6 ms·

Wouldn't Facebook just get something like the UK's Electronic Money license? That's how TransferWise operates without being a bank.

• vertex-four 7y ago
  Even if the regulators let them get away with that, nobody in Europe is particularly in need of a cryptocurrency for moving money around Europe, we have near-instant money transfers for free (or close to it) through our banks. I guess they could go for the remittances market, but that's really not where I see Facebook wanting to go.
  • krn 7y ago
    Well, I still think that email is good enough medium for personal communication, but most of the people I know have replaced it with Messenger. The same might happen with money transfers, if Messenger becomes another WeChat, just outside of China. From the legal perspective, could Facebook be like Coinbase, but with a single currency?
    • oneplane 7y ago
      Messenger isn't all that popular outside of north america. Doesn't matter how much money transfer options you add to a program if nobody is using it. I do wonder what happens if any non WeChat thing starts going for banking type functionality (legal or not).
      • TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
        Multiple search results lead me to believe Facebook Messenger is the second most popular messaging app after WhatsApp. Are you able to provide references supporting your claim?
        • oneplane 7y ago
          Sure but you could plug that into google as well you know. Here is the first hit: https://www.messengerpeople.com/global-messenger-usage-statistics/ https://www.messengerpeople.com/global-messenger-usage-stati... Edit: oddly enough, that hit wasn't the one where I read about it last week... But any page with sources works I suppose.
          • TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
            Doesn’t that link claim 1.3 billion Facebook Messenger users? How does that support your claim?
            • oneplane 7y ago
              Ugh stop turning everything into an American lawyer singularity. I said FB Messenger isn't very popular outside of NA and it isn't. What more do you want from me. Here is a picture, convince yourself: https://www.messengerpeople.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/world-map-messenger-2019-09.png https://www.messengerpeople.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/w... There is north america, a few african countries, france and a few eastern European countries and australia. The rest is practically WhatsApp except for china which is WeChat.
              • TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
                I disagree with your interpretation of the evidence.
      • vinniejames 7y ago
        Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram are all owened bu Facebook. Facebook is already working on merging them into a single app, to be rebranded in the near future. WhatsApp and Instagram have huge popularity outside of North America
        • lucasverra 7y ago
          This is correct for EU & Latam
        • SkyMarshal 7y ago
          I get their desire to integrate Messenger and WhatsApp, but are they really trying to force Instagram into that mix too? I’ve used WhatsApp since before FB acquired them but this is sounding like it’s going to get turned into a clusterfuck of stuff I have no interest in.
          • vinniejames 7y ago
            They are building a common protocol for messaging to be used interoperably, from what I have read. The apps themselves will likely remain separate from a user perspective, most likely
  • drdeca 7y ago
    Oh, that's neat. Is it easy for an individual to set up like, a program to automatically do money transfers that way, in a for-profit way? Because if so, that's pretty cool. I mean, I understand that most people don't particularly want to do that, but I still think it could be cool to have it as an option.
    • iikoolpp 7y ago
      If your bank provides an API, sure.
  • vinniejames 7y ago
    This fact is only an effect of the EU, it's a single banking system. That's like saying we don't need a cryptocurrency system in the US because it's easy to move money from California to New York :/
    • knorker 7y ago
      Is it? Last I checked it took days and cost money.
    • asjw 7y ago
      But it isn't. US don't have sepa or psd-2
  • jbverschoor 7y ago
    Try opening a corporate bank account these days. Will take you 6-12 months easily
    • speedplane 7y ago
      I opened one about 2 years ago and don’t think it took more than a few days (it was annoying though, several visits to bank branches to ink sign documents). Did something change since then?
• seanhunter 7y ago
  You don't "just get" an emoney license. When you apply for the license you sign up to a bunch of regulatory scrutiny most of which seems to be antithetical to this kind of project.[1] The UK financial regulators are not dumb and have thought this through. [1] Specifically here are details of the emoney regulations if you're interested https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/electronic-money-payment-institutions https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/electronic-money-payment-instit...
  • krn 7y ago
    > The UK financial regulators are not dumb and have thought this through. The UK financial regulators have already given the Electronic Money license to at least three crypto companies[1]. [1] https://cointelegraph.com/news/uk-watchdog-grants-third-e-money-license-to-crypto-company https://cointelegraph.com/news/uk-watchdog-grants-third-e-mo...
  • jbverschoor 7y ago
    Fud