Hacker News Reader

Besides being able to change prices (whether USD or bitcoin) in real time, Valve is also selling bits and global data center activity. Their prices are very disconnected from other prices to begin with. Not like if they were selling tomatoes at cost plus living wages. Plus or minus 10% from one day to the next is not necessarily relevant on a sale to sale basis.

Volatility isn't an issue for the merchant - prices can be adjusted in real-time based on the cryptocurrency's value at the time of purchase, and if they don't want to be exposed, they can sell it immediately on purchase.

Whether or not Valve would want to encourage people to pay with crypto and expose their customer base to its volatility is another matter.

In a world where people need both fiat and crypto, the volatility of crypto precludes returns.

What they mean is that you top up your Steam credit and rest is between you and Steam.