4 ms·

Has the SWIFT payment system devolved into a totalitarian dystopia?

• no_time 4y ago
  No. The aspect of programmable money is currently missing. Also with cash being a viable escape hatch, I'm quite okay with the pros and cons of the current status quo. What I'm worried about are the new proposals and the gradual erosion of cash as an escape hatch.
• fwungy 4y ago
  They tried using it to control Russia. Power will use the tools it has available will it wants to assert itself.
• int_19h 4y ago
  I did have an experience of having an international wire transfer denied and my account forcibly closed by a US bank because the name of the recipient matched someone on their prohibited person list. They did admit that it's not the same person, but didn't seem to care - my impression was that they were much more concerned with staying "on the right side" of govt regulations than they were about losing a customer. Is that an example of a totalitarian dystopia? Not really, but it's not "the land of the free", either. I'm thankful that technology like BTC (or better yet, Monero) exists so that this kind of bullshit is merely an inconvenience and not a blocker.