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A comment on MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies. Parent comment

Re:MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies by PragmaticPulp on Thursday February 11, 2021 @07:21PM (#26109391)
> Just look at the Nano cryptocurrency for example: 0 fees and <1 second transactions. You can send 0.00001 dollar or 9 billion to anyone in the world at any time. All you need is a phone.

Sounds great! But why can't we just use that technology to move our existing money around? Why do I have to trade my USD for NANO, transfer the NANO, and then trade the NANO back to USD at the other end?

Why wouldn't I simply engage with a bank that lets me use the same open-source technology to simply move the USD from one place to another? I don't want to become an investor in Nano just to transact any more than I want to buy PayPal shares to use PayPal.

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Re:MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies by argvargc on Friday February 12, 2021 @08:41AM (#26113522)
We can and do, they're called stablecoins. It's not possible to send fiat around unless you digitise it first, and this needs to be done in such a way that it's impossible to mint more in the process and such that this is verifiable by everyone - hence (most) stablecoins.

Edited to add: Also XRP is used as a bridge-currency to automagically do what you described, but with XRP in place of NANO. This is a product that due to regulatory uncertainty is not widely used yet, but it is still offered to, and used by various banking and payment firms who have signed up for it with Ripple. It's been hampered by the SEC in the US, but is still used elsewhere.

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