It’s always been a hard problem to solve, and the bankers who solved it always got paid handsomely for enabling commerce.
In the old days everyone bartered. Then came shells. Then precious metals. The gold had to be literally shipped around. Everyone from the Roman to the British empire had to physically ship chests of gold to it’s soldiers. Cross border commerce was absolutely fraught with risk. Piracy and shipwrecks galore.
Then the Rothschilds opened the first international bank, dramatically cutting the difficulty and expense of international trade.
We got cheques, paper money, and the credit card control room you worked in.
At every step, it got faster, cheaper, safer, more ephemeral. Trade increased dramatically. It’s amazing! The much-maligned banking sector is really a triumph of capitalism.
> The much-maligned banking sector is really a triumph of capitalism.
Yes, the triumph of "what's in it for me".
Do you want to send little bits of gold and silver all around the world, or would you prefer modern banking? The choice is yours, pick the one that's best for you!
If you want to go all the way into the consumer value matrix - Has anyone on HN ever had much a 2nd thought about whether or not their card would 'just work' out in the world?
I used to work in the actual room where acquirer links were monitored in real time 24/7/365. At least 8 people were in that room at any given time. I've never worked in nuclear power but I imagine you could draw some parallels.
This kind of reliability is not cheap or easy to come by. There isn't a clever technical trick you can employ to realize it. The only way to achieve the kinds of reliability we have in the world today still requires lots of human involvement throughout.
Does anyone dream of having a google-style support experience next time they are standing in line at the grocery store? This is basically what you are demanding when you say you want zero % fees on all transactions.