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by the_watcher 2951 days ago
As long as banks get the FDIC guarantee while American WeChat-type competitors don't, they'll be fine.
3 comments

Two different products tbh, we all throw it into (retail) 'banking' but, payment processing and savings/investments are different products that needn't exist under the same umbrella.

Moreover, the median American has around $3000 in his bank account and a lot of people have negative cash balances. FDIC insurance isn't a big deal in the lives of many millions of people. And even if it was, there's no reason you can't have a bank account with FDIC insurance for your cash savings, and a WeChat like payment system for day to day payment processing.

How exactly does WeChat make money? I was under the impression that banks ate the cost of poor customers with a checking account and generated revenue from individuals who could use their money in other avenues. If anything WeChat might trim poorer individuals from the balance sheet for other banks
also, credit cards have consumer protection by law in cases of fraud, "wallet" type services like alipay? not so much.
While there is no guarantee by law, these companies do cover fraud with their vast reserves. Ofcourse an economic downturn could change that.
I'd rather have fraud protection mandated by law, than provided as a good will gesture by the corporation. should there be a disagreement between me and the company, the former provides me with legal recourse, whereas the best I can hope for with the latter is a social media shitstorm.
Ofcourse, just saying how it is and that it is pretty well accepted by 100s of millions of people.
Most purchases on those platforms are for consumables, food, event tickets, etc.
Only among those well-enough versed in history and consequence.