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Comment by neiman | Hacker News Reader

Part of the transaction I described (which was personal) involved a bank transfer between two EU states, and it's simply not true. It's not instantly, doesn't work 24/7 (a transaction made on Friday arrived on Tuesday), and you have to find plenty of tricks to avoid high fees and super bad exchange rates (EU has more than one currency, you know).

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You are correct, the technology for 24/7 SEPA instant transfers is there, but they are just ~ 10% of all SEPA transfers right now and - crucially - are not free yet: https://www.europeanpaymentscouncil.eu/what-we-do/sepa-insta...

Free instant transfers are the direction of travel, but in the EU, that is a question of regulation, not technology. Maybe in 2030 we will be there :)

But for many transactions, I see that instant would be nicer, but I don't see the crucial need. My employer pays all Eurozone salaries from a bank account in Luxembourg, I imagine it is just a script checking "Initiate transfers on 10 AM, 1 day before last working day of month". Being able to do "Initiate transfers on 23.59 PM of last working day of month" would be slightly nicer, but I don't think it really solves a huge pain point?

Wise (former Transferwise) is pretty much instant in the EU, with very low fees.

Even then, transferring money with SEPA from my Swedish account to friends in Germany, Poland and the Netherlands is pretty much instant, I just don't like the exchange rate of my bank.

Wise (Germany->Poland) is the one who took me 4 days (Friday->Tuesday)...

I have no idea how you did an instant transfer from Sweden to Poland.

It might depend on the amount.

Wise might not had the liquidity in your currency pair, and you had to wait for a transaction to happen in the reverse direction.

(Just speculation)

Uh, oh, will … no.

Its Not true in that Description, also dont forget: SEPA!=Euro!=EU!=EER

Source: Im running a bank. In the EU.

Okay sure, but the point is that the solution is that is "Expand SEPA / faster payments system" not, "We need new technology".

It's a political problem not a technological one.

It's a technological problem. The SEPA system relies on MANY providers giving a many services. Replaces it with a technology that doesn't rely on any providers but instead allowing direct transfer of money from one person to another, and by almost by definition it'll be faster.

What's wrong with paypal?

You can find lot of stories of them blocking your account without explanation and taking the money.

Maybe for a reason, no?

I envy you for believing that big companies, like Paypal, always do things to small customers for a reason. Really.

It doesn't matter what I believe, it's what I experienced and observed. For example, I knew a couple who lost their money via fraudulent debit card transactions and bank did piss all to investigate - and I understand its hard and bank is not motivated much. By using a credit card for example fraudsters would've spent bank's money and my friends would not be responsible for such transactions. Now if they used crypto they would be in the same position and there wouldn't even be an authority to ask to investigate (how convenient). I am not saying that people are not getting ripped by corp - just by probability many people are. But I don't see "crypto" as the answer to the problems I know about. What specific problem crypto solves in payments?

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