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Brazil's government-run payments system has become dominant

economist.com

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Re: Brazil's government-run payments system has become dominant

#321

Post by tialaramex »

leereeves wrote: post #279
Xunjin wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The world needs to implement Pix. I truly believe that is a system which can replace SWIFT with just a intermediary, with a virtual currency that exchange rate between the 2 countries in the operation, this way the world can have a freedom outside dollar and really fast transactions.

I'd hate to see a system like that where I live, because the government will abuse it. We've already seen Canada freeze bank accounts of protestors, and US officials put protestors on the no fly list.

This doesn't make sense as a prioritization.

Oh no, my government might be run by nazis -> Let's make the government services crap

The nazis don't need to use your crap government services, so you're just pointlessly making things worse, this is the same delusion as "But it's illegal". Why on Earth would crooks care whether what they're doing is legal?

I suggest:

Oh no, my government might be run by nazis -> Ensure this does not happen OR leave

Re: Brazil's government-run payments system has become dominant

#322

Post by tetris11 »

olalonde wrote: post #282
SwiftyBug wrote: post #8

I've been living in Brazil for the last 20 years. Pix revolutionised the way we transact in Brazil. I've used Pix to pay for things that cost only cents, and I have a friend who bought her house using Pix. The system just works for any transfer amount. And it's so easy to use. Its speed is truly baffling, and so is its reliability. Never have I failed to make a Pix payment because of downtime. I never cease to be ama…

> I've even had homeless people ask me for Pix instead of change on multiple occasions. Sounds like WeChat Pay. It's been years now that beggars in China only carry QR codes. > Cryptocurrencies don't stand a chance. They solve a different problem or have the potential to: predictable/unbiased money issuance and on/off ramp for payment platforms.

I wish the homeless in London did this, I'd happily give a few pounds here and there if it were easy to. Back when I had cash on me at all times, I would think nothing of it, just toss a coin. Now in our cashless society, I found myself at a loss to do anything about the people suffering in front of me

Re: Brazil's government-run payments system has become dominant

#323

Post by pastelsky »

Guestmodinfo wrote: post #80
SwiftyBug wrote: post #8

I've been living in Brazil for the last 20 years. Pix revolutionised the way we transact in Brazil. I've used Pix to pay for things that cost only cents, and I have a friend who bought her house using Pix. The system just works for any transfer amount. And it's so easy to use. Its speed is truly baffling, and so is its reliability. Never have I failed to make a Pix payment because of downtime. I never cease to be ama…

I wish we could make a comparison with Indian payment system calld UPI. I feel both are similar and I wish if we could know and compre all such govt run initiatives. UPI is Indian govt initiative and very reliable

UPI is great in terms of UX, but I don’t think it’s super reliable – especially big public banks go down all the time. The UPI base service had multiple incidents in the last 1 month too.

Re: Brazil's government-run payments system has become dominant

#324

Post by HNArg024 »

coliveira wrote: post #6

Yes, now in Brazil you can hardly find anyone not using Pix. It is all digital and free. Even in Argentina and Paraguay, many local merchants are now accepting Pix.

Yeah, in Argentina the main digital wallet is MercadoPago. Many merchants have their terminal to accept payments with credit cards/QR, and since this past summer you have the option to accept payments with Pix too. Also it goes both ways, everyone going on vacation to Brazil can pay with MercadoPago without having to install Pix.

Re: Brazil's government-run payments system has become dominant

#325

Post by djcannabiz »

somedude895 wrote: post #228
chneu wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly why NOAA in the US is under attack. Conservatives see $$$ potential if they privatize it.

I'm sure the NOAA is under attack because someone in the administration really wants to launch a new weather app.

Granted this is from Trumps first term, but actually yeah. https://www.cnn.com/2017/10/14/politics/noaa-nominee-accuwea...

"Speaking to the The Palm Beach Post at the time, Barry Myers said he supported the weather service returning to its “core mission … which is protecting other people’s lives and property” instead of spending “hundreds of millions of dollars a year, every day, producing forecasts of ‘warm and sunny.’”" Also from the same article: "He told ABC News in May 2005: “We work hard every day competing with other companies and we also have to compete with the government.”"

Theres some more info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Lee_Myers

Re: Brazil's government-run payments system has become dominant

#326

Post by 0_gravitas »

owebmaster wrote: post #307

A fun fact, one of the biggest PIX players is also the company that acquired Cognitec¹, the company behind Clojure and Datomic. Until not long ago, Rich Hickey was part of the staff². 1. https://building.nubank.com.br/pt-br/nubank-acquires-us-comp... 2. https://building.nubank.com.br/clojures-journey-at-nubank-a-...

Ahhh this is what I was waiting to see mention of, figured "nubank has to be in here somewhere"

Re: Brazil's government-run payments system has become dominant

#327

Post by guax »

Galatians4_16 wrote: post #257
guax wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe it's more related to economic crisis and informal work (tax evasion). Brazil is very cashless for normal transactions.

It's only tax evasion if the activity results reportable income. Just assuming everyone, who does not use your favourite cashless platform, is a criminal, is bad marketing.

There is very little reason why a Business would prefer cash other than have some freedom in how it's reported. This is considering how much of a hassle and risk is involved in having large sums.

There is even less reason why a person would, most people in regular jobs get paid via bank accounts (Brazil even have a special kind with no fees for it). Now informal (non registered and non tax paying) employment is cash heavy: house cleaning, small repairs, produce vendors, etc.

I don't even think is criminal, it's kinda Business as usual in Brazil.

Money usage fell in Brazil, pix is the most used method, 37% of the workers are informal (no formal labour contract). They would mostly not be required to even report because of low income, the evasion in this case is being done by the employer, where they don't pay labour and the social security equivalent.

Re: Brazil's government-run payments system has become dominant

#328

Post by mvieira38 »

leereeves wrote: post #279
Xunjin wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The world needs to implement Pix. I truly believe that is a system which can replace SWIFT with just a intermediary, with a virtual currency that exchange rate between the 2 countries in the operation, this way the world can have a freedom outside dollar and really fast transactions.

I'd hate to see a system like that where I live, because the government will abuse it. We've already seen Canada freeze bank accounts of protestors, and US officials put protestors on the no fly list.

Yup. Despite how magical and convenient Pix is, I still consider returning to cash just for the huge privacy liability of using Pix. But it's so engrained in the culture now that you can't really use anything else

Re: Brazil's government-run payments system has become dominant

#330

Post by phillc73 »

tetris11 wrote: post #322
olalonde wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've even had homeless people ask me for Pix instead of change on multiple occasions. Sounds like WeChat Pay. It's been years now that beggars in China only carry QR codes. > Cryptocurrencies don't stand a chance. They solve a different problem or have the potential to: predictable/unbiased money issuance and on/off ramp for payment platforms.

I wish the homeless in London did this, I'd happily give a few pounds here and there if it were easy to. Back when I had cash on me at all times, I would think nothing of it, just toss a coin. Now in our cashless society, I found myself at a loss to do anything about the people suffering in front of me

You could try carrying cash again, especially just a few coins for the homeless.
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