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A comment on My professional opinion as a blockchain researcher: I don’t see the point (yet). Parent comment

Re:My professional opinion as a blockchain researcher: I don... by tedeh on Monday February 12, 2018 @11:36AM (#16359746)
In my native Sweden people can send money to each other directly from their own bank accounts via a mobile app instantaneously for free over the Swish network. The limits are up to a temporary maximum amount of approx. 18 535 USD (150 000 SEK) and down to a minimum amount of approx. 12 cents equivalent (1 SEK). More than half the population are using it already [1].

Bank wire transfers within the entire EU is regulated by the SEPA framework which basically means that banks are not allowed to charge more for a intra-EU transfer than a transfer within the same country. This allows me to send money between my EU bank accounts for a fee that is usually between 1-3 EUR and never more than that. The transactions take one bank day to clear in my experience.

Currently, the EU equivalent of Swish is being rolled out. It's called "SEPA Instant credit transfer" [2] and will work pretty much the same as Swish, except with coverage over the entire EU.

The money is insured [3] and faulty transactions can be reversed with due process in many cases. [4]

It's unfortunate you have to have these experiences with your banking system - it does not work like that all over the world, however.

Also: Can someone please enlighten me on what we need "the blockchain" here for?

[1]: https://medium.com/@etiennebr/swish-the-secret-swedish-finte...

[2]: https://www.europeanpaymentscouncil.eu/what-we-do/sepa-insta...

[3]: https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/banking-and-...

[4]: https://www.metro.se/artikel/det-h%C3%A4r-g%C3%A4ller-om-du-...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:My professional opinion as a blockchain researcher: I don... by nawitus on Monday February 12, 2018 @02:31PM (#16361296)
One thing I dislike about wire transfers in Finland (and I would assume similar regulation applies in EU) is that banks will ask the purpose of transactions over certain amount, or the origin of cash when depositing it. I want to use my money however I see fit and I shouldn't need to disclose anything to the bank. This is something that a blockchain could offer me.
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Re:My professional opinion as a blockchain researcher: I don... by lnino on Tuesday February 13, 2018 @02:46PM (#16370095)
Try scaling that model the whole world. How do you get some random country to join it? The costs of maintaining all that regulation framework are astronomical and depend on political circumstances that might change quite quickly (Brexit for an instance). There's just no way that the whole world will have something like that in the next 25 years. So, if you love your banking system, don't switch to bitcoin. It doesn't mean blockchain doesn't have any value for other people/use cases.
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