WhatsApp Launches Instant Cryptocurrency Payments in the US • Hacker News Board

Re: WhatsApp Launches Instant Cryptocurrency Payments in the US

#61

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Dec 09, 2021, 5:06 PM UTC

reginold wrote: post #51

leodriesch wrote: post #10

Why crypto? WhatsApp users are not particular tech-savvy, why not just use Fiat? The use of crypto in here just makes it more difficult to understand for the end user, or am I missing something?

There are four options for Facebook to add payments: 1. Their own Paypal-like system 2. Partner with a Paypal 3. Their own cryptocurrency (ie Libra) 4. Partner with a cryptocurrency Do I have that right? And for some reason #4 allows them to be global and not face antitrust concerns in the USA.

[deleted]

Re: WhatsApp Launches Instant Cryptocurrency Payments in the US

#62

Post by fragmede » Thu, Dec 09, 2021, 5:07 PM UTC

RL_Quine wrote: post #52

codethief wrote: post #40

When Signal integrated MobileCoin last year (in the UK), there was a lot of uproar here on HN – some well-founded ("Why equip a slick and lightweight standalone app for privacy-preserving messaging with payments, a feature that adds bloat and will likely attract government regulation and oversight?"), some less so ("The Signal developers are just scamming everyone"). Given WhatsApp's move toward a WeChat-like app now…

There's nothing to reconsider, MobileCoin/Signal is still a terrible idea and was responsible for them withholding their open source code, for a year, with absolutely no explanation at the time or in retrospective. It's nothing but a money grab with zero expectation that this is something users want, or will use.

> zero expectation that this is something users want, or will use.

Facebook Messenger already has this feature using fiat, Apple lets you send money via iMessage, Telegram already has this feature. Seems like adding payments is staying competitive with features other messaging utilities has. It might also be a money grab, but something can be two things at once.

Re: WhatsApp Launches Instant Cryptocurrency Payments in the US

#63

Post by danguson » Thu, Dec 09, 2021, 5:09 PM UTC

It would be great if other platforms starts implementing crypto payments.

Re: WhatsApp Launches Instant Cryptocurrency Payments in the US

#64

Post by dewiz » Thu, Dec 09, 2021, 5:09 PM UTC

I wonder how people will deal with this at the time of tax return, when one has to disclose all crypto transactions. Hopefully since this coin provides no gain, one can just ignore it as much as one doesn’t list all USD transactions. Surely in terms of taxes and transparency this could be a big deal

Re: WhatsApp Launches Instant Cryptocurrency Payments in the US

#65

Post by TomSwirly » Thu, Dec 09, 2021, 5:11 PM UTC

fragmede wrote: post #62

RL_Quine wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's nothing to reconsider, MobileCoin/Signal is still a terrible idea and was responsible for them withholding their open source code, for a year, with absolutely no explanation at the time or in retrospective. It's nothing but a money grab with zero expectation that this is something users want, or will use.

> zero expectation that this is something users want, or will use. Facebook Messenger already has this feature using fiat, Apple lets you send money via iMessage, Telegram already has this feature. Seems like adding payments is staying competitive with features other messaging utilities has. It might also be a money grab, but something can be two things at once.

Sending money is something that almost everyone needs. Sending cryptocurrencies is something almost no one needs. And if you did need it, why wouldn't you just send it directly from your wallet, without the middleman? Isn't that the point of cryptocurrencies?

Re: WhatsApp Launches Instant Cryptocurrency Payments in the US

#66

Post by TomSwirly » Thu, Dec 09, 2021, 5:16 PM UTC

leephillips wrote: post #59

toast0 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Style rules used to suggest an apostrophe for initialized items such as C.D.'s for sale. Of course, modern style rules suggest CDs for sale (but don't tell the New York Times).

The Times’ style guide would render more than one compact disc as C.D.s (no apostrophe, but with periods in intialisms). Do you have a link to any authoritative style guide that suggested “C.D.’s”? The Times' guide (2015) demands apostrophes to pluralize single letters: “the word has two t’s”. I think that’s silly, just as their use of quotation marks rather than italics for book titles. Here is a quote from the 2015…

The Chicago Manual of Style IIRC has this, also perhaps Strunk and White, and apparently the NY Times in 2010:

https://afterdeadline.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/faqs-on-s...

Re: WhatsApp Launches Instant Cryptocurrency Payments in the US

#67

Post by codethief » Thu, Dec 09, 2021, 5:18 PM UTC

RL_Quine wrote: post #52

codethief wrote: post #40

When Signal integrated MobileCoin last year (in the UK), there was a lot of uproar here on HN – some well-founded ("Why equip a slick and lightweight standalone app for privacy-preserving messaging with payments, a feature that adds bloat and will likely attract government regulation and oversight?"), some less so ("The Signal developers are just scamming everyone"). Given WhatsApp's move toward a WeChat-like app now…

There's nothing to reconsider, MobileCoin/Signal is still a terrible idea and was responsible for them withholding their open source code, for a year, with absolutely no explanation at the time or in retrospective. It's nothing but a money grab with zero expectation that this is something users want, or will use.

> was responsible for them withholding their open source code, for a year, with absolutely no explanation at the time or in retrospective

I fully agree with you here but I'm 50-50 on your other statement:

> [There is] zero expectation that this is something users want, or will use.

Re: WhatsApp Launches Instant Cryptocurrency Payments in the US

#68

Post by RL_Quine » Thu, Dec 09, 2021, 5:22 PM UTC

fragmede wrote: post #62

RL_Quine wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's nothing to reconsider, MobileCoin/Signal is still a terrible idea and was responsible for them withholding their open source code, for a year, with absolutely no explanation at the time or in retrospective. It's nothing but a money grab with zero expectation that this is something users want, or will use.

> zero expectation that this is something users want, or will use. Facebook Messenger already has this feature using fiat, Apple lets you send money via iMessage, Telegram already has this feature. Seems like adding payments is staying competitive with features other messaging utilities has. It might also be a money grab, but something can be two things at once.

Payments in yet another currency is not useful. Apple letting you send payments in iMessage makes sense, MobileCoin in signal absolutely does not. What do you do with them once you have MobileCoins? You have to exchange them, potentially at some wildly varying exchange rate, rather than what Apple is offering which is just USD. Apple's solution not something I would use but it makes some sense given the relative difficulty of sending personal amounts of USD in the United States.

If you just wanted to send cryptocurrency, great, you use your normal method of doing it, making it something built into a chat client is at best nonsensical. It didn't need its own cryptocurrency offering, that part is just a cash grab that taints Signals mission.

Re: WhatsApp Launches Instant Cryptocurrency Payments in the US

#69

Post by monocasa » Thu, Dec 09, 2021, 5:23 PM UTC

codethief wrote: post #40

When Signal integrated MobileCoin last year (in the UK), there was a lot of uproar here on HN – some well-founded ("Why equip a slick and lightweight standalone app for privacy-preserving messaging with payments, a feature that adds bloat and will likely attract government regulation and oversight?"), some less so ("The Signal developers are just scamming everyone"). Given WhatsApp's move toward a WeChat-like app now…

I thought the point of Signal was not go follow every dark pattern of the other apps looking to monetize their userbase. Zuckerberg thinking it's a good idea doesn't help Signal here, because Signal has a different mission than Zuckerberg.

Re: WhatsApp Launches Instant Cryptocurrency Payments in the US

#70

Post by TomSwirly » Thu, Dec 09, 2021, 5:26 PM UTC

reginold wrote: post #51

leodriesch wrote: post #10

Why crypto? WhatsApp users are not particular tech-savvy, why not just use Fiat? The use of crypto in here just makes it more difficult to understand for the end user, or am I missing something?

There are four options for Facebook to add payments: 1. Their own Paypal-like system 2. Partner with a Paypal 3. Their own cryptocurrency (ie Libra) 4. Partner with a cryptocurrency Do I have that right? And for some reason #4 allows them to be global and not face antitrust concerns in the USA.

Apparently so. How that works as a matter of law escapes me.

Had you told me in the 1980s that anonymous individuals would create thousands of new currencies backed for the most part by nothing at all, with the stated intent of evading all government regulation (what I would have called "crime" back then), and that the regulatory agencies would simply pretend it didn't exist, I would have laughed.