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You always need a third party though, even with cash. It's just, with cash the third party (ATM, retail service, bank, etc.) is for obtaining the cash, not for

by umvi 6y ago

You always need a third party though, even with cash. It's just, with cash the third party (ATM, retail service, bank, etc.) is for obtaining the cash, not for performing the transaction.

everfree 6y ago
Strictly speaking, can you even have any exchange of value without a third party, though? The money has to come from somewhere at first - the government, or in the case of gold, a third party who dug it up. I think your argument is ad reductio. Without third parties who exchange money for something, money itself cannot exist. So the concept of money "strictly without any third party at all" doesn't make much sense.
- brightball 6y ago
  It’s just streamline bartering. Establishment of value is an entirely different topic. Use gold if you like. Water is worth more when you’re thirsty.
brightball 6y ago
You don’t. That’s what bartering is. The only thing that cash does is gives you a baseline for bartering so that if the two of you don’t directly have something to exchange otherwise, he can use your cash to get a service he needs elsewhere. As long as the cash is available, the two of you are able to have an exchange. If another payment processor is involved, that freedom changes dramatically. 1. You must have another means of transacting, bank card, etc 2. Seller must have a way to process your transaction and hopefully his way accepts what you have to offer (Visa, etc). 3. The way to process the transaction must have some type of connection available to report success. 4. If for any reason the payment methods involved don’t think one of you should be allowed to proceed...it denies the transaction. Ultimately, this adds a lot more friction to the process and requires someone else give permission before the transaction is allowed to proceed. Cash itself is just streamlined bartering. No 3rd parties means no 3rd parties involved in allowing the transaction to move forward aside from the 2 involved. And you can turn around and use that cash in another cash transaction, and so on and so on, forever...without another a bank or anything else ever being involved.

by umvi 6y ago

You always need a third party though, even with cash. It's just, with cash the third party (ATM, retail service, bank, etc.) is for obtaining the cash, not for performing the transaction.

everfree 6y ago

Strictly speaking, can you even have any exchange of value without a third party, though? The money has to come from somewhere at first - the government, or in the case of gold, a third party who dug it up. I think your argument is ad reductio. Without third parties who exchange money for something, money itself cannot exist. So the concept of money "strictly without any third party at all" doesn't make much sense.

brightball 6y ago
It’s just streamline bartering. Establishment of value is an entirely different topic. Use gold if you like. Water is worth more when you’re thirsty.

brightball 6y ago

You don’t. That’s what bartering is. The only thing that cash does is gives you a baseline for bartering so that if the two of you don’t directly have something to exchange otherwise, he can use your cash to get a service he needs elsewhere. As long as the cash is available, the two of you are able to have an exchange. If another payment processor is involved, that freedom changes dramatically. 1. You must have another means of transacting, bank card, etc 2. Seller must have a way to process your transaction and hopefully his way accepts what you have to offer (Visa, etc). 3. The way to process the transaction must have some type of connection available to report success. 4. If for any reason the payment methods involved don’t think one of you should be allowed to proceed...it denies the transaction. Ultimately, this adds a lot more friction to the process and requires someone else give permission before the transaction is allowed to proceed. Cash itself is just streamlined bartering. No 3rd parties means no 3rd parties involved in allowing the transaction to move forward aside from the 2 involved. And you can turn around and use that cash in another cash transaction, and so on and so on, forever...without another a bank or anything else ever being involved.