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> The real problem is we don't have a low-friction digital payment system that allows individuals to automate sending payment requests for small amounts of mone

> The real problem is we don't have a low-friction digital payment system that allows individuals to automate sending payment requests for small amounts of money to each other without requiring everyone to sign up for a merchant account with a financial bureaucracy. Its called cryptocurrency

AnthonyMouse 8mo ago
First you have to make it low-friction. If I want Joe Average to send me $1 in cryptocurrency, how is he getting $1 in cryptocurrency to send me?
- nobody9999 8mo ago
  >First you have to make it low-friction. If I want Joe Average to send me $1 in cryptocurrency, how is he getting $1 in cryptocurrency to send me? Absolutely. You're 1000% correct. Cryptocurrency is way too high friction for stuff like that. When I wish to spend crypto, I need to: [If you don't have an exchange account already, you'll need the 0.x steps too!] 0.0 Create an account on an exchange which is legally allowed to operate in your state/country; 0.1 Provide all sorts of KYC/AML info including photos of yourself and your government ID; 0.2 Wait hours/days/weeks for the exchange to "validate" your KYC/AML info and allow you to purchase crypto; 1. Log in to an exchange which is actually allowed to operate in the place where one resides; 2. Purchase Bitcoin or other coin the exchange deems appropriate (leaving aside the hefty fee charged for using fiat currency/traditional credit card); 3. Wait days/weeks until the exchange allows you to transfer the purchased cryptocurrency out of your exchange-hosted wallet; 4. Transfer crypto to a wallet you actually control; 5. Convert the crypto purchased on the exchange to the crypto coin required for whatever your purpose may be; 6. Transmit the crypto to the destination wallet. Total time (not including setting up the exchange account, which can take anywhere from 1-10 days): 3-10 days. Much too high friction for small payments, IMHO.
  - SJC_Hacker 8mo ago
    All the setup is no worse than setting up a bank account And technically it can be avoided through back channels if you know someone who already has it - can just pay them cash or whatever and they can send crypto to you Crypto is very easy to transfer once you have a wallet Its the exchange to/from real world currency where the friction is.
    - deleted 8mo ago
      [deleted]
    - Dylan16807 8mo ago
      > All the setup is no worse than setting up a bank account Which is a huge pain in the butt. If someone invented a new lower-spam email ecosystem that required everyone to make a new bank account, very few people would join. I would say something about a combined account but many countries have already figured out free bank transfers without needing crypto so maybe do that?
    - nobody9999 8mo ago
      Sorry for the late reply. You're correct, as far as it goes. However, we weren't talking about using cryptocurrency in general, but in a very specific way: Making micropayments to devs as a mechanism to limit AI slop PRs to open source projects. Doing that effectively would require broad implementation of some sort of payment scheme. Given the current (as I documented) hoops one needs to jump through to obtain cryptocurrency if one doesn't have any, especially just for a random user to get crypto to send $1 to a github repo with their PR makes exactly zero sense. Yes. Buying drugs and other stuff outside of the mainstream economy is definitely worth the effort. To send $1/PR for escrow to limit spam? Not so much.
- fragmede 8mo ago
  There is no shortage of apps to do that these days. Venmo and CashApp are pretty mainstream for people in the US.
  - zx8080 8mo ago
    I'll better keep the $1 to myself than go through the crazy 35 steps KYC onboarding form just to send that $1.

AnthonyMouse 8mo ago

First you have to make it low-friction. If I want Joe Average to send me $1 in cryptocurrency, how is he getting $1 in cryptocurrency to send me?

nobody9999 8mo ago
>First you have to make it low-friction. If I want Joe Average to send me $1 in cryptocurrency, how is he getting $1 in cryptocurrency to send me? Absolutely. You're 1000% correct. Cryptocurrency is way too high friction for stuff like that. When I wish to spend crypto, I need to: [If you don't have an exchange account already, you'll need the 0.x steps too!] 0.0 Create an account on an exchange which is legally allowed to operate in your state/country; 0.1 Provide all sorts of KYC/AML info including photos of yourself and your government ID; 0.2 Wait hours/days/weeks for the exchange to "validate" your KYC/AML info and allow you to purchase crypto; 1. Log in to an exchange which is actually allowed to operate in the place where one resides; 2. Purchase Bitcoin or other coin the exchange deems appropriate (leaving aside the hefty fee charged for using fiat currency/traditional credit card); 3. Wait days/weeks until the exchange allows you to transfer the purchased cryptocurrency out of your exchange-hosted wallet; 4. Transfer crypto to a wallet you actually control; 5. Convert the crypto purchased on the exchange to the crypto coin required for whatever your purpose may be; 6. Transmit the crypto to the destination wallet. Total time (not including setting up the exchange account, which can take anywhere from 1-10 days): 3-10 days. Much too high friction for small payments, IMHO.
- SJC_Hacker 8mo ago
  All the setup is no worse than setting up a bank account And technically it can be avoided through back channels if you know someone who already has it - can just pay them cash or whatever and they can send crypto to you Crypto is very easy to transfer once you have a wallet Its the exchange to/from real world currency where the friction is.
  - deleted 8mo ago
    [deleted]
  - Dylan16807 8mo ago
    > All the setup is no worse than setting up a bank account Which is a huge pain in the butt. If someone invented a new lower-spam email ecosystem that required everyone to make a new bank account, very few people would join. I would say something about a combined account but many countries have already figured out free bank transfers without needing crypto so maybe do that?
  - nobody9999 8mo ago
    Sorry for the late reply. You're correct, as far as it goes. However, we weren't talking about using cryptocurrency in general, but in a very specific way: Making micropayments to devs as a mechanism to limit AI slop PRs to open source projects. Doing that effectively would require broad implementation of some sort of payment scheme. Given the current (as I documented) hoops one needs to jump through to obtain cryptocurrency if one doesn't have any, especially just for a random user to get crypto to send $1 to a github repo with their PR makes exactly zero sense. Yes. Buying drugs and other stuff outside of the mainstream economy is definitely worth the effort. To send $1/PR for escrow to limit spam? Not so much.
fragmede 8mo ago
There is no shortage of apps to do that these days. Venmo and CashApp are pretty mainstream for people in the US.
- zx8080 8mo ago
  I'll better keep the $1 to myself than go through the crazy 35 steps KYC onboarding form just to send that $1.