I will be honest, I'm not the technical guru. My contribution to the Decred community will lie in the marketing aspect, as I have a reasonably extensive network of friends, and business acquaintances across the country (US). What I've found to be a hurdle (one that can be easily overcome) for cryptocurrency in general is a lack of trust, as the technology is still relatively new. Many people I have had discussions with are concerned about attaching their bank accounts. Perhaps I haven't looked in the right place, but I have been unable to find any way of legitimately purchasing coins using a prepaid debit card. Is there some way of incorporating this acceptance into Decred itself, or is that strictly an exchange application? If the currency could be placed into escrow until verification of transaction from such a payment method, many more would get involved (from my experience). It's not necessarily an anonymity issue (with most of these people), but more of a security issue. The debit cards are still attached to individuals and registered, but they feel "safer" not divulging their financial information(ie. bank account numbers) into this new technology. Granted that over time it will inevitably become commonplace, as has happened with credit cards, but until we reach that point, the market is alienating many people from getting involved over this rather minor problem. Thoughts?
I am not an expert but I think this is totally an exchange issue. For banks to do what you want they expect to be paid. It costs money(fractional) to transfer money between banks using the current system. This is why they queue up a large batch of transactions and do them all at once. They may even keep a ledger of total transfers. e.g. bank A transferred $100000 to bank B. Bank B transferred $100001 dollars to bank A. Therefor we only need to transfer $1 between us at the end of the day. The banks do internal accounting to balance funds in accounts. Bank B sends $1 to bank A. Most if not all banks are not set up to do any form of crypto currency. This is changing - however I do not expect to be able to walk in to any bank any time soon and purchase crypto currency. They actually see it as a threat. As soon as you have a crypto currency you can bypass them and their currency exchange systems altogether and they do not get to float or skim your money again on future transactions. They dont get to create huge fractional loans from your money on deposit. Crypto currency is self defeating to the current banking system. Do not expect support from them in any beneficial manner. This goes for fiat issuing and taxational governments as well. If they cannot 'see' what you are doing they cannot control or tax activity. This type of money exchange frightens them as it undermines their power.
Citibank, Goldman Sachs, Barclays Bank, and several other large banking corporations are already involved in the Bitcoin/blockchain technology. Even they are beginning to realize the advantages and ways for them to exploit that to make profit. This indicates to me, the inevitable direction of our financial system. My father was Vice president of a bank in upstate New York, so I have a reasonable grasp of how their operations work. With the volume of funds they move, doing so at a fraction of the cost is just good business. Especially where credit cards are concerned, as the rate is much lower with blockchain. It's just a matter of time until the other banks follow suit, and as crypto becomes more mainstream, and gains more acceptance as a viable currency, the current fiat system will fall flat. Especially with the ridiculously high overspending by governmental bodies, which ultimately devalues our dollar. The people are ready for this change. Most are simply unaware of its existence. As the people become educated to the benefits of the technology, they will embrace it. I always look long term, as my soul purpose is to make things as easy as I possibly can for my little princess when she grows up. .......Anyway, If anyone on here has the technical prowess to develop (probably everyone besides myself on here lol) the aforementioned system (prepaid debit card acceptance), I do believe the network of users will significantly increase. And I'm quite certain it will be a very profitable endeavor, as it is currently an unavailable service. Thanks for the feedback my friend.
I believe that's entirely an exchange policy. Decred itself is merely a digital unit. How it may be obtained will depend on the particular entity facilitating the transaction. Perhaps starting an exchange that will allow for such a thing is a good idea, but I doubt it can be "built into" Decred.
As of now, it would simply be an exchange tool. Depending on the popularity that DECRED may gain in the months to come will decide the extent of acceptance it gets to enjoy.
Yes they did. Now ask yourself how they did this? Did they make bitcoin easy to get at any branch or online presence of these banks? No they did not. They want to get in to it and make a profit. Either from trading or manipulation. My statement still stands - Do not expect support from them(banks) in any beneficial manner.
Just the fact that they have finally embraced the blockchain is HUGE for the crypto market. The "sheep"(mainstream society) put a lot of value in what major banking institutions support. They don't need to make bitcoin available to support the underlying technology. This is a major step for acceptance by the general public. Banks recognize they are going to (continue to) lose revenue if they do not climb aboard the SS Bitcoin in some fashion. I do not disagree they have a different agenda, as they are trying to find their niche in the market. Goldman Sachs has invested in Circle Financial which is repurposing the technology to allow the movement of Fiat almost instantaneously. HOW? They convert the Fiat currency to Bitcoins, transfer funds as Bitcoins, and reach destination where it can be converted back to fiat. This shows strong support of Bitcoin (whether that was the banks intention or not). The first step in the transfer is to CONVERT TO BITCOINS.. I find that highly beneficial to the strength of Bitcoin, and mainstream adoption of the technology in general........THANKS BANKS!
Global banks have no need to convert from fiat to bitcoin and back. Why would they? You deposit in one bank and access it at another branch, anywhere. The only exchange needed is between fiat rates. The only reason, to my understanding, they are using the blockchain tech in any format is not to facilitate bitcoin but to use as a general ledger that is easy to verify and track. You will end up having an internal Chase blockchain, internal BoA blockchain, etc, etc run on internal nodes. They then set up their own nodes between banks and voila they no longer need to use the current fiat exchange system between global banks. This benefits them not you and I by reducing their costs. Smart? Yes. Helpful? Maybe to them. Again - until I can deposit fiat and get bitcoin out from my checking account they are not doing anything useful.
What people don't understand with banks & blockchain is that they don't support crypto or its biggest advantage i.e. decentralization, inability to inflate after initial distribution or predictable inflation & financial privacy. Closest i can see them coming to a crypto is PoS based system where 51% or more is distributed among bank branches working as nodes & customers using lite/web wallets. PoW based system where banks owns 100% hashpower with a secret algo & miner with every branch's vault now contain miners & nodes, and again customer using lite/web wallets. Same goes for nation states interested in cryptocurrency.
Here is exactly what I was talking about. Banks are using just the blockchain tech to do their own network of transactions thus bypassing the worldwide exchange network already in place. The exchange is something they dont control as of today. With blockchain tech they control this part as well. They are not using it to exchange bitcoin or any other crypto coin. They are using it to transfer fiat paper. https://thestack.com/cloud/2016/01/...itcoin-tech-in-traditional-bank-transactions/
Here's my position. Banks adopt the technology. They use whatever, Bitcoin, Dash, or Goldmanballzakcoin. That really doesn't matter. The fact still remains they have adopted the technology, displaying a trust in the system. Banks, however, will NOT have an open ledger, and transparency, as they wish to continue profiting off everybody. But they still "support" Bitcoin even now. Whatever means becomes a recognized viable currency, whether that be a piece of paper or numbers in a computer, banks support. They exchange almost any fiat currency from anywhere across the globe. Digital currency is inevitably going to BECOME the "fiat" currency, and banks will STILL deal with any recognized currency. When fiat is completely eliminated, and that is inevitable, banks will have no alternative than to adopt the recognized monetary system, period. Even today, they do business with exchanges for people to purchase Bitcoin. Given, with their own agenda of tracking funds, they still participate. This gives legitimacy to the technology in the eyes of the general public. Think about it. If your knew nothing of the technology, and a friend told you can buy digital currency from someone on the Internet by supplying payment information to an unknown entity, you would be more skeptical and less likely to take the risk. On the other hand, if a friend told you you could buy digital currency through any major recognizable, "trusted", banking establishment(who already has all of their sensitive personal data), the trust level is significantly increased, as is the likelihood to partake. Again, I stick by my statement, that the banks are being helpful to us, simply by recognizing it as legitimate currency. I'm not saying it is their intention. We all know that is not the case. But once Bitcoin garnered as much support as it had, they were left no alternative than to accept it. And acceptance by major financial institutions, in my eyes (and more than likely in the eyes of the people), lends credibility to digital currency. There will probably not be a single global currency, imo, for many decades, if ever. Each country has there own currency as of now, and I don't foresee that changing until a global conflict occurs creating a single world union. Not a very likely scenario, as new countries were historically formed by groups not wishing to be controlled by their leaders. Banks today do not print money, or create their own currency. They make money from handling money and charging fees. Whatever currencies are ultimately accepted as legal tender, the banks will have to utilize, or forfeit their profits (not going to happen). People will still need loans. Many will still use them for storing funds, even after knowing they could store them safely without the bank, as banks will still offer interest as incentive. Banks will eventually offer "insurance", as individual nations adopt the currency of their choice as their "national currency", and governments offer backing in some fashion. Banks have a stranglehold on monetary transactions that will be tough to break, but not impossible. They, unfortunately, will still thrive for years to come, as people will desire their service, regardless of what they consider currency at the time.
Friend spent a very broad vision of human need on banks, I believe that digital currencies will still go through world riddles. And here about 10 years our digital future had changed enough.
If people need assurance/backing of banks to believe in bitcoin then they probably don't understand the underlying motivation of it. Most of the time such adoption won't achieve the goal that bitcoin seeks to achieve. Instead it will allow banks to co-opt/pervert the goal. Most of the time such adoption/exposure only helps with increase in price and that is why people are interested in bank's/government's seal of approval. How bitcoin works or is used does not change with approval of institution but only with people's understanding of bitcoin and its reason to exist. I am not sure if that is a good thing unless people start thinking about why bitcoin is here.