[natrius]

It costs about 1% to acquire Bitcoin using USD. If the merchant wants to receive USD instantly without exchange risk, that's another 1%. Not 3%, which is the typical cost of doing business with credit and debit cards. The last taxi driver I talked to said he pays 5% because he couldn't get approved for Square.

Chargebacks are important for credit and debit cards because you hand over your payment credentials many times each day. You never hand over your Bitcoin payment credentials. No one complains that cash doesn't have chargebacks because it just isn't a problem.

It'll be fun to speculate on both sides of this issue throughout 2014, but there are tens of millions of dollars floating around to convince merchants that accepting Bitcoin is a good idea. If it's cheaper and usable, it's going to work out. Let's see what the world looks like in July.