Crypto Payment Integration is Here - Help Test

We're trying hard to roll out more integrated payment options on permies.  Crypto has been in the works for a long time, and is finally implemented.  (thanks, Devaka!)

We're still working out the kinks, and would really benefit from a few dozen (or more) crypto transactions to test the process and get feedback.  So we temporarily dropped the price of the Skiddable Structures mini-documentary to a dollar so we could ask people to buy it with crypto and give us their feedback.

If you have crypto, could you take it for a spin by buying this:  

https://permies.com/w/skiddable-structures

Leave us your feedback here on this thread  Take screen shots.  Note what emails you received.  

Did it work?  Were there fees?  Could anything have been clearer/smoother?

I already had a Coinbase account, so that part was pretty simple.

Oddly it said the BTC wallet was unavailable even though there were sufficient funds. It did let me send USDC. There was a fee, it was 9.16 cents, which is crazy high on a one dollar send... but I think it might be a flat fee.

Hope that helped,
- Trevor.

Bought with crypto, just a few extra hoops to jump through (logging into Coinbase, multiple verification texts from Coinbase that needed to be entered), some additional fees, etc.  I took a few screenshots along the way.  Overall the process wasn't very difficult and I didn't run into any issues.

I've seen a couple of charges go through.  They take a penny from me.

Weird that they would take 9 cents from you all.

how fast were the transactions?  Pretty snappy?

I tried to pay with both the Strike app and an Exodus software wallet. Both of them said the amount was too low

I was able to purchase a $5 fermentation guide found here:
https://permies.com/wiki/192712/Nicole-Sauce-Fermentation-Quick-Guide#premium

I used the strike app to send USD and you received bitcoin

I had a smooth transaction buying Leigh Tate's Home Soil Test Guide for $2.49; total fee was just about $.03 (147 sats). I used Samourai wallet/android app, and it took about 10 minutes to receive the confirmation.

So what I learned is that while coinbase says it will take 1%, it will take something from the person making the purchase.

Another thing I learned is that for some wallets, the amount has to be big enough or they won't touch it.  

Further, completing the transaction can take a while (like ten minutes).

Does this mean we need to explore a different crypto network to get costs lower and for transactions to be faster?

Trevor Peck wrote:It did let me send USDC. There was a fee, it was 9.16 cents, which is crazy high on a one dollar send... but I think it might be a flat fee.

Afaik, coinbase doesn't charge you a fee for this sorta payment. What you have been charged sounds like the gas fee on the etherum network.

The etherum gas gwei changes all the time. When you pay with USDC (or any other etherum token), you might want to check the current gas fees first:
https://etherscan.io/gastracker

paul wheaton wrote:Does this mean we need to explore a different crypto network to get costs lower and for transactions to be faster?

I think coinbase supports all the major networks. And its up to the sender's wallet / service to determine this price. If you own the private key, and use your own software wallet like electrum, or a hardware wallet like ledger, you can even set the price you wish to pay. The higher the price the faster the payment goes through.

What about lightning?

paul wheaton wrote:
Does this mean we need to explore a different crypto network to get costs lower and for transactions to be faster?

I believe any network will take up to 10 minutes or more for on chain bitcoin transactions. Each block of data in the bitcoin ledger is mined every 10 minutes. If there is a large amount of transactions waiting to be processed the miners will first choose the ones that allocate the largest reward. Lower miner reward transactions will get pushed to the next block requiring an additional 10 minutes to get added to the ledger. If you send bitcoin it could go through pretty quick if you are close to when the next block is mined.

The lightning network is almost instantaneous. Bitcoin is put on to the lightning network and exchanged across different nodes. The reason this is very fast is that they are not waiting on the 10 minute wait to get added to the ledger. Two people could have hundreds of transactions back and forth that would be just one transaction on the normal bitcoin ledger when the bitcoin is moved back off the lightning network. Lightning allows very low amounts of money to be sent, for example the fountain app allows you to send 1 Satoshi (100 million in every bitcoin) every minute.

Note: I am still early in my journey to understand bitcoin and lightning and do not have any experience integrating either into a website

paul wheaton wrote:What about lightning?

]

If you are looking for a fast blockchain without a middleman I recommend the  
venerable and distinguished Digibyte. https://digibyte.org/en-gb/
https://digibyte.org/docs/infopaper.pdf

Quite honestly going through Coinbase kinda defeats the purpose of decentralised crypto-currency.

Monero is another one for you to consider depending upon your level of anarchical tendency.
https://odysee.com/@MoneroTalk:8/luke-smith-on-monero%27s-unique-self:e

Personally speaking, if I can't transact with you via the Exodus Wallet, I probably won't.
https://www.exodus.com/

Stay devious my exemplar.

Technically, you can still pay with XMR from your Exodus wallet (or any other wallet) right now. Just select Monero on the checkout page, and send Monero to the address it shows. Coinbase would still act as a middleman, but that's at our side - you don't have to have a coinbase account or anything.