Re:The Luddite's Guide to Defending Cash (Part 1)
by theragra on Sunday March 17, 2024 @05:08PM
(#39738065)
Because current electronic money are too centralized and gated. I have the same issue with payment from USA. I don't want PayPal, and my sister says ACH payment is expensive for her. So, I tell her to give cash to my parents when they visit. But when I needed to transfer cryptocurrency to her, it was easy and quick.
Re:The Luddite's Guide to Defending Cash (Part 1)
by jjav on Monday March 18, 2024 @06:59PM
(#39751082)
> Because current electronic money are too centralized and gated.
Electronic payments are by definition centralized and gated, because someone has to operate them. That someone(s) is the gate.
(Sure, blockchain.. I don't see that happening.)
He is not able to purchase such a gift card from the US site (gift cards are country specific). He is also not able to purchase such a gift card from the Mexico site (which demands a Mexican national ID to process the payment). He asks for my help. I try to use the same Mexican site, which refuses to take any of the 4 cards I try. I then use the website's option to "pay at OXXO" (a low tech system to pay for bills, in cash, through a large network of convenience stores owned by the local Coca Cola distributor).
Cash saves the day.
Next up he wants to pay me back. Cashapp/Venmo/Zelle are only for US residents. Local wires within the US are a pain. International wires are worse, and cost half of the amount he borrowed.
Solution? Pay me back in cash next time im in town.
The more suprising bit is that in this random anecdote cash ends up being superior to "cashless" even for one of its worse use cases (cross border transactions).