Bitcoin is still absolutely useless as a currency and a technology.
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@mekkaokereke @molly0xfff the thing that kills me is the staggering waste of it, that people keep claiming like six transactions per second globally is a viable, reasonable number.
That is a _nothing_ number. It’s nothing at all! If it wasn’t for the mind-blowing wastefulness of zero-trust computing you could run the entire Bitcoin ecosystem, the entire damn thing, off one raspi and that raspi wouldn’t even warm up.
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Shannon Clarkreplied to mekka okereke :verified: last edited by
@mekkaokereke @molly0xfff not only that it is adopted by apparently everyone in India (was just at a friend’s house last night who are Indian immigrants - they were talking about how digital payments are accepted by street vendors everywhere in India such that you barely need to carry cash and that everyone even the elderly have figured out the digital payments.
(And it all bypasses credit cards) some foreigners can even use it (but only from 3 or so countries with the right app and KYC)
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Adrianna Tanreplied to mekka okereke :verified: last edited by [email protected]
@mekkaokereke with my Singapore bank account I can transfer to most Indian accounts with UPI in seconds
I can’t send money to myself at diff banks in the U.S. instantly
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@skinnylatte @mekkaokereke It is embarassing that I can use wise.com to ACH dollars from a US bank, exchange currency, and SEPA Euros to a German destination and have it clear faster than I can transfer money between two US banks.
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@skinnylatte @mekkaokereke We have an instant payment system between different banks here in Oz too. The US has always seemed way behind on payments tech. At least American publishers have stopped sending me foreign currency cheques! Almost impossible to bank them here nowadays.
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@timrichards @mekkaokereke like with anything bad with the U.S., this is by design
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@skinnylatte @mekkaokereke Usually it seems connected with racism too, but I can't think how in this case
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@timrichards @mekkaokereke many banks charge fees to the poorest customers. Many people are unbanked the way they are in developing countries. They go instead to predatory cash checking places. All of their financial instruments (like credit cards issued by big stores) have way worse rates. I’m guessing banks make lots of money ripping off poor people?
There is a new instant payment rail but it’ll be slow going
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@timrichards @mekkaokereke to be more specific, if a poor person sends off a payment for a bill on a Friday and then on Tues when it clears and they don’t have a buffer, the bank makes $28 or more on the overdraft.
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@skinnylatte @mekkaokereke Hmm I see. Also, that relative lack of bank accounts explains the prevalence of cheques. But why are people unbanked? Is it difficult to open an account?
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in america? often it is poor credit or a run of financial bad luck, such as unemployment, sometimes coupled with bad financial discipline (which is yet another thing that they work hard on encouraging people to do) and then winding up on a shared list of "bad" accountholders, thus being denied bank accounts. and then there is the credit reputation thing, as well.
banks want power and got offshore banking made almost, if not thoroughly, a crime
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@homelessjun @skinnylatte @mekkaokereke I see, that's difficult. Banks here in Australia are required to offer low-income people on government benefits a no-fee account.
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@timrichards @homelessjun @mekkaokereke we have credit unions that do that but it’s rather unevenly distributed
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Jürgen Hubertreplied to mekka okereke :verified: last edited by
As far as I can tell, there is only one legitimate use case for crypto currencies: Payment for sex workers - because "conventional" online payment systems all seem to screw them over, a trend that is likely to continue in the next few years.
The _illegitimate_ use case is, of course, money laundering for organized crime. It's no accident that all those organized crime rings holding websites and IT infrastructure hostage demand payment in crypto currencies...
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@juergen_hubert @mekkaokereke unfortunately crypto payment systems screw them over too, and introduce added risks as far as traceability. the solution is going to have to be stronger protections for sex workers and against debanking. as with most problems, technology alone is not an adequate solution.
