On the bright side, I think getting the money-sending integration would be more politically viable, at which point we can just piggyback the messaging on top of it.

> at which point we can just piggyback the messaging on top of it.

Which is exactly Google's messaging app strategy for as long as it existed.

That's how we got messaging inside Google Maps.

As somebody who worked for Google, I think it’s adorable that you believe Google has a messaging app strategy. :)

SMS and cryptocurrency have largely solved the "send info or money to anyone instantly" problem. then entities stepped in to protect their walled gardens (governments in control of financial systems, apple, facebook, google) and viola, everything is fragmented and the problem has been unsolved.

the issue was never making it happen technically, it's the entrenched power structures prioritizing money/power over actual progress.

I don't know what's going on in the other side of the ocean, but around here, but in the SEPA we have had instant transfers between bank accounts for a while. Some banks are trying to slow it down (like charging 1€ for transfers) for some reason, but personally I use it all the time and it's great. I'm not sure why you'd have to make up this big conspiracy theory about governments not wanting people to send money to other people.

SMS "solves" sending info, as long as you only want to send very short bits of text with uncertain deliverability.