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How long do these payments take? Or are they layering a centralized system on top to pretend the crypto has moved?

by harles 2y ago

hanniabu 2y ago
Depends on the chain. Bitcoin, which is unfortunately many people's first introduction to crypto, takes on average 10 minutes per block. Typically services then wait for finality which is 6 blocks, so about an hour. On Ethereum, each block is 12 seconds and 64 blocks for finality, so 12.8 minutes. If Stripe were smart, they'd be using an L2 like Base where block times are ~2s. On Solana, each block .45s and 20-40s for finality. But Solana makes a lot of sacrifices and tradeoffs to achieve this and thus isn't on the same level as Ethereum. Edit: From another article is appears they'll be using custody funds though, at least to start. So in that case transactions should be instant due to a centralized layer as you mention.
- J_Shelby_J 2y ago
  What sacrifices and trade offs does it make that an L2 with equivalent performance doesn’t also make?
  - hanniabu 2y ago
    It sacrifices decentralization and requires highly performant/expensive hardware to operate a node. And don't try to compare that with L2 because there's a huge difference with having this happen at the base layer.
    - nailer 2y ago
      But the centralised L2 means your transaction may not make it to the slow L1.
      - hanniabu 2y ago
        If you're talking about censorship, you can use the escape hatch if needed
        imtringued 2y ago
        It's weird how the Blockchain has become the equivalent of courts with expensive legal fees.
- kevincox 2y ago
  > finality which is 6 blocks There isn't such thing as "finality" in bitcoin right? The probability of another chain growing longer just dramatically shrinks each extra block mined (as most of the mining power will quickly shift to the longest known chain). There is also a lot of historical data as the bitcoin blockchain has been running for many years. How many times has a chain with a 2-block lead been surpassed? It seems like the data is out there to create a pretty accurate graph for by-chance reversal for a given number of confirmations. (Intentional reversing is a bit of a different issue but you should be able to estimate the computation costs as well).
J_Shelby_J 2y ago
I used Solana pay irl last year, and it was as easy and quick as Apple Pay. Solana has a sub-second confirmation time. If you live in a county with a functional and stable financial system then this announcement isn’t for you. If you live in xyz country where getting a credit card is a big challenge this will make it easier to shop online.
- arisAlexis 2y ago
  Solana frequently goes down and I compare it to a centralized record.keeping db like PayPal so I'm not sure what the benefit is here
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]

How long do these payments take? Or are they layering a centralized system on top to pretend the crypto has moved?

by harles 2y ago

How long do these payments take? Or are they layering a centralized system on top to pretend the crypto has moved?

Depends on the chain. Bitcoin, which is unfortunately many people's first introduction to crypto, takes on average 10 minutes per block. Typically services then wait for finality which is 6 blocks, so about an hour. On Ethereum, each block is 12 seconds and 64 blocks for finality, so 12.8 minutes. If Stripe were smart, they'd be using an L2 like Base where block times are ~2s. On Solana, each block .45s and 20-40s for finality. But Solana makes a lot of sacrifices and tradeoffs to achieve this and thus isn't on the same level as Ethereum. Edit: From another article is appears they'll be using custody funds though, at least to start. So in that case transactions should be instant due to a centralized layer as you mention.

J_Shelby_J 2y ago
What sacrifices and trade offs does it make that an L2 with equivalent performance doesn’t also make?
- hanniabu 2y ago
  It sacrifices decentralization and requires highly performant/expensive hardware to operate a node. And don't try to compare that with L2 because there's a huge difference with having this happen at the base layer.
  - nailer 2y ago
    But the centralised L2 means your transaction may not make it to the slow L1.
    - hanniabu 2y ago
      If you're talking about censorship, you can use the escape hatch if needed
      - imtringued 2y ago
        It's weird how the Blockchain has become the equivalent of courts with expensive legal fees.
kevincox 2y ago
> finality which is 6 blocks There isn't such thing as "finality" in bitcoin right? The probability of another chain growing longer just dramatically shrinks each extra block mined (as most of the mining power will quickly shift to the longest known chain). There is also a lot of historical data as the bitcoin blockchain has been running for many years. How many times has a chain with a 2-block lead been surpassed? It seems like the data is out there to create a pretty accurate graph for by-chance reversal for a given number of confirmations. (Intentional reversing is a bit of a different issue but you should be able to estimate the computation costs as well).

J_Shelby_J 2y ago

I used Solana pay irl last year, and it was as easy and quick as Apple Pay. Solana has a sub-second confirmation time. If you live in a county with a functional and stable financial system then this announcement isn’t for you. If you live in xyz country where getting a credit card is a big challenge this will make it easier to shop online.

arisAlexis 2y ago
Solana frequently goes down and I compare it to a centralized record.keeping db like PayPal so I'm not sure what the benefit is here
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]