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That's would be an awesome alternative to PayPal. I wish them luck. Edit: btw, we really need a public and free payment system, why are we giving to paypal and

by kome 9y ago

That's would be an awesome alternative to PayPal. I wish them luck. Edit: btw, we really need a public and free payment system, why are we giving to paypal and credit cards this incredible privilege? Paying with digital cash should be as inexpensive as paying with real cash.

mavhc 9y ago
Because the credit/debit card systems are horribly insecure and we need to pay them so they can pay people who were scammed
fiatjaf 9y ago
Are you serious? Do you think "we should", really? Have you ever considered the problems and probably impossibility in achieving what you want?
- cyphar 9y ago
  TFA sort of proves that it is theoretically possible. But I believe that mints in the Taler model can take a flat fee to pay for server costs and so on.
- jabot 9y ago
  On the other hand, it's not like handling physical cash is free, really. Think about time spent counting, ensuring that there are no falsified notes, bringing excess notes to the bank and making sure there is change, etc. I think it is quite feasible to create an electronic payment system that has comparable overhead. Consider that there are existing electronic payment systems, e.g. electronic cash in europe, that already work and are quite secure (being smartcard-based)
  - fiatjaf 9y ago
    I didn't say that. I've just said that it is not possible to have an "open" web payments standard. Someone has to maintain it and link it to the real world money. The only way besides having centralized for-profit organizations maintaining the payments infrastructure is to use cryptocurrencies.
sigzero 9y ago
You have to pay for development and upkeep of the service. So it will never be as inexpensive.
- kemiller 9y ago
  Cash also has production and upkeep costs.
bokumo 9y ago
Taler is free in the sense of libre software, but it is not a free payment system. In their demo they added a small transaction fee. However, because it is not a crypto currency they can greatly reduce the transaction fees.

by kome 9y ago

mavhc 9y ago

Because the credit/debit card systems are horribly insecure and we need to pay them so they can pay people who were scammed

fiatjaf 9y ago

Are you serious? Do you think "we should", really? Have you ever considered the problems and probably impossibility in achieving what you want?

cyphar 9y ago
TFA sort of proves that it is theoretically possible. But I believe that mints in the Taler model can take a flat fee to pay for server costs and so on.
jabot 9y ago
On the other hand, it's not like handling physical cash is free, really. Think about time spent counting, ensuring that there are no falsified notes, bringing excess notes to the bank and making sure there is change, etc. I think it is quite feasible to create an electronic payment system that has comparable overhead. Consider that there are existing electronic payment systems, e.g. electronic cash in europe, that already work and are quite secure (being smartcard-based)
- fiatjaf 9y ago
  I didn't say that. I've just said that it is not possible to have an "open" web payments standard. Someone has to maintain it and link it to the real world money. The only way besides having centralized for-profit organizations maintaining the payments infrastructure is to use cryptocurrencies.

sigzero 9y ago

You have to pay for development and upkeep of the service. So it will never be as inexpensive.

kemiller 9y ago
Cash also has production and upkeep costs.

bokumo 9y ago

Taler is free in the sense of libre software, but it is not a free payment system. In their demo they added a small transaction fee. However, because it is not a crypto currency they can greatly reduce the transaction fees.