Gridcoins.org is about to start payment processing, allowing to buy GRC with PayPal and Credit Cards
Starting Monday, users will be able to buy GRC using PayPal and Credit Card on gridcoins.org and Android App.
Some of the features I have been working on lately is ability to buy GridCoins straight using Fiat currencies. While PayPal will require a sort of additional check, and Credit Card will be enabled only for cards supporting 3DSecure, in upcoming period AndroidApp will allow GRC top-up straight from in-app purchases.
Motivation:
- Most users who are just starting could be a bit discouraged by inability to stake without accumulating some amounts. At least, this is the most common question I got on social media whenever I publish something that's related to Gridcoin.
- The next step is Business API, an ability for businesses to charge in GRC and get their transactions funded directly on their gridcoins.org or any other wallet.
- In my personal opinion, in order to boost the price of GRC, we need to get more FIAT/GRC trading.
Those who remember my post about GRC Suplemental Development Proposal (https://steemit.com/gridcoin/@crt/grc-supplementary-developments-proposal), this aims to be one of the first steps of creating an entry point for charging and business integration.
In order to keep the liquidity, the platform will allow only buying GRC using Fiat, not selling them.
I am probably going to come up with PR article about this, as this could also be a great marketing tool (since fiat->crypto is basically something we can barely see).
Another benefit, is the fact this could be an entry point of trading and an alternative to VirWox, with much less in fees as the GRC could be traded directly into other cryptos. In my personal opinion, this should strongly boost the GRC economy, and, if done right, completly replace the well known VirWox mechanism of trading fiat into crypto.
Grab an account on https://www.gridcoins.org or via Google Play.
This truly is awesome, I really hope it can take off!
Might I suggest also posting this to r/gridcoin and r/marketgrid?
Be wary though, because if I remember correctly uscore.net also used to offer gridcoin for paypal/CC and they had to stop because people kept charging back.
It is going to be problematic. As for CC, the plan is to allow only 3D Secure cards (these with additional password confirmation). This way we are protected from chargebacks, but not all the cards will work. For PayPal, we will need a sort of additional verification and limits that will increase for each account over time.
Basically we are about to create a model similar to VirWox platform. As longs as chargebacks are bellow standard (of about 3%) we should be good to go.
As for the spreading news widely, such as Reddit and other places, I think we can do that, but it could be very early. We could easy get into situation of not having enough to sell / buy, so my idea is to keep it low at the time and make it work, then go out and publish it everywhere.
Sweet, I will definitely try it when it becomes available!
You only mentioned being able to buy in your original post, but in this comment you mention selling. Will you be able to sell as well?
Well, in order to buy, someone needs to sell, right?
I will start with some of mine initial coins, then the strategy is:
Result: Increased trades on exchangers, increased number of Fiat->GRC = deflation.
The cost is going to be a bit higher then the GRC value due to conversion costs, but definitely lower then 'VirWox' approach, as I am not going to generate profit.
In the later stages, other crypto -> grc will be also enabled, allowing to completely close the circle and allow trading in both directions.
The reasons why not doing it now, is not having enough fiat / crypto cash flow, and the demand for selling is probably more then for buying, which will directly cause an inflation. (not only with GRC but with any crypto allowed to convert to fiat directly assuming there are more crypto-> fiat then opposite direction).
In short, conversion in both direction is going to be allowed in later stages, but it would never be allowed that grc->fiat, exceeds fiat->grc.
We will need to play a bit dirty here :) But in principle, the is very similar to steem economy.
Woooow ! The greatest idea I saw for userbase improvement ! Thanks a lot crt, I will give it a try asap. Exchange forking issues are far away now :)
Actually we still have forking issue present, and still missing builds for some distros. The schedule for Monday is a best effort try to speed things up. Whenever we detect forking, payments and exchanges will not be allowed, the same way gridcoinstats work.
Even if the forking issue does not get resolved on time, there are 3 projects (this being one of them) only from me that waits to get launched once forking is solved. If few other guys have projects that waits for forking issue to get's solved, we could get in situation to launch multiple projects at the same time which will definitely boost GRC as investors will see many things happening at once.
This is truly a milestone for Gridcoin! Thanks for your work!!
Thank You, for ongoing support, and being the best community on steemit in every possible way! Even if we have few "haters" on slack :), they are good guys willing to help :) That's what makes GRC great. The whole community is just something special.
I suggest using processors like Giropay and/or Sofortüberweisung for the european/german market, they process secure account to account transactions. Most germans don't use/trust credit cards but Germany itself is one of the biggest markets worldwide.
Thanks @nuad01 I will consider that, taking in account you are absolutely right about the market reach. At this early stage I am more concentrated on measures in place to protect from chargebacks, as this would be crucial for this to keep running. If it shows up that we can perform good enough without issues, I am definitely going to try to introduce as many payment methods as possible.
Well one of the biggest advantages of account to account transactions: no chargebacks. ;)
Absolutely terrific, @crt! Thank you!
I am in the exact position you are describing: Want to buy GRC for fiat and have to use indirect and fee-intensive ways over Bitcoin as I found no better alternative.
Just registered an account on your page and am looking forward for more info. I think what might be good to provide is some words about security, trust(less)ness and who will be selling the GRCs to me when this page is just for buying (which is ok).
Keep up the good work, I am really looking forward to it and concur to the other comments that this might boost Gridcoin way more than many other (also valuable) initiatives.
I am wondering why this post doesn't get more echo actually. Are you in contact with the devs? What do they think of your project?
Thanks @xlm567 We are all in contact with each other on Slack, but the situation is a bit chaotic as always is. Basically everyone push their best. There's no need for larger echo at the moment as this is the very early stage, we could easily get disabled by the payment processor / bank. This is the primary concern, while forking is another one.
In the beginning, the amounts allowed to buy are going to be small. I will be selling my own GRC as the starting buffer, then buy more on exchanger. The price is to be calculated based on amount of GRC out -> Amount of GRC in. In the second stage, i'll try to automate this process.
These are some issues we need to address before we can spread this wide. I am also on few other projects that are already a bit late, so don't expect miracles here at least in the first month.
Hopefully, if this get's to a level of self sustainability we would find someone dedicated to this project only to take-over, so I can move forward with other projects.
As for security, threat everything as no security until I remove "early alpha" tag. While I put reasonable efforts to protect everything, I am not going to remove "early alpha absolute no warranty" unless it get's some stability and time proves it will be a good model.
The another reason for lack of echo, which is a good one, is that if we put much efforts into marketing this, and then got blocked by payment processor, it would be negative marketing. We don't need that at the moment.
Thanks for your extensive reply. I've come across this Slack channel many times now as the most direct source of information but an invite is needed so I'm stuck with Steemit, Reddit and CCT.
Edit: Found an invite on CCT by Quez and will join soon :-)
I understand and agree with your concerns regarding paypal and banks, found out first hand that many are blocking transfers to crypto coins, seeing their business model endangered obviously. In Germany, bitcoin.de teamed up with a bank which I think profits a lot from this first mover role.
If you need pilot users for testing transfers or any other form of support, I am happy to help, just drop me a line!
Thanks, I will do that for sure. Let's see what is going to happen on Monday, and what would be the situation with forking. If everything goes well, I am always in need for someone to help. Basically everyone is busy and additional pair of hands is always helpful :)
It's really appreciated.
I really cant believe that we can do that and so many coins dont have an equivalent.
There was many tries with similar approach. The problem is the amount of chargebacks, as hackers use stollen cards / pp accounts to perform buying. However, good payment processor gives ability to enable 3D Secure cards only, that are not eligible for chargebacks, as additional password is considered as "slip signature". It could be very easy that this approach should do the job.
Well done, this is amazing.
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Thank you companion steemians..
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