12 ms·

Or, you know, Paypal.

heheocoenev 9y ago
Paypal doesn't serve many countries. Has high fees. Can arbitrarily lock you away from funds or freeze accounts. Censors Transactions. Banking law does not apply as they are a transmitter, not a bank. Many many reasons not to PayPal.
- brucephillips 9y ago
  If you look into the reason for each of those constraints, you'll find that any cryptocurrency exchange will eventually have to face the same challenges. I think it was Hector-Garcia Molina who used to talk about how NoSQL proponents were so excited about the scale benefits, but just hadn't yet realized that they need ACID, normalization, etc.. That's who cryptocurrency advocates remind me of. Just because some features are superior currently, doesn't mean those features are consistent with future, inevitable constraints.
- kevin_thibedeau 9y ago
  They are a bank in Europe.
  - vertex-four 9y ago
    On the other hand, Europe broadly has better ways to transfer money. For example, anyone with a mobile banking app can transfer money to anyone else who's registered their mobile number with their bank - even completely separate banks - near-instantly, with an hour's delay in extreme cases, in the UK. And I often hear that other countries have significantly better infrastructure than us.
pbrb 9y ago
Paypal has nothing to do with ACH or cash settlement. Totally different.
- brucephillips 9y ago
  Neither does Ripple, which is the technology in question in this subthread.
  - pbrb 9y ago
    Ripple is a member of NACHA: https://ripple.com/insights/ripple-labs-joins-mainstream-nacha-financial-industry-alliance/ https://ripple.com/insights/ripple-labs-joins-mainstream-nac... There is huge potential with what Ripple is doing, and their technology very much has a lot to do with ACH and cash settlement. Apologies if I was being an ass. I'm just really excited about Ripple and how I think their technology can transform the entire electronic movement of money. No more waiting days for cash to settle... it literally takes seconds. It's pretty amazing to see it in action.
    - simeongbolo 9y ago
      You are so right, Ripple is one of the only companies trying to revolutionize how payments work by creating interoperability between different payment networks and working with banks. What they are trying to do is extremely ambitious... if they can pull it off then oh man, not sure what to say. It's like trying to predict Facebook pre internet.....
- QML 9y ago
  When you withdrawal from PayPal (or at least Venmo), doesn't it go through an ACH?
  - wmf 9y ago
    Which is why PayPal can't be faster than ACH.
- jrochkind1 9y ago
  I do wonder how long until some regulators decide Paypal is a bank.

Paypal doesn't serve many countries. Has high fees. Can arbitrarily lock you away from funds or freeze accounts. Censors Transactions. Banking law does not apply as they are a transmitter, not a bank. Many many reasons not to PayPal.

brucephillips 9y ago
If you look into the reason for each of those constraints, you'll find that any cryptocurrency exchange will eventually have to face the same challenges. I think it was Hector-Garcia Molina who used to talk about how NoSQL proponents were so excited about the scale benefits, but just hadn't yet realized that they need ACID, normalization, etc.. That's who cryptocurrency advocates remind me of. Just because some features are superior currently, doesn't mean those features are consistent with future, inevitable constraints.
kevin_thibedeau 9y ago
They are a bank in Europe.
- vertex-four 9y ago
  On the other hand, Europe broadly has better ways to transfer money. For example, anyone with a mobile banking app can transfer money to anyone else who's registered their mobile number with their bank - even completely separate banks - near-instantly, with an hour's delay in extreme cases, in the UK. And I often hear that other countries have significantly better infrastructure than us.

pbrb 9y ago

Paypal has nothing to do with ACH or cash settlement. Totally different.

brucephillips 9y ago
Neither does Ripple, which is the technology in question in this subthread.
- pbrb 9y ago
  Ripple is a member of NACHA: https://ripple.com/insights/ripple-labs-joins-mainstream-nacha-financial-industry-alliance/ https://ripple.com/insights/ripple-labs-joins-mainstream-nac... There is huge potential with what Ripple is doing, and their technology very much has a lot to do with ACH and cash settlement. Apologies if I was being an ass. I'm just really excited about Ripple and how I think their technology can transform the entire electronic movement of money. No more waiting days for cash to settle... it literally takes seconds. It's pretty amazing to see it in action.
  - simeongbolo 9y ago
    You are so right, Ripple is one of the only companies trying to revolutionize how payments work by creating interoperability between different payment networks and working with banks. What they are trying to do is extremely ambitious... if they can pull it off then oh man, not sure what to say. It's like trying to predict Facebook pre internet.....
QML 9y ago
When you withdrawal from PayPal (or at least Venmo), doesn't it go through an ACH?
- wmf 9y ago
  Which is why PayPal can't be faster than ACH.
jrochkind1 9y ago
I do wonder how long until some regulators decide Paypal is a bank.