Let's assume I offered you to sell you STEEM for fiat. Would you buy in?
We all need this service
It's an evidence. STEEM is a highly efficient crypto, very well suited for micro-payments, because it is fast and free, and simple. It has other uses, but I would love to refund my nephew for the grocery bill without using abominable fiat transfer options.
But for that, we need three things:
- Stability of STEEM value, and that's why SBD was created. Reverse-pegging is part of that equation
- Sustainability of STEEM itself
- Ability to switch from STEEM to fiat and vice-versa
And of course, consolidating any of those 3 items will help the others.
So, well, @blocktrades provides us steem for other cryptos, but that's far too complicated for casual use. I would like to buy steem with my visa card.
Let's assume...
So let's assume, for the sake of argument, that I (a random steem user) decide to provide this service.
- I give you a small web interface where you can enter an account name, a steem amount, and you can make a visa fiat payment that I calculate for you.
- Once you send this payment, I commit to send you the promised steem or SBD, with a fee
- There is very little security associated with that contract, at best a few whales/witnesses who pledge to back me up in case of failure.
- Or maybe there could be some sort of ether smart-contract that monitors the steem blockchain and pay you back in ether if things go wrong?
- Once my rolling fund of STEEM runs low, I take on my own to refill it through other means you don't want to worry about
What is the difference between this and Blocktrades/Coinbase.com ?
I haven't studied the question, but except that those are established players, what makes transacting with those more secure than with my example above?
This is not a business plan
I do not plan to provide this service. There are a lots of wannabee entrepreneurs (or scammers) around who would do that for me, and most probably better than I would.
I just wonder. And by wondering I to help them to a small extent, so that one day, I will be able to change my fiat for steem...
So... would you use that service? What would it need to be credible?
(thanks to @grungealpha for the original idea)
Probably the answer lies there: https://steemit.com/crypto/@dragosroua/bitwala-to-rebrand-as-a-blockchain-bank. (thanks to the author)
Sorry for you entrepreneurs who wanted to jump in !
Well I have binance account (which is reasonably credible as exchanges go), and I don't buy that much steem anyway, so probably not very useful for me personally.
Right. This is not an issue for crypto-awarepeople who have wide access and understanding of tools such as binance.
But it is definitely a show stopper for newcommers who would like to get paid for posting on facebook. For that matter, let's rephrase the question to "would you advise you niece to buy steem from this service?"
I'd say this:
Way to personal again :) Not to disappoint you, but I wouldn't advice anyone who's not crypto-aware to buy crypto for fiat at this stage, simply because there's so much fraud around it's just a matter of time when this person falls pray to fishing attempt or password hack. In case of niece I'd offer to buy it for them.
That said, I'm sure there would be a lot of demand for such service, since there are thousands of people using sketchy exchanges like Yobit. The complications for owner of such service comes from other side - financial regulations regarding selling crypto are not very well defined yet, and in some places such services are plain illegal. Programming is the simplest task, hard part is "lawyering up", paying taxes and convincing visa/mastercard partners to work with you. Paypal is not an option because it's policy is to allow no-questions-asked refund 30 days after transfer, which in anonymised, non-refundable crypto world is a deal breaker.
So if you feel you can solve those issues - I say go for it.
I won't solve it. At least for myself, but I can contribute by posting questions :)
About the legal aspects, maybe being a small individual will make things easier. In my local regulations I think you could get self-employed to do that provided you don't exceed a certain fiat .threshold
Not sure being individual changes things much. But I would be glad if somebody would try it.
very informative and impressive post
Uh, yeah... any fiat onramp into crypto gonna be hella valuable come 2020 or thereabouts.
Do you mean pegging a crypto to a non-USD fiat would provide a long-term advantage to that fiat?
No no. That sounds like a Tether or DAI scheme. I am just talking about any way to provide more interoperable connections between the "old school" fiat world and the "new school" crypto world will be an important piece (i.e. worth money) in the upcoming "internet of value" to use AA's words.
Got it. Just like Paypal has value because it got in first, the first reliable cryptopal would make a big hit.
While you are shanghaipreneur, will you provide such service ? :)
That's a nice concept and enough for lengthy discussion. If will be realized and widely used this could mean an explosive future for steem.
Would you consider providing this service? for the sake of the community and for your own profit (through fees)?
It could be borh but offering it for free is highly desirable and still be able to generate some income from it.
Sound too good to be true. How could you monetize it without taking a fee? Betting on price change would be risky. Counting on upvotes/donations would be great too. Another idea?
Advertisement could be one potential and maybe some derivative service..
Yes, ads, of course.
But there's still that belief that steem will help getting rid of ads ..
That will be impossible ads make the internet and other media survive. But for the moment ads are not coming in steem. Ads needs more eyeballs hundred millions maybe before it will an alternative ads medium and rhat would make the platform viable for all users.
So like localbitcoins.com but for STEEM (and SBD I'd think) a market for buyers and sellers with an escrow arrangement that holds funds (in either direction) until payment is confirmed. Seems legit.
I would love to see that. In fact there should be such a service on localbitcoin. I mean if they can secure fiat to BTC I see no problem in securing fiat to SBD.
Still, localbitcoin is not as straightforward as a visa payment...
I assume by "you" you mean anyone who is not coinbase or blocktrades or similar, just a guy.
The first question you'd have to ask, is not to me, the potential customer to such a service, if I'm interested, but to yourself, if you can provide the level of security and regulations VISA would ask to allow payments via your business.
Of course you need to know if you'd have a market. But at the same time you need to worry if you can be in such a business.
Why do you think so many exchanges don't have fiat as an option? Because they don't want the hassle that goes along with the regulations for providing fiat payments.
Many questions, many answers. First a disclaimer. I am not testing the market to take the open slot myself. I am trying to spread the idea and ask the right questions.
Second: using a visa service on a personal or small business scale is very possible. Many fintechs do the technical parts. As for making it legal, there should be a country in Europe (not necessarily Liechtenstein or Andorra) where you could.
I believe in the existence of a market: I would be a customer provided I can trust the service a little
I also believe coinbase and friends are under heavy legal constraints that forbid them to accept fiat, that's where individuals may get the power of small scale and decentralization. That's where I like the idea of localbitcoin
Good post, thank for informations and sharing.
Steem gonna rise as btc