[edshiro]

What does this mean for a crypto project like Request Network (https://request.network/#/) which is trying to become the "Paypal for cryptocurrencies"?

I am genuinely curious as I own some REQ, believe in the team, but also like what Coinbase has done to bring crypto to the masses (minus the outrageous fees of course).

[josu]

My personal opinion about Request and similar projects.

I have been using bitcoin for a while, I have payed for real goods and online services with it and I've following the crypto ecosystem for a few years. I really can't see the reason for more than just a handful of competing cryptocurrencies becoming mediums of exchange.

Request's goal is noble, but I think that they'd be better off working on implementing payment gateways for existing cryptos. The first mover advantage seems to be huge in this space, and I really can't see how Request, or any other crypto can scale fast enough to dethrone bitcoin or the rest of the big competitors.

[cutety]

I think you're misunderstanding what the Request network is doing. Their goal is exactly what you described, a payment gateway for existing (all) cryptos (including fiat). The Request token ($REQ) is only used to collect fees for using the request. The REQ tokens are burned as part of the transaction, and in the end goal the end user themselves won't have to actually ever buy any REQ tokens either, it will automatically be done by the network. REQ tokens are actually only ERC20 tokens (meaning they're using the Ethereum blockchain).

The end goal is a decentralized payment gateway that will accept any crypto or fiat and payout in the desired currency. Request will handle the swapping of currencies and everything else in a decentralized manner. Obviously, likely quite a ways away from that, and there are a lot of scaling issues that need to be solved with blockchain tech itself before this can actually exist in a usable way.

[edshiro]

I also think there are way too many projects in this space and most of them are very obvious money grabs. Ultimately only a few projects will survive and gain mainstream adoption.

I am really on the face regarding bitcoin though: it is the grandfather of all those crypto projects and massively moves the market, but I don't quite understand how it could ever replace a currency given its very limited supply and astronomical unit economic price: it was not supposed to be a store of value like gold when it started.

Ultimately, I think a few projects with much higher coins in circulation and faster transaction times will end up becoming more valuable due to greater usability.

It's a shame it feels like REQ is a bit late to the game, but they do have ambitious plans, one of them is to enable cross-currency transactions (including fiat). No-one has yet gained the first mover advantage in this space so the jury is still out.

[whataretensors]

REQ is not late to the game. It's still extremely early. I think multiple dex that translates currency to any other currency will emerge. Dexs can compete on fees, features, risk, etc. Additionally supply will be distributed as automated arbitrage becomes an easy way to make money.

I also don't believe in the convergence of coins with enough dexs. There are a lot of design features that people will want that are incompatible across coins, but still useful. Some coins will fail sure, but people still trade bitconnect(200k volume yesterday).

[wyldfire]

I don't understand why companies would compare their offering to paypal but don't offer escrow. I suppose people use paypal for paying individuals but not as much as for goods/services, right?