5 ms·

Cryptocurrencies offer unprecedented transaction speeds Lol.

mirimir 9y ago
Good point. Some payment processors credit sellers with just one confirmation. But it can still take several minutes, or more if your wallet client doesn't add enough fee. Also, with Bitcoin price so high, fees are absurd for small transactions. That's the real problem. For large transactions, on the other hand, Bitcoin is faster than wire transfer. I can move thousands of USD in a few hours, anonymously through a mixing service. For ~2% fee. There is the risk of price volatility, I admit. Edit: Sorry, I didn't specify international transfers.
- Marazan 9y ago
  Last month I moved £10,000 between two UK banks and it settled in 3 seconds. Fees were £0.00. I could have moved more for exactly the same fee of free.
  - mirimir 9y ago
    What mechanism? Moving funds internationally, in my experience, has sometimes taken days.
    - tempay 9y ago
      It will be using faster payments[1] which allows up to £250,000 to be moved between UK accounts without any fees. For how long it takes I'm used to seeing "within 2 hours" claimed but in practice it's instantaneous. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faster_Payments_Service https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faster_Payments_Service
      - mirimir 9y ago
        OK, what about UK to Brazil? Or UK to Russia?
    - kccqzy 9y ago
      I routinely move funds internationally using the old-fashioned mechanism called "wire transfer" which for my particular case, is settled in hours and has zero fee.
      - mirimir 9y ago
        Maybe things have improved. I recall some hassle getting my bank to handle international wires. And I suspect that "routinely" may be the distinction. Once the bank does one transfer, it becomes routine.
  - gruez 9y ago
    >settled in 3 seconds *subject to chargeback/reversal for up to n months.
SippinLean 9y ago
Maybe not Bitcoin, but most other currencies have near-instant transactions. Even Bitcoin's transaction speed outperforms wire transfers (in the US) by a matter of days.
- sillysaurus3 9y ago
  Actually, I was shocked how quickly Bitcoin transfers were. About a week ago I watched someone transfer me $10 in BTC and I got "unconfirmed: $10" within a few seconds. It wasn't confirmed until a few minutes later, but that was enough time to assume everything was fine and to keep doing stuff in the meantime. Concretely, you can assume almost every unconfirmed transaction will be confirmed, and you'll almost never be wrong. That means Bitcoin is effectively instant for every transacfion you don't need to care about, and in the other cases you can just wait a few minutes.

Good point. Some payment processors credit sellers with just one confirmation. But it can still take several minutes, or more if your wallet client doesn't add enough fee. Also, with Bitcoin price so high, fees are absurd for small transactions. That's the real problem. For large transactions, on the other hand, Bitcoin is faster than wire transfer. I can move thousands of USD in a few hours, anonymously through a mixing service. For ~2% fee. There is the risk of price volatility, I admit. Edit: Sorry, I didn't specify international transfers.

Marazan 9y ago
Last month I moved £10,000 between two UK banks and it settled in 3 seconds. Fees were £0.00. I could have moved more for exactly the same fee of free.
- mirimir 9y ago
  What mechanism? Moving funds internationally, in my experience, has sometimes taken days.
  - tempay 9y ago
    It will be using faster payments[1] which allows up to £250,000 to be moved between UK accounts without any fees. For how long it takes I'm used to seeing "within 2 hours" claimed but in practice it's instantaneous. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faster_Payments_Service https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faster_Payments_Service
    - mirimir 9y ago
      OK, what about UK to Brazil? Or UK to Russia?
  - kccqzy 9y ago
    I routinely move funds internationally using the old-fashioned mechanism called "wire transfer" which for my particular case, is settled in hours and has zero fee.
    - mirimir 9y ago
      Maybe things have improved. I recall some hassle getting my bank to handle international wires. And I suspect that "routinely" may be the distinction. Once the bank does one transfer, it becomes routine.
- gruez 9y ago
  >settled in 3 seconds *subject to chargeback/reversal for up to n months.

SippinLean 9y ago

Maybe not Bitcoin, but most other currencies have near-instant transactions. Even Bitcoin's transaction speed outperforms wire transfers (in the US) by a matter of days.

sillysaurus3 9y ago
Actually, I was shocked how quickly Bitcoin transfers were. About a week ago I watched someone transfer me $10 in BTC and I got "unconfirmed: $10" within a few seconds. It wasn't confirmed until a few minutes later, but that was enough time to assume everything was fine and to keep doing stuff in the meantime. Concretely, you can assume almost every unconfirmed transaction will be confirmed, and you'll almost never be wrong. That means Bitcoin is effectively instant for every transacfion you don't need to care about, and in the other cases you can just wait a few minutes.