7 ms·
You know how mobile networks made lots of money by letting third parties charge things to people's cell phone bills? I think 21 is trying to build carrier bill
by natrius 11y ago
You know how mobile networks made lots of money by letting third parties charge things to people's cell phone bills? I think 21 is trying to build carrier billing for everything. If everyone has a hundred dollars a month of mining power plugged in, 21 can issue those people a credit line secured by the ability to charge arbitrary, limited amounts to their electricity bills.
- minimaxir 11y agoCarrier billing worked because there were zero alternatives back in the day and they could charge whatever they wanted. When App Stores became popular with free/low-cost apps, carrier billing died out. In this case, there is an alternative to the 21 computer known as money.
- natrius 11y agoUnless you're paying with bitcoins, you can't just teleport money. You need to transfer it via third parties. Credit cards do this and take a ~3% cut. If 21 can get its chips into every household, they can take a much smaller cut, especially since the chance that a customer won't pay their bill is lower. You'd have to unplug your mining chips to avoid a bill, which would instantly notify 21. They can charge money to people's electricity bills and pay no fee. That is a competitive position.
- Sanddancer 11y agoI can send money via various electronic fund transfer systems that do exist, not just through credit cards. There even exist standards, like SWIFT, to do this internationally. So yes, banks can transfer in a very similar way as bitcoin.
- akhilcacharya 11y agoThat's the only interesting application of their low-power mining tech so far in my opinion - having the ability to offer innovative pricing schemes or heavily subsidize nearly any electronic good.