Re:A quick breakdown of what SWIFT is and why it matters
by nradov on Friday February 25, 2022 @03:49PM
(#30472194)
What is the utility? Sure it makes money laundering and buying illegal goods slightly easier than dealing in cash but otherwise what's the point?
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:A quick breakdown of what SWIFT is and why it matters
by landemva on Saturday February 26, 2022 @12:35AM
(#30475422)
In part, one of the points is to disallow a country from forcing bank depositor bail-ins. Like 2013 in Cyprus.
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/03/everyth...
The country north of USA targeted a certain group and took their funds earlier this month. https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2022/02/...
Re:A quick breakdown of what SWIFT is and why it matters
by beambot on Friday February 25, 2022 @05:44PM
(#30473286)
Decentralized consensus & trust doesn't rely on banks and all the associated cost, complexity, obscurity, and gatekeeping that comes with them. With crypto: "Banks" can't unilaterally or fraudulently print more money, settlement is much faster & public / atomic, APIs are through transparent smart contracts rather than semi-structured SWIFT messages, and no need to rely on trust that funds are real compared to (say) Eurodollar derivatives -- i.e. many of the legacy hacks that others are talking about in this thread.