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Bitcoin Can Be Bought With Cash At Swiss Railway Ticket Machines (techweekeurope.co.uk)
In what is seen as a move that could help boost the spread of Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency will be available to purchase from Swiss railway ticket machines starting next month. Reader Mickeycaskill writes: Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) has more than 1,000 ticket machines and has partnered with regulated financial intermediary SweePay to distribute Bitcoin. Customers need to select mobile top up on the machines, scan the QR code on their Bitcoin digital wallet and enter the number of Swiss Francs, up to 500 CHF, in to the machine, confirm the offer of Bitcoins they receive then identify themselves using a mobile number and a security code sent to their smartphone. While the machine can pay out Bitcoin, for the time being, it will not accept payments made with the cryptocurrency. Furthermore, credit card cannot be used with the machines to buy Bitcoins, SBB is effectively providing a way to swap local currency for a digital version that can be used anywhere around the world, thereby bypassing unfavourable exchange rates"From 11 November 2016, customers will be able to obtain Bitcoin at all SBB ticket machines. Until now, there have only been limited opportunities to purchase Bitcoin in Switzerland," the company was quoted as saying.
If you have cash, why do you need bitcoin? I'd be more excited about a machine that accepts bitcoin and dispenses cash.
ITS HAPPENING!
and you wonder why ransomware is spreading so fast?
And REALLY EXPENSIVE hookers!
Yay! Switzerland will become even more of a target for ransomware!
Whatever you save in the currency exchange rate is going to be more than made up for by the losses from Bitcoin's volatility.
Is bitcoin still a thing? oh yes, and CLOUD!
Price could take a nose dive before you reach the next station, couldn't it? Could do the opposite as well, but that seems less likely...
Switzerland has recently had problems with its currency being very highly valued. I'm not entirely sure how BitCoin solves this, but maybe consumer-level currency exchangers in neighboring countries have been charging very high rates to exchange it to Euros.
Vending machines that dispense precious metals, bitcoins or whatever do so are usurious rates. You'd have to be fucking stupid to want to use them. Especially for bitcoin.
These machines are just a way for the Swiss government to offload their bitcoins onto gullible members of the public.
Call me when they have machines that convert Bitcoins into Swiss Francs.
No sig today...
Whatever you save in the currency exchange rate is going to be more than made up for by the losses from Bitcoin's volatility.
Isn't is equally likely that you will gain or lose value due to volatility?
You were working towards a point and then undermined your argument with a bad example: Venezuela.
Yes, Venezuela is a shit hole. But in terms of economics it is plenty proximate to the wealthy nations because it has oil and that is easy enough to cart around. The reason Venezuela is a shit hole is not a matter of geography but its own self-inflicted politics (even if geography is part of the history that shaped those politics).
I would add that Norway, Canada, Australia are peculiar examples for the same reason. Their economies are significantly dependent on selling raw materials, and can okay on the world market as long as demand for their raw materials is growing in Asia.
I would further add that geography does not make the internal politics better automatically, e.g. Mexico, Italy.
Call me when they have machines that convert Bitcoins into Swiss Francs.
Actually.... I think it would be best just to have all retailers start accepting BTC and allowing you to pay extra BTC for up to 10% of your purchase back as cash at the time of purchase.
That way it's distributed.
I have yet to see one argument for crypto-currency that out weigh the risks. The usual arguments being "OMG! The government controls the money!" and "Its good for buying illegal shit."
Bender asks, "Hey, what about the Blackjack too?"
So can prostitutes, what's your point?
Nobody smart will pay 6% fee
Tim Cook is going to kill cash. Hopefully Swiss railway ticket machines accept Apple Pay.
I think the point was Venezuela is a shit hole because the leftist policies of the last 20 years have destroyed it completely even with the huge advantage that oil brings.
identify themselves using a mobile number
What the fuck for? Why not just display a QR code? Are they trying to deanonymize Bitcoin by tying it to your legal identity? The next step is to pressure "legitimate businesses" to only accept bitcoins with a "real name" trail.
Isn't is equally likely that you will gain or lose value due to volatility?
Doesn't work out well when you need a specific amount of Swiss Francs in the future.
Stocks are similar - when dollar cost averaging into stocks (e.g., buying $100 per week) volatility is your friend, you'll end up with more shares of a volatile stock than a stable one (with same average price) over time. When you need a fixed income out of stocks, you get screwed by volatility for exactly the same reason (the math works out to gains/(volatility^2)). This is why the common wisdom for financial planning is to invest in stocks to start with, but gradually shift into bonds as you near retirement (there are even "target date" mutual funds that work that way).
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
The last time I looked at the costs of converting currency to bitcoin to another currency, it was a lot more than using the local currency exchange services though...
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
The annual cross-border trade volume between US and Canada is over $300B in both directions (so $600B+). It includes all kinds of trade, raw materials and others. This volume exceeds the US-China trade despite Canada being much smaller than China in economy and population.
Despite improvements to global transportation, the ability to use cars, trucks, trains, small boats, small planes etc, to ship to conduct trade means that proximity still matters until stuff can just be teleported.
Canada benefits greatly by being next to the US. Probably Mexico would be in much worst shape if it wasn't. Maybe Australia would far exceed Canada's economic power if it was attached to California.
Neither does Saudi Arabia.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
We all here agree adequately about the state of Venezuela and the failure of its policies. My point is the AC I responded to seems to be formulating a theory about physical proximity. While I so happen to believe there is a kernel of truth to that idea, as argued, he seems to be overreaching, and we merely have to peek at the provided data points to start seeing weaknesses in the theory.