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I see a huge potential in cryptocurrencies, just not in Bitcoin per se. I can totally see the European Central Bank controlling some kind of CryptoEuro that is

I see a huge potential in cryptocurrencies, just not in Bitcoin per se. I can totally see the European Central Bank controlling some kind of CryptoEuro that is tied to the real euro and allows individuals to make transactions without banks. Banks would become an optional frontend on this transaction system, with security features built-in, etc.

xur17 6y ago
If you see something like the CryptoEuro taking off, doesn't it naturally follow that there would be a cryptocurrency that would take off that was global, and not issued by any individual country?
- IanCal 6y ago
  Not really. I would find a way of transferring "cash" that's tied to my local currency far more useful on a day to day basis than one that fluctuates when measured against it. Most people don't really need or want to take on foreign exchange rate risks.
  - xur17 6y ago
    To each their own.
mikepurvis 6y ago
I don't think most normal people see "without banks" as a feature. Indeed, banks have already been peering with each other on transaction-clearing since forever, and I don't think it would take much for the EU to mandate a particular set of common APIs and maybe some entry criteria that allow increasingly smaller players access to the already-existing framework. All of this seems a lot easier and cheaper than bitcoin's distributed ledger.
- josalhor 6y ago
  > I don't think most normal people see "without banks" as a feature. The other day I walked into a shop where I couldn't pay by card because the banks didn't provide the service to them. Users don't see "without banks" as a feature, but businesses will. It will reduce their fees and their dependency to the whole industry.
  - mikepurvis 6y ago
    Fair, but how many small businesses who are unable or unwilling to set up a payment terminal will be able to maintain the infrastructure needed to participate in a distributed consensus network? There will still be an intermediary to whom the small business will pay fees for a turnkey solution. And absolutely those fees would be lower in a world where anyone can participate and compete on them. But that's definitely not the world we live in just yet, and even if/when it arrives, I don't think anyone at the retail level (either the consumer or the storefront) will have an appreciably different experience from what they have today. EDIT: Just adding also, clearing times is the other huge barrier. Obviously no retail environment can tolerate a transaction delay of more than a few seconds, so the other function of the intermediary would be to manage that reality, by some combination of pre-clearing transactions for customers who look safe (classical CC fraud detection where de-anonymizing would be a key component), or maybe a pre-paying scheme (which ends up sounding a lot like a bank debit card).

xur17 6y ago

If you see something like the CryptoEuro taking off, doesn't it naturally follow that there would be a cryptocurrency that would take off that was global, and not issued by any individual country?

IanCal 6y ago
Not really. I would find a way of transferring "cash" that's tied to my local currency far more useful on a day to day basis than one that fluctuates when measured against it. Most people don't really need or want to take on foreign exchange rate risks.
- xur17 6y ago
  To each their own.

mikepurvis 6y ago

I don't think most normal people see "without banks" as a feature. Indeed, banks have already been peering with each other on transaction-clearing since forever, and I don't think it would take much for the EU to mandate a particular set of common APIs and maybe some entry criteria that allow increasingly smaller players access to the already-existing framework. All of this seems a lot easier and cheaper than bitcoin's distributed ledger.

josalhor 6y ago
> I don't think most normal people see "without banks" as a feature. The other day I walked into a shop where I couldn't pay by card because the banks didn't provide the service to them. Users don't see "without banks" as a feature, but businesses will. It will reduce their fees and their dependency to the whole industry.
- mikepurvis 6y ago
  Fair, but how many small businesses who are unable or unwilling to set up a payment terminal will be able to maintain the infrastructure needed to participate in a distributed consensus network? There will still be an intermediary to whom the small business will pay fees for a turnkey solution. And absolutely those fees would be lower in a world where anyone can participate and compete on them. But that's definitely not the world we live in just yet, and even if/when it arrives, I don't think anyone at the retail level (either the consumer or the storefront) will have an appreciably different experience from what they have today. EDIT: Just adding also, clearing times is the other huge barrier. Obviously no retail environment can tolerate a transaction delay of more than a few seconds, so the other function of the intermediary would be to manage that reality, by some combination of pre-clearing transactions for customers who look safe (classical CC fraud detection where de-anonymizing would be a key component), or maybe a pre-paying scheme (which ends up sounding a lot like a bank debit card).