Money transfer platforms are even worse than chat apps in terms of how acceptance dictates usefulness. You might convince a couple of friends to use xmpp instead of whatsapp. But its near impossible to get major outlets to integrate new payment methods. Especially if that platform advocates privacy and therefore doesn't offer a return on invest based on user data. I don't think we're gonna see true alternatives without government regulation, and even then...
this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2024
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Privacy
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I like GNU Taler because it's privacy preserving for the customer, is Free, Open Source, and is self hosted. And also because it's not a new/ different currency.
@Atelopus-zeteki How does it work?
Hellifiknow. I'm just some frog on the intarwebs who wants to learn. :-) Can someone elaborate on GNU Taler?
The answer to that is obviously going to be Monero.
GNU Taler looks interesting, but is it usable today?
It's apparently designed around exchanges, and I don't see any exchanges mentioned on the site. Do any actually exist?
The FAQ mentions depending on wire transfers, which have famously high fees that would have to be passed on to users somehow. Aggregating payments into delayed settlement transfers could mitigate that cost between high-volume organizations, but it won't help people who just need send money to each other. (Meanwhile, ACH transfers are practically free, but I don't know if they fit Taler's design or plans.) Does Taler have a plan to solve this?
I don't quite understand how it works yet, so wonder: would it work in sanctioned locations, like how, say, Monero can?
Taler is not ment to be completely censorship resistant. It takes the side of dealing with goverment, law and other things and is expected to be used in areas with working democracy.
A private alternative to MasterCard, PayPal, Stripe, etc. not a new currency or completely different banking system. And we need it.
BTC lightning.
Why are you annoyed by Paypal and Venmo? What do you want changed? KYC and these companies having control of your money is common on all these everyday platforms. If you want a real change you need to use self custodial non-KYC crypto currencies.
I use lightning on the regular. Transactions confirm in under a second, fees often less than a penny. Works incredibly well. For custodial wallets (less privacy but you can connect to your bank account to buy/sell BTC and they are as easy to use as venmo) check out Strike. For non-custodial wallets, Phoenix is great and super easy, for maximum privacy use Zeus but it's slightly more complex than Phoenix.
Lightning, like Bitcoin which it is built on, provide pseudonymity not anonymity. Understand the difference and look into it if you're curious. Still vastly better than credit cards, banks, etc when it comes to privacy.
I'm annoyed by Paypal, Venmo (and other similar vehicles) because they use what should be a simple process (one person giving money to another person) to invade our privacy and to siphon value towards billionaires. I'd rather be able to transfer funds with the simplicity and precision of giving the person standing before me a 'fiver'. And without someone else making bank off the transaction, for clarity's sake.
KYC defined: "The Know Your Client (KYC) or Know Your Customer (KYC) is a process to verify the identity and other credentials of a financial services user. KYC is a regulatory process of ascertaining the identity and other information of a financial services user." https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/wealth-management/know-your-client-kyc/
Zelle is the closest acceptable alternative to PayPal, Venmo, and Cash App.
Related: I think FedNow (USA) might enable transfers between individuals once the tools and user-facing services are developed. It's very new.
It's worth noting that any way to electronically move money is unlikely to stay both private and convenient for long after getting popular, because governments generally don't like that.
FedNow looks very interesting.