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And that's a huge indicator of why blockchain finance is attractive. The banking system is AWFUL. Exchanges are bridges between banks and blockchains, and it's

by mbrock 9y ago

And that's a huge indicator of why blockchain finance is attractive. The banking system is AWFUL. Exchanges are bridges between banks and blockchains, and it's quite reasonable to want to keep your money in cryptocurrency just for technical usability reasons. I can send cryptocurrency from a shell script -- that's not going to work with bank money in a million years, or if it does it's going to be because of the competition from blockchains. Blockchains enable permissionless innovation in finance, and that's HUGE.

Chriky 9y ago
You can do that with Monzo already
- mbrock 9y ago
  Looks neat, but it'll be years before that's widely available worldwide. Monzo has a waiting list and probably don't offer business accounts. Blockchains right now enable everyone in the world to open however many "accounts" they want instantly.
PeterisP 9y ago
You're talking about the USA banking system, which is pretty much stone age compared to everyone else. (paper checks? really?) For example, in EU the requirement for banks to open up APIs to everyone is coming in force next year, a bit closer than a million years - and it's not happening because of competition from blockchains, it was put in force (before blockchains boomed) for reasons of consumer rights and restricting anti-competitive behavior by banks.
- mbrock 9y ago
  I'm not sure the EU directive will open up APIs to everyone. More likely it will be to a regulated class of businesses, right? If it really means I will be able to directly access and manipulate my own personal and business bank account with curl, then I'm really excited. If I have to go through a bureaucratic approval process, then it's still pretty cool, but not what I really want (permissionless innovation).
  - PeterisP 9y ago
    Yes, the main intent is not for end-users to access those APIs directly - most consumers don't want that, and the larger business who want it already have such access, pretty much every bank here offers a cash management solution that allows you to automatically access your account data and send transactions from your system to the bank. The big expectation is that it will open up the market to fintech service providers / tool makers who can then provide services using that API to every customer of every bank; but there certainly could be (or you could make) a service provider that offers exactly what you describe - a consumer friendly API for direct access, handling the authentication in some manner that's compatible with isolated curl requests. You wouldn't have to get permission from the involved banks to do that, but you would have to get the permission from the customers, of course.

by mbrock 9y ago

Chriky 9y ago

You can do that with Monzo already

mbrock 9y ago
Looks neat, but it'll be years before that's widely available worldwide. Monzo has a waiting list and probably don't offer business accounts. Blockchains right now enable everyone in the world to open however many "accounts" they want instantly.

PeterisP 9y ago

You're talking about the USA banking system, which is pretty much stone age compared to everyone else. (paper checks? really?) For example, in EU the requirement for banks to open up APIs to everyone is coming in force next year, a bit closer than a million years - and it's not happening because of competition from blockchains, it was put in force (before blockchains boomed) for reasons of consumer rights and restricting anti-competitive behavior by banks.

mbrock 9y ago
I'm not sure the EU directive will open up APIs to everyone. More likely it will be to a regulated class of businesses, right? If it really means I will be able to directly access and manipulate my own personal and business bank account with curl, then I'm really excited. If I have to go through a bureaucratic approval process, then it's still pretty cool, but not what I really want (permissionless innovation).
- PeterisP 9y ago
  Yes, the main intent is not for end-users to access those APIs directly - most consumers don't want that, and the larger business who want it already have such access, pretty much every bank here offers a cash management solution that allows you to automatically access your account data and send transactions from your system to the bank. The big expectation is that it will open up the market to fintech service providers / tool makers who can then provide services using that API to every customer of every bank; but there certainly could be (or you could make) a service provider that offers exactly what you describe - a consumer friendly API for direct access, handling the authentication in some manner that's compatible with isolated curl requests. You wouldn't have to get permission from the involved banks to do that, but you would have to get the permission from the customers, of course.