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It is easier for me to call my bank and initiate a wire transfer than it is to transfer money via USDC. I think the assumption a lot of people in crypto make i

It is easier for me to call my bank and initiate a wire transfer than it is to transfer money via USDC. I think the assumption a lot of people in crypto make is that everyone has a crypto account/wallet setup.

axg11 4y ago
Do you live in North America? I would challenge anyone in Canada/US that claims it's easier to initiate a wire transfer (with zero ability to track progress) vs. send USDC to an ETH address.
- gaspard234 4y ago
  I'll take you up on that challenge. I can open open up my Wells Fargo app and initiate a wire transfer within 5 minutes. In fact, I sent $1000 to a home contractors bank account earlier this week for no fee. And yes, WF sent me email updates of the status. I will concede it took 1 business day though. How do I send USDC within 5 mins? I would have to 1) Open an account on a crypto exchange app 2) Go through the KYC process and hookup the same wells fargo account to buy USDC. 3) Purchase USDC, usually while paying a fee. And then still wait the day for the funds to be sent from WF to the exchange. 4) Send USDC to address, while also paying a fee. There is a reason international remittances haven't worked as a use case, for ex Coinbase just closed down that entire project. How would immigrants who get paid in Cash buy USDC and how would their family in Mexico or El Salvador be able to convert that USDC into local spendable currency. I hate western union but it works better than any crypto money sending service.
  - anony23 4y ago
    If you count the time for opening an exchange account and doing kyc, you should do the same when you talk about your bank. You only have to open the exchange account once just like you do for your bank. After that it's definitely cheaper and faster to send crypto. Whether or not it's as secure depends on what bank we are comparing to.
    - bcrl 4y ago
      Crypto cheaper? Seriously? I pay $0 in fees for doing an EFT (or ACH) from my bank account to another bank account. Wire transfers via a currency trading platform I use don't charge a percentage either. If I tried to do that via crypto, I'd be paying a few points in exchange fees to go from fiat to crypto then back again in another country. It isn't cheaper if you're using the right banking platform.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
  - pcthrowaway 4y ago
    If you hold USDC on-chain, it's 30 seconds or less. If you hold some other token (ETH or MATIC for example) it might take a few seconds longer for you to make a swap.
- gamblor956 4y ago
  Done. Opened bank website, selected "Transfer Money", entered the recipient and confirmed the amount. Got an email notification, and when the wire transfer clears we will receive a second email. This is pretty standard for the major US banks. It's like people in crypto have never actually tried to use existing money transfer methods and just make up problems that don't actually exist.
vagab0nd 4y ago
For me it's the opposite. I don't want to talk to someone in order to send money. Also, you never know how long/much it'll take to wire. Sometimes it's done free on the same day, other times it gets double charged and takes 2 days for the money to arrive.
iamnotarobotman 4y ago
For those in Canada, the banks and telephone lines were all down at one point. Even if you were on a different internet provider that was up, you bank would still be down. So the 'call my bank' option won't work here and wire transfer is no different to transferring money in crypto as they are both irreversible. But I don't know how entering a .eth/.sol/etc address or scanning a QR code to send USDC over is harder than typing in the sort code, account number, IBAN number, etc to do a wire transfer.
- UncleMeat 4y ago
  > But I don't know how entering a .eth/.sol/etc address or scanning a QR code to send USDC over is harder than typing in the sort code, account number, IBAN number, etc to do a wire transfer. Because I don't possess any USDC and acquiring some requires me to open an account with Coinbase or FTX or whatever, send them dollars, and then purchase USDC. And even though sending the USDC has a low fee, the exchange fee for purchasing USDC is nontrivial (1% at Coinbase).
  - jimgo84 4y ago
    The fee part is incorrect. Coinbase offers 1:1 exchanges of USD<>USDC with zero fee. On FTX it's the same, USDC and USD are treated 1:1 with no fee to convert. Deposit dollars, withdraw USDC or vice versa. Aside from these zero fee exchanges, many others have significantly lower fees for stablecoin<>fiat than they do for crypto<>fiat.
    - UncleMeat 4y ago
      Fair enough. Still a nontrivial process for me to get any USDC.

axg11 4y ago

Do you live in North America? I would challenge anyone in Canada/US that claims it's easier to initiate a wire transfer (with zero ability to track progress) vs. send USDC to an ETH address.

gaspard234 4y ago
I'll take you up on that challenge. I can open open up my Wells Fargo app and initiate a wire transfer within 5 minutes. In fact, I sent $1000 to a home contractors bank account earlier this week for no fee. And yes, WF sent me email updates of the status. I will concede it took 1 business day though. How do I send USDC within 5 mins? I would have to 1) Open an account on a crypto exchange app 2) Go through the KYC process and hookup the same wells fargo account to buy USDC. 3) Purchase USDC, usually while paying a fee. And then still wait the day for the funds to be sent from WF to the exchange. 4) Send USDC to address, while also paying a fee. There is a reason international remittances haven't worked as a use case, for ex Coinbase just closed down that entire project. How would immigrants who get paid in Cash buy USDC and how would their family in Mexico or El Salvador be able to convert that USDC into local spendable currency. I hate western union but it works better than any crypto money sending service.
- anony23 4y ago
  If you count the time for opening an exchange account and doing kyc, you should do the same when you talk about your bank. You only have to open the exchange account once just like you do for your bank. After that it's definitely cheaper and faster to send crypto. Whether or not it's as secure depends on what bank we are comparing to.
  - bcrl 4y ago
    Crypto cheaper? Seriously? I pay $0 in fees for doing an EFT (or ACH) from my bank account to another bank account. Wire transfers via a currency trading platform I use don't charge a percentage either. If I tried to do that via crypto, I'd be paying a few points in exchange fees to go from fiat to crypto then back again in another country. It isn't cheaper if you're using the right banking platform.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- pcthrowaway 4y ago
  If you hold USDC on-chain, it's 30 seconds or less. If you hold some other token (ETH or MATIC for example) it might take a few seconds longer for you to make a swap.
gamblor956 4y ago
Done. Opened bank website, selected "Transfer Money", entered the recipient and confirmed the amount. Got an email notification, and when the wire transfer clears we will receive a second email. This is pretty standard for the major US banks. It's like people in crypto have never actually tried to use existing money transfer methods and just make up problems that don't actually exist.

vagab0nd 4y ago

For me it's the opposite. I don't want to talk to someone in order to send money. Also, you never know how long/much it'll take to wire. Sometimes it's done free on the same day, other times it gets double charged and takes 2 days for the money to arrive.

iamnotarobotman 4y ago

For those in Canada, the banks and telephone lines were all down at one point. Even if you were on a different internet provider that was up, you bank would still be down. So the 'call my bank' option won't work here and wire transfer is no different to transferring money in crypto as they are both irreversible. But I don't know how entering a .eth/.sol/etc address or scanning a QR code to send USDC over is harder than typing in the sort code, account number, IBAN number, etc to do a wire transfer.

UncleMeat 4y ago
> But I don't know how entering a .eth/.sol/etc address or scanning a QR code to send USDC over is harder than typing in the sort code, account number, IBAN number, etc to do a wire transfer. Because I don't possess any USDC and acquiring some requires me to open an account with Coinbase or FTX or whatever, send them dollars, and then purchase USDC. And even though sending the USDC has a low fee, the exchange fee for purchasing USDC is nontrivial (1% at Coinbase).
- jimgo84 4y ago
  The fee part is incorrect. Coinbase offers 1:1 exchanges of USD<>USDC with zero fee. On FTX it's the same, USDC and USD are treated 1:1 with no fee to convert. Deposit dollars, withdraw USDC or vice versa. Aside from these zero fee exchanges, many others have significantly lower fees for stablecoin<>fiat than they do for crypto<>fiat.
  - UncleMeat 4y ago
    Fair enough. Still a nontrivial process for me to get any USDC.