual money that Valve demands.

    --
    http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
    1. Re:Steam/Valve are not accepting Bitcoin by grnbrg · · Score: 2, Informative

      Well, I hate to break this to you, but Steam isn't accepting your "actual money", either.

      Your bank will provide a service (for a fee) of taking your "actual money" and provides another service (for a fee) of turning that money into an electronic ledger entry that Paypal (or Mastercard or Visa) accept and then they will provide yet another another service (for another fee) of taking that electronic ledger entry, and giving it to Valve.

      Cash for internet purchases virtually never happens. One or more intermediaries are always involved. Virtual dollars and virtual bitcoins each have their pros and cons.

    2. Re:Steam/Valve are not accepting Bitcoin by Paco103 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      A fee of 1%, which is half or less of what a traditional credit card fee charges. Steam/Valve don't accept Credit Cards either. Visa, Mastercard, Maestro, etc will provide a service (for a fee) of turning your credit card number into the actual money that Valve demands.

      What's your point? All currency exchange is just agreed upon IOU's for goods or services. This is just one more that opens up new markets to them as well as decreases processing fees for them if existing customers jump on it.

    3. Re:Steam/Valve are not accepting Bitcoin by gox · · Score: 3, Informative

      What goes on is conceptually same with paying with Norwegian krone, except that I do not have to keep Bitcoin in a custodial service in order to pay online.

      Whether they want to keep some krone or bitcoin around is a matter of accounting. Valve probably doesn't have operational costs they can pay with Bitcoin, but other firms might (hosting, domain registration and whatnot).

    4. Re:Steam/Valve are not accepting Bitcoin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      His point is that he doesn't like bitcoin so it's less "actual" than dollars that haven't been backed by gold since the 70's.

    5. Re:Steam/Valve are not accepting Bitcoin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The point being made is that valve only accepts state-issued currency denominations, not the system used to process it.

    6. Re:Steam/Valve are not accepting Bitcoin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1


      The point being made is that valve only accepts state-issued currency denominations,

      That's a direct contradiction of the article. Are you saying that if I go to the Steam website, there won't be a payment method that says bitcoin?
      That's my standard for "accepting bitcoin". Just like having a Visa payment method on the website would be my standard for "accepting Visa". Valve doesn't actually process anything, they leave that to a third party. Sometimes the merchants don't even get your credit card details at all, but just get deposits in USD in their bank account.

      The point is, this is exactly the same thing.

    7. Re:Steam/Valve are not accepting Bitcoin by DRJlaw · · Score: 1

      Steam/Valve don't accept Credit Cards either.

      Better tell that to Steam. They've sold me a couple dozen games while not accepting my Discover card, and their client software even stores the rejected card information for subsequent purchases despite their refusal to to accept it.

      Man, the 194000 people who accessed this support page will be pissed.

  5. Re:Money Laundering by gweihir · · Score: 1

    With the amount of money you can "launder" this way, just moving cash would be significantly easier.

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    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.