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Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

tempo.xyz

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Re: Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

#411

Post by slashdave »

SR2Z wrote: post #368
dperfect wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds great, but every time I see this argument, I end up going down the rabbit hole of actually studying how stablecoins operate. And every time, I come to the same conclusion: they always rely on trust in an off-chain oracle or custodian. At that point, a shared ledger implemented with traditional databases / protocols would be faster, easier, and more transparent. Bitcoin (and possibly a few others) is one of…

> At that point, a shared ledger implemented with traditional databases / protocols would be faster, easier, and more transparent. Except they are frequently _not_. I dislike crypto on principle, but you can't look at the exorbitant transfer fees and latency that a lot of banks charge for common transactions (Visa/MasterCard are especially bad) and say that crypto has no potential. Yes, it would be easier if we could…

> Yes, it would be easier if we could just trust our banks to offer instant settlement and very low fees, but they don't.

All transactions must be derisked (there is a fallback if the transaction fails). This usually means backed with reserves, which also means they cannot be instant.

Now if you don't care for the risk management of a bank, sure, go ahead and do what you would like.

Re: Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

#412

Post by Ekaros »

rank0 wrote: post #304
solumos wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because you can transfer stablecoins to an end-user without taking custody of it, and that end-user can redeem it in their local market without the local + US-based bank having to talk. It’s faster and cheaper. Stablecoins are a sort of “glue” between global banking infrastructure that otherwise would be difficult to set up as a provider (due to regulation), slow (due to bank technology for global payments being slow…

How will you redeem your stable coin without some interaction with and approval from a bank? Where do you think the stable coin issuers hold their dollars? I mean FFS the dang tokens are literally pegged to the dollar.

Stable coin is digital IOU. Where issuer makes the rules.

I never got the idea how for that reason there is any guarantees that you can get money out in those less served locations.

Re: Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

#413

Post by haberdasher »

ball_of_lint wrote: post #341

There's a little panel on the bottom right where you can change some parameters of the animation - setting twist high makes some interesting patterns. I wonder if that's intentional or left in from debugging the animation when it was being created. As-is felt like a nice easter egg and I appreciated it being included.

This whole thing is a distraction. What does it add beyond the "wow - you can do cool things on the web these days?"

Re: Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

#414

Post by __MatrixMan__ »

ab5tract wrote: post #260
__MatrixMan__ wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Stripe controlled blockchain could offer that a database could not. A database cannot resist tampering by somebody with admin access to the database. It may be the only thing that blockchains have going for them, but it's a big one.

Can you name any significant economic fallout of any kind related to this attack vector? Because I feel pretty confident that it is dwarfed by the volume of money that has been unlocked by tying crypto to ransomware.

Enron

Re: Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

#415

Post by bflesch »

tobltobs wrote: post #382
bflesch wrote: post #50

This is off-topic to their grand blockchain adventures, but I need to mention it: I would love for stripe to start paying appropriate VAT on transactions between their merchants and EU citizens, I've been on their ass about it for nearly a year now. I've reported multiple merchants to them which simply refused to provide an VAT invoice for any transactions. Legally, merchants outside EU are required to pay VAT on the…

People on HN fighting for the EU VAT clusterfuck ... wasn't on my Bingo card.

Neither of us made the tax rules, but they exist and we need to follow them. When I would sell to US consumers I'd also try to do it in a legally and tax compliant manner - even if it is only out of respect towards my customers in that country to not make them any trouble.

Re: Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

#418

Post by kinakomochidayo »

Marazan wrote: post #336
__MatrixMan__ wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Stripe controlled blockchain could offer that a database could not. A database cannot resist tampering by somebody with admin access to the database. It may be the only thing that blockchains have going for them, but it's a big one.

Which is by the DAO exploit on Ethereum was successful and not rolledback by the Ethereum Devs. Oh, wait... I've been handed a piece of paper...

To be fair, Ethereum wasn’t rolled back like Bitcoin got rolled back in 2010.

Ethereum had a surgical state change on a smart contract via hard fork that implemented that change, so it had 0 effect on other blocks.

Re: Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

#419

Post by krrishd »

the_gastropod wrote: post #397
pc wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does that imply that some day users would be able to pay using Tempo? I don't think that customers or businesses should see Tempo very much. In the success case, Tempo is a platform like SWIFT or ACH that others employ behind the scenes to orchestrate transactions. "Decentralized, internet-scale SWIFT" isn't exactly the right analogy (there are clearly lots of differences), but it's not totally wrong either. Why are…

I think "regulatory arbitrage" still fits here, though maybe not in the sense people assume. The GENIUS Act and MiCA don't eliminate arbitrage. They codify it. Stablecoins are now regulated under frameworks that look very different from those governing banks, payment networks, or money market funds. That difference is the arbitrage. And crucially, the reason to use crypto rails here is a legal one, not a technical on…

> existing centralized systems

Other comments speak to this - but I wouldn't describe SWIFT (the predominant cross-border payments rail for high-value transactions that you couldn't just throw at a fintech eg. Wise) as centralized.

It's a bunch of hops, across correspondent (but separate) banks, that slow payments down, make them expensive + inconsistently traceable + introduce a bunch of manual ops burden along the way across each of the banks in the chain.

Re: Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

#420

Post by madamelic »

raincole wrote: post #403
dperfect wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds great, but every time I see this argument, I end up going down the rabbit hole of actually studying how stablecoins operate. And every time, I come to the same conclusion: they always rely on trust in an off-chain oracle or custodian. At that point, a shared ledger implemented with traditional databases / protocols would be faster, easier, and more transparent. Bitcoin (and possibly a few others) is one of…

> a shared ledger implemented with traditional databases / protocols would be faster, easier, and more transparent. Stablecoin is not a technology. It's an excuse. An excuse to do what banks do while not being regulated like a bank or using the infrastructure banks use. Similar to how Airbnb is not a technology but an excuse to do what hotels do without hotel's license. So it makes no sense to compare it to database,…

Personally, I think US banking needs something an Uber or AirBnB style shake-up to get their act in order.

It's awful how behind the times the US is when it comes to banking. 2 - 3 days to get money from one account to another is beyond embarrassing in the modern day. It took the US something like 15 years to get chip-and-pin.

Banks are still these monolithic entities that don't care to innovate or listen to customers because "what are you going to do, go to one of the other 4 monoliths that are all in cahoots with each other"

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