A shame. Steam no longer accepts bitcoins
Because of the high fees and the unpredictable duration of confirmations, Steam travels the Bitcoin acceptance. Sad, but also understandable-and hopefully not the start of a deconstruction of the Bitcoin acceptance.
Yesterday Steam published an announcement that may have caused disappointment in many who like both Bitcoin and computer games: Bitcoin is no longer accepted as a means of payment. The most important online platform for gamers no longer allows games to pay games with bitcoins.
“In the past few months we have found that the value of Bitcoin has become increasingly inconsistent and that the fees for transaction courses in the Bitcoin network have risen enormously,” writes Steam. “Among other things, the transaction fees that the customer is imposed on the Bitcoin network have risen on a sudden this year and reached its peak with almost $ 20 per transaction last week.”
The high fees are a big problem for customers on the one hand. If you buy a game on Steam, worth 50 euros, you have to add 5-10 euros for fees at peak times. This is not really acceptable for purchases of this size. On the other hand, the volatile prices in connection with the unpredictable duration of the confirmation become a problem.
“When paying on Steam, the customer transfers a certain amount of Bitcoin for the costs of the game, as well as an additional amount to Bitcoin to pay the transaction fee that is imposed by the Bitcoin network. The Bitcoin value is only guaranteed for a short time and if the transaction has not been completed in a timely manner, the required amount for payment can change. This amount has risen considerably in recent times to a point where the discrepancy was enormous.”
Against this background, it is sad, but very understandable that Steam is taking consequences: “Unfortunately, it is currently not sustainable to support Bitcoin as a payment option.”
The same that Steam writes, unfortunately, applies to everyone who accepts bitcoins for products with a price of less than 100 euros. VPNS, the E-May provider Mailbox.Org and protonmail.ch, and many other titles in our list of acceptance points. Should the current state of Bitcoin stop – almost 150 are currently waiting.000 transactions on a confirmation-Steam should only be the first of a long series of companies that the Bitcoin acceptance back.
Whether Segwit finally ignites whether the Lightning Network comes earlier than you can expect or whether other cryptocurrencies jump into the barn – you will see that. At least we hope that the possibility of paying on the Internet without financial agent has not already exceeded his zenith.
Tip: You can buy Keys4coins with Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin and Dogecoin key for Steam. Steam’s decision could only cement a tendency to exist for a long time: small purchases are something for old coins, and not for Bitcoin.