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Crypto, at least as someone who once hoped at a cyberpunk future (for reasons), had one and only one thing to do: kill the middle-men: banks, payment processors

Crypto, at least as someone who once hoped at a cyberpunk future (for reasons), had one and only one thing to do: kill the middle-men: banks, payment processors, credit/debit card operators, SWIFT, and so forth. I want to send money to someone: I should be able to do so (i) instantly (message passing at light speed), (ii) at 0 cost (price of electricity), and (iii) without asking anyone for permission. Crypto failed miserably to achieve this. Furthermore, it has allied (or been rallied) with the "enemy"; crypto enthusiasts regard it as "good for Bitcoin"™ when banks announce investment in the crypto space. It is now a project unable to dream a future for itself beyond "hodl".

mrbombastic 4y ago
I am a crypto skeptic but some of the pegged cryptos have come close to solving that use case.* A lot of money changers in Argentina will accept USDT which you can send from anywhere in the world. Of course you can’t get rich off speculatively trading a pegged currency so it largely goes unnoticed. Obvious caveats: sketchy backing of these currencies, legality of all that, but it is already being used for that purpose. A US government backed coin could effectively kill credit cards and money orders but they no doubt also want some form of KYC to make sure you aren’t funding ISIS or whatever. Of course that is anathema to crypto bros who hold decentralization above all else.
- ly3xqhl8g9 4y ago
  Sure, at least one major benefit of KYC (which is also completely broken with crypto) is the "Undo button". Plenty of times you need to phone a bank and they will sometimes, begrudgingly, press the Undo button. What's Mr. Nakamoto's number if something goes wrong in a crypto transaction?
JumpCrisscross 4y ago
To give credit where it’s due, crypto spurred the Fed to launch FedNOW.
- ly3xqhl8g9 4y ago
  Just by the look of it [1] and the menacing hero question "Is your organization ready?" I fear something similar to the IRS tax filing [2] will happen: instead of having an open API usable by any easily-authenticable entity, only a few backroom deals will grant access to it. [1] https://www.frbservices.org/financial-services/fednow https://www.frbservices.org/financial-services/fednow [2] https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/choosing-a-tax-professional https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/choosing-a-tax-profess...
  - JumpCrisscross 4y ago
    > instead of having an open API usable by any easily-authenticable entity It’s intentionally mediated through banks. We don’t want to create a money-laundering system—that is an explicit lesson learned from crypto. (We also want a layer that can absorb fraud. Another lesson from crypto.) But there are banks who will API it for KYC’d clients.

mrbombastic 4y ago

I am a crypto skeptic but some of the pegged cryptos have come close to solving that use case.* A lot of money changers in Argentina will accept USDT which you can send from anywhere in the world. Of course you can’t get rich off speculatively trading a pegged currency so it largely goes unnoticed. Obvious caveats: sketchy backing of these currencies, legality of all that, but it is already being used for that purpose. A US government backed coin could effectively kill credit cards and money orders but they no doubt also want some form of KYC to make sure you aren’t funding ISIS or whatever. Of course that is anathema to crypto bros who hold decentralization above all else.

ly3xqhl8g9 4y ago
Sure, at least one major benefit of KYC (which is also completely broken with crypto) is the "Undo button". Plenty of times you need to phone a bank and they will sometimes, begrudgingly, press the Undo button. What's Mr. Nakamoto's number if something goes wrong in a crypto transaction?

JumpCrisscross 4y ago

To give credit where it’s due, crypto spurred the Fed to launch FedNOW.

ly3xqhl8g9 4y ago
Just by the look of it [1] and the menacing hero question "Is your organization ready?" I fear something similar to the IRS tax filing [2] will happen: instead of having an open API usable by any easily-authenticable entity, only a few backroom deals will grant access to it. [1] https://www.frbservices.org/financial-services/fednow https://www.frbservices.org/financial-services/fednow [2] https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/choosing-a-tax-professional https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/choosing-a-tax-profess...
- JumpCrisscross 4y ago
  > instead of having an open API usable by any easily-authenticable entity It’s intentionally mediated through banks. We don’t want to create a money-laundering system—that is an explicit lesson learned from crypto. (We also want a layer that can absorb fraud. Another lesson from crypto.) But there are banks who will API it for KYC’d clients.