Hacker News Reader

I can say for a Russian system which looks similar to me: banks do not charge additional fee (acquiring fee), so it's beneficial for shops and small businesses. It works instantaneously, you don't have to carry your card with you (people now always have phones with them but sometimes forget wallets or cards, also phones are locked and cards can't be locked).

Small business doesn't have to pay for anything but a piece of paper with QR code printed on it.

View on HN

But the lack of fees are not benefits for the consumers, only for the merchants. Unlike cards, that have several consumer benefits. And you can have them on your phone as well.

Merchants are raising price of goods and services to pay Mastercard/Visa/bank fees. So this can be beneficial for consumers as well.

As of other benefits, this system is much younger, I hope it'll improve with time. I try to use it more often, although actually it's still faster to use the card compared to unlocking the phone and unlocking the bank application to pay with the QR code.

Plus, in the case of the Pix system, every user can instantly receive money too, free of charge.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com