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Steam Ends Support For Bitcoin (polygon.com)

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the up-next dept.

Valve is ending support for Steam purchases made with bitcoin, the company said today, citing "high fees and volatility" in the value of the cryptocurrency. In a statement, it said: "In the past few months we've seen an increase in the volatility in the value of Bitcoin and a significant increase in the fees to process transactions on the Bitcoin network," Valve said in a post on Steam. "For example, transaction fees that are charged to the customer by the Bitcoin network have skyrocketed this year, topping out at close to $20 a transaction last week (compared to roughly $0.20 when we initially enabled Bitcoin). Unfortunately, Valve has no control over the amount of the fee. These fees result in unreasonably high costs for purchasing games when paying with Bitcoin. The high transaction fees cause even greater problems when the value of Bitcoin itself drops dramatically."

6 of 151 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Bitcoin is stupid. by Train0987 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Luckily there is never a shortage of complete morons with money to fleece. Tulips anyone?

  2. Valve are not fools by erapert · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They're no longer accepting BTC so that they're not stuck holding the bag after the bubble pops-- which will be any day now it looks like.

    1. Re:Valve are not fools by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      “The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent.”
      —John Maynard Keynes

    2. Re:Valve are not fools by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The problem is that people have been saying that for a long time, and yet the price just keeps going on.

      That's why it's called a bubble.
      If it fluctuated more reasonably, we wouldn't call it a bubble.

  3. Re:Bitcoin is stupid. by Smidge204 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The only people pushing tulip comparisons are bank shills like Chase CEO.

    You're right, it's a dumb comparison.

    Bitcoins are more like Beanie Babies.
    =Smidge=

  4. Failing as a Currency by Thelasko · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Currency should have a stable value compared to the rest of the goods in the marketplace. We typically see currencies fail due to rapid inflation. Where the currency loses value rapidly compared to the rest of the goods in the marketplace. This may be the first time we see a currency fail due to rapid deflation.

    --
    One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".