I'd like to see what the support is here on 2+2 and have something to show them when they claim "no one is interested".

Merge won't do it because it would allow people to cashout quickly. You'd think the irreversibility of BTC transactions would be enough for them to accept it as a deposit method. It's not like it's expensive for them to accept BTC either.

It would be amazing if any major site allowed BTC deposit/withdraw and keeping your balance in BTC.

KGC regulations state:
So, to make your wish a reality, either Kahnawake Gaming Commission (or another regulator) should approve of bitcoins or Merge should forfeit its license. Would you like to play at an unlicensed site that can relentlessly steal your money during the game? (Seals with Clubs don't do it, but pretty everyone withdraws everything after sessions for safety.)

Edit: I guess Skrill is not better than Bitcoin from Canadian legal viewpoint, but KGC should understand that the former is reliable and the latter isn't, at least because of high volatility.

cuz the KGC stamp of approval means something

what is stored value account?

could bitcoin not be grouped with electronic transfer on that list?

Not interested, cash only please. If a some site wants to offer some novelty form of currency I would much rather see gold or silver used. Even that is stupid though.

I guess electronic transfer means smth like WU or MG made through banks in real currencies.

It's debatable whether stored-value cards like gift cards are required to express fixed value in terms of a real currency, but there should be some fixed value attached to them, hence Bitcoin accounts are not of this type.

But that brings up an idea of Merge using Amazon gift cards for deposits and withdrawals

this indicates you do not understand bitcoin. bitcoin is more like cash than online fiat currency.

Bitcoin is gold compared to the USD. again, this comment basically proves you have no idea what you are talking about.


even if you hate bitcoin and a site offered bitcoin deposit/withdraw, you could instantly exchange the bitcoin for USD.


do you have anything against bitcoin other than "maybe the KGC doesnt allow it" which is obviously not clear and unlikely they would have a problem with it.

signed.

I think people generally just dont understand BTC, hence the apprehension. That is why I propose education on the subject.

If a new site would open allowing bitcoin deposits/cahsouts with bitcoins for US customers I think it could actually do alright.

Even if you don't like bitcoin, a site accepting them has a positive impact on your ability to cash out. If some people start cashing out using bitcoin there will be fewer people requesting checks and you should receive them faster. For the poker site it is potentially much cheaper and safer to send players bitcoins.

Infiniti poker is a standard site that is supposed to be opening soon. They will be accepting US players via bitcoin only. If they can be cashing people out in a few hours via bitcoin while every other site is taking months, it will be pretty clear to everyone here why it is necessary for sites to start using bitcoins to process payments.

I think that bitcoin only sites are a good idea but I don't think that you can really mix cash and bitcoins due to the volatility of the value of bitcoins.

Fiat currency is still more stable. There have been hacker attackers on bitcoin sites in the past which cause massive swings in value. USD isn't going to tank over night, you can't make that guarantee about bitcoins.

Precisely. And as SantaCruz alluded to, I'm not putting any stake in something that has virtually no track record when compared to real currency. Sure, the US dollar is flat - but I can still spend three of them to get a 5-hour energy. When I can use bitcoins for that, sign me up.

Tell us a bit more about the heavy swings of Bitcoins and how they are more stable than the USD.

I so saw that as a Wonka meme graphic...I'm gunna make that...

USD is constantly and steadily going down in value.

Bitcoin is much more volatile, however it has been going up in value. I started playing on Seals earlier this year and bitcoin has gone up >100% since then.

http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/mtgo...zm1g10zm2g25zv


39suited--are you arguing that sites (particularly US-facing ones) should not offer bitcoin deposits and withdraws or are you just trolling?

like i said before, even if you hate bitcoins, you could withdraw them from a site and in less than 15 minutes convert it to USD.

the volatility of bitcoin doesn't impact its usefulness as a payment system. merge can use an account at mtgox or bitinstant to instantly convert your deposit into $, they can hold all players funds in $ and not have any btc denominated tables. Then when you want to cash out they can convert $ to btc and send to you, then you can convert back to $ in minutes. Eventually bitinstant will be releasing a debit card where bitcoins can be sent to and instantly converted to $ in your atm account.

Yeah, the problem with bitcoins are hackers and swongs, so I doubt that solid gambling operators will find them reliable.

The idea of this petition is to add deposit/withdrawal options of any kind that are yet staying under the radar. Gift cards, Facebook likes, golf balls and some other funny money I've never heard about are more reliable than bitcoins, it's only required that many people accept them.

It's a rebellion against the US government - refusal to use fiat money that can be easily controlled by it. Mavrodi also tried to create his own currency, better than fiat ones. I can't say whether he would have succeeded if he hadn't got arrested. People still remember those '17 trucks' that Russian government used to transport confiscated people's money in an unknown direction.

Governments don't like currencies that stay under the radar and try hard to regulate them. So the destiny of US sites will be to change such currencies like they're changing payment processors now.

agreed.

Mt.Gox reversed the transactions in the example you are referring to.

No, but I can guarantee Bernanke will keep printing USD.

If you're concerned about the instability of the price of bitcoins you can always just not use them to deposit / withdraw. Being concerned about this is pretty dumb though. If you want to deposit using bitcoins you can turn usd--> btc at mt gox and transfer that money to the poker site in about 1 min. When turning btc --> usd it will take about 3 hours using mtgox, its highly unlikely the price will drop significantly in that amount of time.

If you're actually willing to pay 20% vig to cash out, the poker sites could all easily process bitcoin cashouts in 30 mins for that price if they wanted to. Poker site --> btc --> atm using bitinstant debit card could definitely be done for less than 20%.

I can't ever envision a day where a poker room would accept anything but firm currency for playable funds. Good luck evading the government and all, but we regulate things for a reason. Without taxes, we'd have no infrastructure. Sure, the dollar's taking a hit. But it's still one of the best valued currencies in the world. And last time I checked, no one was going to hack my mattress for my money.

^^ Good one...

coon74 and IHasTehNutz, you guys are clearly not interested in using bitcoins, but are you arguing that the sites should not even offer them as a payment method?

Why would they at this time? Just my opinion, sinner. I don't see it happening.

thats not what i asked. My question is: are you arguing that the sites should not offer bitcoins as a payment method?

I don't believe the sites will offer bitcoins either. My reasoning is that the sites will never offer bitcoin withdraws because it would allow fast cashouts. However I am still arguing that the sites should offer bitcoins as a payment method.