Open Banking and Payments Competition • Hacker News Board

Re: Open Banking and Payments Competition

#91

Post by afroboy » Thu, Aug 14, 2025, 10:32 PM UTC

ryanackley wrote: post #69

EGreg wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN anathema: crypto and blockchain — can and does trivially solve the issues Patrick writes about. You can easily make sure the account has enough money, without knowing whose account it is. Crypto is “buyer beware”. The traditional fintech system is “seller beware”. But crypto is programmable and in theory you could easily make use of arbitration, resolution of disputes, and periodic payouts etc. All without being f…

Anytime I've tried to buy something with crypto, the fees have been an order of magnitude higher than interchange (credit card) fees. And unlike credit cards, the cost is put on me not the merchant.

There one Blockchain is used for memes, but it's actually very efficient one and the fees are very low. Where i live we use to move USDC between accounts very easily.

Re: Open Banking and Payments Competition

#92

Post by zaptheimpaler » Thu, Aug 14, 2025, 10:48 PM UTC

toenail wrote: post #16

zaptheimpaler wrote: post #7

I just want to easily pull bank/card transactions into my budget app, and the glacial pace of open banking really annoys me. The pace in Canada has been just as slow, although we have Interac for direct person to person transfers already so I'm not sure how much the issue of direct payments applies there. It's really just f**ing ridiculous that some of the earliest and most important digital systems we have are allow…

I feel you, that’s why I’m my own bank.

Bitcoin does seem like a great store of value, but as far as I know transacting with it is still quite expensive, and obviously not accepted in most places. Watching the USD be devalued in real time while BTC or Gold maintain value does drive home its utility as a store of value for sure.

But I can't buy groceries or pay rent with it, so i don't see how it works for the usecase I was talking about above. There's lots of ways to convert back and forth but you pay fees on each conversion so it's not economical to use for payments.

Re: Open Banking and Payments Competition

#93

Post by zaptheimpaler » Thu, Aug 14, 2025, 10:55 PM UTC

dahcryn wrote: post #59

elric wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> allowed to wall in their data with no API access There's PSD2 in the EU (or Eurozone? Not sure actually). Basically forces banks to open common APIs to encourage interopability and competition. However, it's not aimed at users but rather at companies in fintech building applications. Some banks (Bunq comes to mind) offer APIs to their customers for direct use, but most don't. The reason is obviously security. Peopl…

It's a great idea, but it's been killed off by the small print that was lobbied into the requirements Basically, banks force apps or users to require you fully revalidate user consent every 90 days. And it's quite an annoying process. That means any app or integration you want to build, requires 10 minutes of your time every 90 days or they stop working. It's killed many Fintech's. It all works on paper, but is draft…

The method I use now (SimpleFIN) requires me to reauth with a text based OTP every single day, for each of my bank accounts/cards. It also voids some consumer protections. In practice I only sync once in a few days to avoid that pain. A somewhat supported way with auth once every 90 days sounds like a dream.

Re: Open Banking and Payments Competition

#94

Post by marcus_holmes » Fri, Aug 15, 2025, 2:28 AM UTC

astrange wrote: post #58

marcus_holmes wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not the problem. If it was the problem then banks in (most of) the rest of the world would also be stuck 50 years in the past. They're not.

Other countries' banks don't have the US regulatory environment.

Yes, they do. The UK and Australia (examples I know) have equally stringent regulatory environments as the USA.

Re: Open Banking and Payments Competition

#95

Post by andirk » Fri, Aug 15, 2025, 8:33 PM UTC

ranger207 wrote: post #79

Kenji wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bitcoin is a better store of value than USD. Change my mind.

Bitcoin's high volatility means that it's impossible to predict exactly how much value one Bitcoin will have tomorrow, next month, next year, or next decade. USD has comparatively low volatility. It's possible, but very unlikely, for USD to go to zero tomorrow, and while the uncertainty around exactly how likely USD is to collapse increases as you look further towards the future, most people would consider it less li…

Prediction that has been right 100% of the time (so far): Bitcoin's value will be more in the future.

Now that stonk people are in to BTC and it's worth is much higher, it's volatility is far less. It's still a speculative asset and with plenty of risk, but it's definitely a store of value for at least some % of one's savings.

Re: Open Banking and Payments Competition

#96

Post by ksec » Sat, Aug 16, 2025, 6:28 AM UTC

zaptheimpaler wrote: post #7

I just want to easily pull bank/card transactions into my budget app, and the glacial pace of open banking really annoys me. The pace in Canada has been just as slow, although we have Interac for direct person to person transfers already so I'm not sure how much the issue of direct payments applies there. It's really just f**ing ridiculous that some of the earliest and most important digital systems we have are allow…

I am thinking if I am in the minorities or such practice isn't common across the world where I have many credit cards and bank accounts. I am willing to pay $5 dollars a month just for such services. A single places where it shows All my current accounts balance, auto pay all credit cards bills on payment date. Showing all my current credit card spendings this month, remaining ( next invoice ) and where they belongs to, mostly dinning.

I would have thought Apple Pay and Mobile Payment would pave the way for better Credit Card services, but right now most of them are glibbest on the statement. I dont remember which restaurant it is nor does it correctly show.

I basically want a central place for all my finance. Including discount on credit cards, savings, interest rate loan etc. And I am willing to pay a small fees for it.