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Comment by smoe | Hacker News Reader

Things is, companies like this solve a real world problem for real people in developing countries now. At least where I am, Colombia, crypto has utterly failed to do this. The target audience of such products doesn't care much about some hypothetical ifs and whens of the future.

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I live in Argentina and crypto is the best solution available today. I've tried multiple services like Paypal, Payoneer, Wise, Bankera, Paysera, Wester Union, etc. They all have the same issues.

Given some of the services you mentioned, are you talking about transferring money in and out of the country? In that case I might agree. It is a huge pain in Colombia as well. I was referring to alternatives to small cash transactions between people in the country. For which there is for example Nequi. Easy onboarding, no service or transaction fees, no minimum amounts, free cash withdrawals, instant transfers. Yes it is by an "evil" centralized corporation, but it works and has very high adaption at least in cities.

Indeed, I guess we were not talking about the same issue. For local transfers, sure, use whatever floats your boat: cash, digital wallets, bank transfers (I would not advise this, but whatever). Here we have several options for that, like Mercadopago, Burbank, Uala, Reba, Naranja X, etc. These are really good for day to day purchases, and you usually don't keep a lot of money on these accounts, so if you happen to have any issue is not the end of the world.

Yes, I could have been clearer in my original post. My point was in reference to, many crypto advocates saying years ago that these types of small transactions at high speed and lost cost are one of the biggest benefits of it. This has never materialised, instead the market has been taken over by companies using mostly boring technology. It might well be, that fear of competition from crypto has caused the traditional finance companies to move.

Seems a bit early to say it has “utterly failed.” Especially when Colombia is consistently the 2nd most active trading country in LatAm. And As Banco De Bogota is piloting crypto programs https://www.portafolio.co/economia/finanzas/banco-de-bogota-...

Not saying crypto has failed in all aspects, just in the use case talked about in the blog post. I don't see crypto competing with e.g. Nequi any time soon.

The project you mentioned is interesting, but I see it as something much more for the middle and upper classes. I know plenty of crypto enthusiast in those circles.

I tried Buda, which is mentioned in the article as partner. It has been the most tedious experience with a "financial" product I had in my whole life.

Utterly means “completely and without qualification; absolutely.”

You can completely fail in one thing, and succeed in another. Crypto people have moved the goalpost of what it is supposed to be useful for a lot over the years. Which is fine. Doesn't mean it has completely failed to deliver on some of them so far and the market has been taken over by others.

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