[scott_meade]

"she paid in bitcoin, which was transferred into actual dollars "so there's a fixed price ... [and] we can actually pay her money back, if she changes her mind"

Seems no different than if the buyer had sold her Bitcoin and paid Virgin Galactic in cash. The real trick will be when they can accept Bitcoin, keep the Bitcoin, and make any refunds and adjustments in Bitcoin.

[kgo]

True, but they were able to process a single quarter-million dollar transaction and easily turn that into 'real' cash. That's still a pretty decent accomplishment for magic internet money.

[VMG]

Bitcoin transfers have some advantages compared to cash or wire transfers.

[qnr]

Let's say you accept bitcoin but immediately convert it to USD. In future one of your suppliers also decides to accept bitcoin. Now you can pay your supplier directly without the USD conversion step. This wouldn't have happened without you actually deciding to accept bitcoin in the first place.

I don't see any other way to bootstrap a new currency.

[wmf]

If you hold BTC for any amount of time between when you get paid by the customer and when you pay the supplier you're taking a huge risk.

[drewblaisdell]

> Seems no different than if the buyer had sold her Bitcoin and paid Virgin Galactic in cash.

I'm not sure if this differs for six-figure transactions, but transacting fiat currency generally costs a vendor ~3%.

Receiving bitcoins and immediately converting them back to USD/GBP can be done for less than one percent of the amount of the transaction.

[JumpCrisscross]

> transacting fiat currency generally costs a vendor ~3%

1. Bitcoin is no less a fiat currency than the U.S. dollar or Japanese yen.

2. For small retail transactions, yes, 3% seems right. Larger transactions, however, are generally done by wire. These transfers carry a fixed fee and are generally a very small percentage of the transaction value.

[speeder]

Fiat means value by decree, and value of bitcoin is decided only by free market, without any decrees

[bunderbunder]

> 1. Bitcoin is no less a fiat currency than the U.S. dollar or Japanese yen.

Depends on what you mean by "fiat currency", which tends to get used with a few different (if related) meanings. One is "non-backed state-issued currency". Under that definition it isn't. Another is "currency with no intrinsic value". Under that definition it is.