Re:My professional opinion as a blockchain researcher: I don...
by BeetleB on Monday February 12, 2018 @11:10AM
(#16359547)
The only thing you have done is emphasize the need to answer his question. When he does an inter-bank transfer, why does it take 3 days for to clear?
I did something similar a few days ago, and while it didn't take 3 days, it did take over a day.
Re:My professional opinion as a blockchain researcher: I don...
by JumpCrisscross on Monday February 12, 2018 @11:17AM
(#16359599)
> When he does an inter-bank transfer, why does it take 3 days for to clear?
They chose the cheap, safe option over the fast, risky one. I talked about the difference between net and real-time gross settlement in an earlier comment [1]. TL; DR There is a fundamental trade-off between mutability, speed and cost.
Re:My professional opinion as a blockchain researcher: I don...
by bluetwo on Monday February 12, 2018 @01:08PM
(#16360501)
That is 1) to prevent fraud (see "check kiting") and 2) so the holding institution can collect the interest for the day.
This is not a technology problem. Blockchain won't change either of these.
Wire transfers are instantaneous [1]. They cost pennies a transaction, a fee banks often cover if you have more than ~$15,000 with them. For smaller transfers, real-time P2P was recently rolled out across most American banks [2]. This was a result of competition from Venmo, which one could think of as a lightning network over ACH [3]. (The latter being Fedwire's net settled and thus slower but cheaper cousin.)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fedwire
[2] https://www.zellepay.com
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_Clearing_House