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No one is disrupting banks – at least not the big ones

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Re: No one is disrupting banks – at least not the big ones

#51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The government is very conservative in handing out banking licenses. There was a famous scandal with an Icelandic bank that was disrupting the market with higher interest rates.

It is basically impossible to license a new bank in Germany and the financial regulations have become stricter over time, with a full banking license being mandatory for more and more things. It's kind of disturbing. If you are a big bank, you already have all the licenses and can do everything so what difference does that regulation make in practice?

N26 did it but creating a new bank attracts money launderers and scammers. The legal department costs are infeasible and half a century-old systems are not easy to adapt to new banking concepts. The government and regulation side of the system needs serious improvements in Germany to bring them to 21st century first. However, there is little economic incentive to do so. With an aging population and deeply conservative culture, there is little political incentive to improve any infrastructure. The current governing parties will probably lose the election next month because they made costly infrastructure fixes.

Re: No one is disrupting banks – at least not the big ones

#52
Disruption will take awhile. The current players have rigged the game in their favor. They have government officials, lobbyists, and 40+ years of shitty neoliberal economic theory behind them. The subprime mortgage crisis and subsequent bailout of banks by main street is an example.

It will take more than a credit card or fancy app to disrupt this corrupt machine.

Re: No one is disrupting banks – at least not the big ones

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Getting a banking license in the US at least is totally doable and lots of banks are created de novo every year. As another commenter noted, anyone can create "money out of thin air". Come to my corner store and buy an apple on credit. Poof! Credit was the original money, made out of thin air, and can be by anyone.

Everyone has their own opinion of "lots" I suppose, but the quickest info I could come by in a quick search was 8 de novo created in 2021.

Yup it's in the ~10's every year more or less.

Re: No one is disrupting banks – at least not the big ones

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s the thing I can’t ever come to understand about crypto. It’s purely about perception of value. At least with some precious metal, it has a floor value as a function of its practical uses and abundance. Which leads me to believe that the only thing that could be honestly said is that a crypto is purely about winners and suckers and timing.

> At least with some precious metal, it has a floor value as a function of its practical uses and abundance. I don't really give this argument much credence any more. If the value of, say, gold or diamonds were to drop their practical-use-floor-value, they'd be valued at probably less than 1% (maybe much less) of current value. I mean, how much gold is actually consumed by industry? And we even have industrial diamon…

I think the main thing precious metals have going for them is tradition. That’s no small thing. They’ve been considered valuable for millennia, and that’s likely to continue. Bitcoin might be replaced by some other fad in a decade.

It’s like if you’re betting on a religion, Christianity is more likely to last than Scientology. They might both be equally made up, but one has demonstrated staying power.

Re: No one is disrupting banks – at least not the big ones

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What type of transactions do you need to make outside of business hours that you can’t do electronically? And who actually deals with physical checks? Even the various contractors I used when preparing my home for sell took some form of electronic payment

if i transfer money from one bank's account to another, it takes minimum of 48 hours if I make the request before 3pm cutoff time. Day 1, the transfer request is made at 1pm. Day 2, the money is no longer available in the sending account yet not in the receiving account. Day 3, the money is available in the receiving account. If I do it after 3pm, the request is not placed until Day 2. Why? WTF does a computer have a…

Zelle is run by the banks and transfers are instant and free.

https://www.zellepay.com/faq/how-long-does-it-take-receive-m...

Re: No one is disrupting banks – at least not the big ones

#56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and crypto doesn’t have any inherent risk like a sitting President creating a crypto currency where he has 80% of the currency, will probably make a half billion dollars and then do a rug pull. https://fortune.com/2025/01/22/donald-trump-net-worth-memeco...

That’s the thing I can’t ever come to understand about crypto. It’s purely about perception of value. At least with some precious metal, it has a floor value as a function of its practical uses and abundance. Which leads me to believe that the only thing that could be honestly said is that a crypto is purely about winners and suckers and timing.

> It’s purely about perception of value

All money has always been about perception, whether we used paper, shiny rocks, or sea shells as money, it’s always been about perception. Is it real or counterfeit, do you trust the person you’re transacting with, are enough people you know using it, and will people with weapons show up to protect your money if someone else tries to steal it?

The “people with weapons” part turns out to be a key component. The novel thing about crypto is that you are less reliant on the “people with weapons” to protect you and tell you what you’re allowed to do with your money, and more reliant on the “people with encryption”.

Re: No one is disrupting banks – at least not the big ones

#57

No one is disrupting banks because the mega banks have the sole power of creating credit out of thin air, and no upstart fintech company has this power. To gain this power requires the creation of a bank, which as you can imagine, is probably the most gate-kept activity on earth. Andreesen talked about this in his Rogan appearance. The banks and gov brought the hammer down on crypto because it was a legitimate threat…

I remember reading about Monzo bank in the UK a lot some 5 years ago. I’m curious how they are doing these days. Seems like they’re still operating?

Re: No one is disrupting banks – at least not the big ones

#58

In many cases the start-ups that disrupted entrenched big players did so by skirting the existing law and regulations the big players have to abide by and gaining market share before regulators could catch up to them. Maybe I simply lack vision but I don't think this behavior maps well into the fundamental day-to-day livelihoods of every day people. Certainly I am not willing to risk my finances for marginally increa…

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Re: No one is disrupting banks – at least not the big ones

#59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if i transfer money from one bank's account to another, it takes minimum of 48 hours if I make the request before 3pm cutoff time. Day 1, the transfer request is made at 1pm. Day 2, the money is no longer available in the sending account yet not in the receiving account. Day 3, the money is available in the receiving account. If I do it after 3pm, the request is not placed until Day 2. Why? WTF does a computer have a…

Zelle is run by the banks and transfers are instant and free. https://www.zellepay.com/faq/how-long-does-it-take-receive-m...

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Re: No one is disrupting banks – at least not the big ones

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zelle is run by the banks and transfers are instant and free. https://www.zellepay.com/faq/how-long-does-it-take-receive-m...

[flagged]

You’re right, these are the only banks that support Zelle

https://www.zellepay.com/get-started

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