Friday, April 3, 2015

Layoffs at BitPay

Things are not going so well in the Bitcoin sector.

The Bitcoin Bowl is no longer, despite the fact that BitPay had a three year deal to sponsor the name.

Speculation is that BitPay may not have the cash or the bitcoins to make the sponsorship payments, since enthusiasm in Bitcoin has died with the price collapse.

Reports Fortune magazine:
BitPay, which launched in 2011, has appeared to go through problems recently. In January, the company laid off nine employees. It reportedly has small margins on its bitcoin transactions. And it was surprising to many in the community when BitPay spent big money (believed to be in the single-digit millions) for a college football sponsorship. Along with other payment companies in the space, BitPay suffered big losses when the price of bitcoin dropped precipitously last year. Is the company in trouble?

Insiders and obsessives on Reddit’s bitcoin forum are already sounding the alarm, speculating that the dropped sponsorship is a possible death knell. “I believe Bitpay is getting drilled in the bear market worse than Coinbase,” commented one user. “They make barely any money on the transactions… BitPay has got to be bleeding money.
  -RW

3 comments:

  1. I don't own any Bitcoin. I don't think it is the answer to defeat the central banks. Not yet?

    But what I have never understood, is why Austrian/Libertarians are so against it?

    Who cares? Oh, it doesn't fit the Austrian whatever for whatever means money. Who cares? Does this mean Libertarians should vilify it as much as the central banking system?
    For the most part, it seems to me to be decentralized, so good for it! The State seems to fear it, so GOOD for Bitcoin. Sure it may be a waste of federal reserve notes, but so are federal reserve notes, a waste. Worth $0.02 of a 1913 dollar.
    It just seems to me, Libertarians should support whatever free market exchange of whatever comes about, even if it's walnut shells, if the Market drives it. Trying to vilify Bitcoin seems to me to vilify incentive and motivation against the State.
    What would Bitcoin do in a true free Market system?
    Don't we as Libertarians want a free market of currencies?

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  2. I just got back from South By Southwest where Bitcoin and Blockchain firms were everywhere along with VCs and Wall Street types looking to invest in these companies.

    Bitcoin is maturing, getting more buttoned up, more boring, more legal, and less anonymous with ID checks and compliance at the on and off ramps of the ecosystem. The big guys are getting involved and the legal and tax issues are being ironed out. The market cap keeps growing. It's not going anywhere.

    The BTC system may not turn out to be the libertarian dream some hoped for due to the nature of the blockchain implementation, but other, more anonymous cryptocurrencies or blockchain technologies just may.

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  3. Bitcoin is a Statist Wet Dream! A block chain that permanently records every transaction, the State will create an in-house one(ala IBM, Intel types), mandate use through new laws, bye bye anonymity, freedom, etc. As for BitPay, a late 1990's Net hosting co. PSINet short term saw a high public stock price, became arrogant, blew millions on costly hosting centers, and having the Baltimore Ravens football stadium renamed
    PSINet Stadium (for multi-millions of course).
    The BitPay bowl reminded me of sky is the limit green mgmt. wasting VC money.
    Maybe BitPay will make it (PSIX did not).

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