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Beyond all the technical issues with this—and there are many—the product just doesn't make sense. In the US, bank transfers are a pain. The credentials needed
by Gaelan 6y ago
Beyond all the technical issues with this—and there are many—the product just doesn't make sense.
In the US, bank transfers are a pain. The credentials needed to send someone money are the same ones needed to take their money, and in any case, they often take several business days. So nobody uses them, instead preferring a whole industry of apps to do "that, but easier": Apple Cash, Cash App, Venmo, Zelle, all the features built into messaging apps.
On the other hand, the UK's Faster Payments system just works; you give someone your account number, they punch it into their bank's app, and the money goes through instantly. None of the aforementioned apps work in the UK, because nobody needs them. Bank transfers work well enough.
So the value proposition here is "Instead of sending someone a bank transfer, you can send us a bank transfer, send the coins to someone via Signal, then have them turn it back into real money via bank transfer. Also, be quick, since the coins are volatile and might lose value if you don't turn them back into real money quickly enough." I can't see how anyone would use that. (Sure, it might be more private, so people who really need it could use it. But Signal's whole value proposition is building privacy-protecting tools that are usable enough that they'll be used even by people who don't need the privacy feature per se.)
It's a feature designed by Americans for Americans, but released in a market where it doesn't make sense.
(Disclaimer: I'm am American in their first year as a student at a UK university. I think my understanding of the UK cultural issues here are decent, but I could be wrong.)
- lawl 6y ago> UK's Faster Payments system just works; you give someone your account number, they punch it into their bank's app, and the money goes through instantly. In Switzerland, they punch in your account number, tap send, and then wait until the next business day for it to go through (for no technical reason at all, sometimes payments do go through instantly, usually next business day, because the law says they need to do it by next business day at noon). That's still fine for a friend to pay you for a pizza, because you know they'll actually pay you, but sometimes you still want instant payment confirmation. It's not just the US.
- qqii 6y agoA private currency still provides added privacy guarentees even assuming the steps you've outlined. Private payments would also be useful in a number of countries outside of the West. Currency volatility is obviously unsolved but remains an area of active research - Algorithmic stablecoins like Dai and MakerDAO are obvious candidates but live on the public Ethereum blockchain. Private smart contacts chains like SCRT exists but are mostly under explored. Most privacy cryptocurrencies also have secondary OTC, P2P or will have atomic swaps. This is all to say that a privacy preserving stable cryptocurrency is possible.
- MrRadar 6y agoBank transfers in the US are about to become much better once banks implement FedNow (scheduled to launch in 2023)[1]. You'll have to you use your bank's app but it should be possible to send PayPal/Venmo/CashApp-style payments without having to involve third parties in the transaction so all these payment apps and payment features in chat apps are running on borrowed time (unless they can offer some kind of value-add to justify themselves). [1] https://www.frbservices.org/financial-services/fednow/about.html https://www.frbservices.org/financial-services/fednow/about....
- Gaelan 6y ago2023? Jesus Christ.
- ascorbic 6y ago> Instead of sending someone a bank transfer, you can send us a bank transfer, send the coins to someone via Signal, then have them turn it back into real money via bank transfer. Also, be quick, since the coins are volatile and might lose value if you don't turn them back into real money quickly enough. You missed "pay us 50p for the privilege of doing something that's 100% free otherwise"
- eythian 6y agoSimilarish in the Netherlands, there's an app called Tikkie (some banks have their own app, but everyone still calls it tikkie), with that app you can make a link "please pay me €20 for pizza" to share through any messenger, that opens an app or a website that takes you to your bank, you authenticate with that (often using the bank app on your phone so it's a quick process), approve the transaction, and in about 5 seconds the sender has a notification that you paid. It's so convenient and useful, and free, that people use it all the time even for tiny amounts - to the point where there are jokes about people asking for €0.50 "for mayo on your fries" In New Zealand it's more like you describe in the UK, you type in someone's bank account number into your banking app and send it. There's a bit more overhead (exchanging the number), but not a whole lot. Also free and pretty quick. No one is going to use something restricted to one messenger client that costs money to use, and presumably requires work to put money in/take it out, when these more convenient and free methods exist.
- dunefox 6y agoI can guarantee you that almost no Germans will use this feature. There are many places here where you can't even pay with EC cards, only with cash. Many people I know are hesitant to use PayPal.