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> Watching from the sidelines, the Crypto world seems to just be morphing into the normal financial world. Say this is true, how amazing would that be for coun
by exdsq 4y ago
> Watching from the sidelines, the Crypto world seems to just be morphing into the normal financial world.
Say this is true, how amazing would that be for countries without existing banking infrastructure to easily access it?
- closedloop129 4y agoCan't they already use WeChat and AliPay?
- exdsq 4y agoHow do you do that without a bank account?
- chii 4y agothis is already being done via mobile phones. Crypto doesn't solve the problem of being unbanked. In fact, the requirement that you need good internet speed for crypto to run locally means it's even harder for a place without infrastructure to participate.
- searchableguy 4y agoIn India, everyone has a phone even if they do not have a roof, bank account, proper 3 meals a day, etc. Bank accounts also require minimum balance, address and identity proof which is hard to get for some, local branch is necessary to open an account due to regulation and quality can vary wildly even for urban centres. > In fact, the requirement that you need good internet speed for crypto to run locally means it's even harder for a place without infrastructure to participate. Internet costs less than $2 for monthly unlimited data. You can find 300-500 Mbps broadband in small towns of country where you won't find roads or basic hospitals.
- exdsq 4y agoThis. So many people who dislike crypto also assume the world looks like the US - access to banking, trust in their government, trust in their central bank, access to international finance… If the entire world looked identical to the US then I can understand it’s not as useful. If the entire world ran on regional versions of M-Pesa…
- dmitriid 4y agoSo the countries would have access to stable internet (can't have crypto without it). This access is fast and cheap enough for unbanked people to access it. These unbanked people would also have access to things like smartphones and computers because crypto doesn't exist in real world. And yet those countries would not have banking infrastructure. Nice. Nice. Any such countries exist?
- exdsq 4y agoYou can actually interact with some crypto projects over SMS, and at the moment there are countries where the majority of txs are SMS mobile credit swaps. The issue is these don’t offer things like account histories, you can’t access financial products like loans (i.e micro loans) and remittance payments are hard to do from abroad in this way. But actually smart phones and internet access is surprisingly high in sub Saharan africa where they primarily still use SMS trading. And yes, crypto is starting to catch on out there as an alternative.
- dmitriid 4y ago> You can actually interact with some crypto projects over SMS Keyword: some. Also, banking over SMS was a thing long before crypto. > But actually smart phones and internet access is surprisingly high in sub Saharan africa where they primarily still use SMS trading. Then it will be swallowed by something smilar to AliPay. Not by crypto.
- lottin 4y agoCan you name a single country that doesn't have a "banking infrastructure", other than perhaps North Korea?
- exdsq 4y agoHow about all the communities that use mobile credit over SMS for finance?