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I haven’t seen any good arguments for it that couldn’t be done in more mundane ways. Want to make banking easier? Regulate free accounts or set up postal bankin

by erentz 5y ago

I haven’t seen any good arguments for it that couldn’t be done in more mundane ways. Want to make banking easier? Regulate free accounts or set up postal banking. Want instant transfers? Other countries have had that for decades. So on so forth. Really most of this is a solution looking for a problem, but unfortunately it comes with a lot of baggage around privacy and controlling what you can do with your money that people wave away.

judge2020 5y ago
Re instant transfers: https://www.frbservices.org/financial-services/fednow https://www.frbservices.org/financial-services/fednow
_xnmw 5y ago
What is easier: getting 20,000 banks in the US to adopt a new protocol, or issue a new central government USD app? In theory yes, regulation could enable easier banking and faster transfers, and this has been tried with SEPA in the EU -- still far from being a truly instant transfer system. In practice, it would be much faster and more efficient for the central government to do this themselves. Part of the reason this whole crypto craze happened is because banks are incredibly slow to innovate, and there is STILL no way to transfer money internationally instantly. As for "privacy" and "controlling what you can do with your money", Visa and Mastercard have pretty much full control over that now anyway, unless you're dealing with pure paper cash, which almost no one does anymore.
- georgyo 5y ago
  What's easier making a policy that 20,000 banks have to abide by. Or creating a new digital currency that 20,000 banks AND every business has to figure out how to accept? You hand waved away "creating an app", but that app has development and design decisions that need to last, needs to get adopted by people, and needs to be accepted. A free banking policy is significantly easier and would cost the government less.
  - _xnmw 5y ago
    People don't want a "policy", people want a "digital currency" that just works. As much as I despise the whole crypto scam craze, it exists for a reason, because banks aren't working. A new free banking policy just isn't going to cut it.

by erentz 5y ago

judge2020 5y ago

Re instant transfers: https://www.frbservices.org/financial-services/fednow https://www.frbservices.org/financial-services/fednow

_xnmw 5y ago

What is easier: getting 20,000 banks in the US to adopt a new protocol, or issue a new central government USD app? In theory yes, regulation could enable easier banking and faster transfers, and this has been tried with SEPA in the EU -- still far from being a truly instant transfer system. In practice, it would be much faster and more efficient for the central government to do this themselves. Part of the reason this whole crypto craze happened is because banks are incredibly slow to innovate, and there is STILL no way to transfer money internationally instantly. As for "privacy" and "controlling what you can do with your money", Visa and Mastercard have pretty much full control over that now anyway, unless you're dealing with pure paper cash, which almost no one does anymore.

georgyo 5y ago
What's easier making a policy that 20,000 banks have to abide by. Or creating a new digital currency that 20,000 banks AND every business has to figure out how to accept? You hand waved away "creating an app", but that app has development and design decisions that need to last, needs to get adopted by people, and needs to be accepted. A free banking policy is significantly easier and would cost the government less.
- _xnmw 5y ago
  People don't want a "policy", people want a "digital currency" that just works. As much as I despise the whole crypto scam craze, it exists for a reason, because banks aren't working. A new free banking policy just isn't going to cut it.