You, Me, and BTC Your Liberty & Bitcoin Podcast
This is episode 239 of You, Me, and BTC – your liberty and Bitcoin podcast.
Today's exciting guest is Jeff Klee, the CEO of CheapAir.com. CheapAir has been using Coinbase to accept Bitcoin for airfare for years now. (Kudos for that!) But recently, some changes over at Coinbase threw Jeff's company under the bus.
And to make matters worse, BitPay also introduced changes earlier this year that left many merchants in the dark. They now force customers to use the controversial BIP70 protocol that only works with a few Bitcoin wallets.
What the heck is going on here? Are these Bitcoin giants abusing their influence? What's the point of decentralized money if we still let a few big companies shove us around? Isn't Bitcoin better than this?
Thankfully, Jeff is already working on solutions. In the near future, his company plans to accept more cryptocurrencies while relying on fewer third-party services. Likewise, countless other developers, wallets, merchants, and industry leaders are constantly working to improve Bitcoin privacy, decentralization, and usability.
On tonight's show, you'll learn about all the drama and understand how Jeff and the rest are working hard to keep Bitcoin great. Check the list below for some of the specific stories we'll cover and catch the livestream tonight at 9PM Eastern!
- A Letter to Our Bitcoin Customers
- Coinbase Leaves CheapAir Hanging
- BitPay, Payment Protocol (BIP-70), and Our Users' Bitcoin Payment Experience
- Wallet Developers Express Security Concerns Over BitPay's Payment Protocol Policy
- Bitpay QR codes are no longer valid. Important Notice.
- Bitpay bip70 payment protocol has great a risk of AML/KYC surveillance, monitoring or worst blacklist.
Your hosts this week are Daniel Brown, Tim Baker, and Zack Voell. Don't forget to scroll down so you can vote in this week's Bitcoin poll and share your thoughts in the comments!
Every click helps. If this Bitcoin podcast was interesting, entertaining, obnoxious, or anything else, use the share buttons to let others know that it exists.
Tips appreciated: 1Kiy8x4pwMS7RQuH7xDeVcfqeup7gUTqA
Vote
How do you feel about BIP70 and @BitPay's decision to force people to use it? Join us LIVE tonight with the CEO of @CheapAir! He has to deal with this and will share his thoughts. https://t.co/3q9dDidSjr
— You, Me, and BTC (@YouMeAndBTC) April 27, 2018
Was looking forward to listening to this but stopped when I realised you’d used a clickbait misleading headline. Bitpay did not screw him. I hate BIP 70 too and that BitPay went ahead and took advantage of their market position to implement unilaterally and give users very few options other than to go with it. But they don’t ‘force’ and they didn’t ‘screw’ cheapair so I didn’t even get to 2 mins in. Ah well!
Hey fair enough. I knew I could be pushing it with the title. With that said…
If a company you’ve been working with for years suddenly just stops their service, isn’t that kinda getting screwed?
And if a company forces your users to use an extremely limited number of wallets, isn’t that kinda getting screwed?