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It's fun to see a startup talking about having "A good relationship with the Federal Reserve." There is a big competitive advantage to not being in SF or NYC.
by bproper 15y ago
It's fun to see a startup talking about having "A good relationship with the Federal Reserve."
There is a big competitive advantage to not being in SF or NYC. They are in Des Moines, where people work on insurance, payments and risk management.
But there is no way that the credit card companies won't be trying to protect their margins and block a new payment network that avoids interchange fees.
- Codhisattva 15y agoTrue. VISA/MC will eventually do something to protect their hegemony, but what can they do? Lower fees to $0? I think their days are numbered (good riddance).
- latchkey 15y agoBuyout Dwolla?
- ithought 15y agoLike RevolutionMoney? Free transfer fees I think, then sold to American Express. (Was/is Steve Case's company.) I hope Dwolla never sells for this reason.
- callmeed 15y agoThey'll do what any self-respecting, old-money hegemony would do: take some senators out for golf and steaks and write a big campaign check. They will lobby to implement more regulations with regards to "money transmitters" in the hopes of increasing their costs enough that they have to raise fees. See: http://www.quora.com/Aaron-Greenspan/Posts/In-Fifty-Days-Payments-Innovation-Will-Stop-In-Silicon-Valley http://www.quora.com/Aaron-Greenspan/Posts/In-Fifty-Days-Pay...
- thinkcomp 15y agoThey won't have to try hard. There's only four states left (that don't regulate money transmitters)!
- otakucode 15y agoWell, first they will send regulators after them. Then they will send senators after them. Then they will send banks after them. If none of that works, they will hire mercenaries and murder every last one of them. Oh, you think that's insane? You think no one would kill over hundreds of billions of dollars? Perhaps you should read more history...
- ashconnor 15y agoWould banks risk spoiling their relationships with Visa/MC in order to do business with Dwolla?
- Codhisattva 15y agoThe largest credit union in Iowa has joined FiSync so I would think the answer is "yes".