Quote from: lyth0s on August 21, 2014, 05:51:47 AM

Quote from: DDuckworth on August 20, 2014, 05:20:14 AM

I saw in a recent thread about how it would take forever to get bitcoin to be accepted at the pumps of gas stations due to most pumps not having internet access. It got me thinking, what if instead of a bitcoin credit card styled solution, there was a QR code at the pump with a wallet address, sending BTC to that QR through your wallet address would notify a server inside the store and turn the pump on for the amount of bitcoin you sent?

What if you wanted to pump until your gas was full, would there be a way for the pump to check the amount available before you pumped, so that it could pull it afterward?

In order for the pump to "pull the bitcoins" afterwards it would need to know your private key, which is a big no-no. Honestly you don't have to get internet all the way out to the pump machines. Just have the cash register (which is usually a computer nowadays that has an ethernet connection for sales reporting purposes) connected to the internet and be aware of incoming bitcoin payments and to what wallet address (1 per pump). Upon you sending bitcoins to the wallet address the cash register turns the pump on (they already can do this) for the amount of dollars of bitcoins you sent them, done and done

It wouldn't even need to be this complicated. The gas station could just accept bitcoin payments the same way that coffee shops, bars and restaurants accept bitcoin in physical locations today. If BTC payment at the pump is not an option then the clerk could show a customer a QR code that the customer would send BTC to, and upon receipt of a TX with an appropriate TX fee the clerk could authorize the US dollar equivalent worth of gas to be disbursed.