Yesterday, I paid my monthly car payment in bitcoin for the first time ever. I was so psyched that it actually worked that I frantically ripped open SN and spewed forth this post: #804931 Little did I know, (but of course realized later) @j7hB75 had actually just a handful of hours earlier written this thoughtful analysis of the program: #804386 You should check it out for a less spazzed-out take on the service.
Anyway, I said that I'd follow up on how different what I expected it would cost (493,555 sats) and what it actually cost. Well I got an email from Strike at 12:15 this morning and the difference is...drum roll...
S
U
S
P
E
N
C
E
192 sats
That's right! I would have had to sell 493,555 sats to get $493.89 for my car loan payment and then either wait three days or pay an additional instant transfer fee. Instead, I spent 493,747 and my bill was paid instantly.
Now, when I go into the Strike app and look at the transaction in my history, it says that they included a $3.93 fee, so it sound like I did just get kind of lucky with some accidental arbitrage. That being said, this is the exact fee level I would have had to pay to sell the bitcoin anyway, so all in all, this makes the bitcoin-maxi life WAY more easy for Americans.