[rsync]

"Yes transactions are paused on the weekend. Thats like google would do a break on the weekend."

This is correct. The correct response to payment and settlement "pauses" for silly things like weekends and holidays is derision. Contempt. Ridicule.

These settlement timelines are based literally on horse and buggy schedules from the 1800s. They have no place in our modern workflow.

[SQueeeeeL]

I feel like there's an argument to be made for having an actual human monitoring large transactions. If you're trying to take out a $600,000 mortgage at 3 AM on a Sunday, that probably shouldn't go through, or at the very least have some human verification. Humans tend to work 9-5 Monday to Friday

[Pt_]

Surely anomaly detection is better done by a machine?

I guess there's a certain level of human "intuition" about these things but is this not what most banks anti-fraud systems do already?

[SQueeeeeL]

I imagine the problem with this is it becomes a game-able system if it's purely automated. Sort of like the stereotype in Law and Order where they always pay hitmen $9,999 because "the IRS only monitors transfers over 10k."

[kevinventullo]

On the other hand, maybe this is a kind of perverse benefit of opaque ML systems.

[Pt_]

I think its game-able automated or not. Fraud exists today and is playing on these exact systems.

[loco5niner]

> Surely anomaly detection is better done by a machine?

I've worked with machines. I don't think this is a good idea.

[CaptArmchair]

When you use a credit card, it's not just a single transaction that happens between you and the merchant. There are 2 more stakeholders here: your bank and the credit card company. In the background, that's a lot of transactions that happen at different times. So, not everyone gets their money at the same time.

This creates risks: as debts are created and exchanged, it may be that that debt won't be settled (i.e. maybe you went bankrupt). So, that's why clearing houses exist:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearing_house_(finance)

During the 1970's, automated clearing houses became a thing:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_clearing_house

These don't always process transactions in real time, but in batches for various complex reasons. Legal framework and compliancy being one of them, reducing risks was another reason.

In the U.S., the legal framework was recently changed to allow processing within the same business day:

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/ach.asp

That network of clearing houses is not just used for domestic debts, it's also used for large financial transactions. These are institutions that are build on immense amounts of trust. And so, simply re-tooling them to be "instantly responsive" towards someone who wants to buy pop from a vending machine? That's not gonna happen.

The author assumes that cryptocurrency is going to change this because "open source". Well, no. Not really.

First, buying from your own crypto wallet is more like debet then it is credit. Second, being able to take out a small cryptocoin credit or loans has little to do with the fact that a blockchain prevents you from spending the same coin twice.

The idea of credit is that you take out a debt you'll settle up at a later time, i.e. 3 weeks later. There's still the issue of risk and you still need to do the entire transaction dance done by lenders, merchants and borrower. That's not something cryptocoins make fundamentally can dispense with.

Finally, the author is a student. Large organisations, like higher ed, often offer a local e-wallet solutions that allows payment for everything within their facilities (also barring outsiders from enjoying benefits reserved for organization members such as staff and students). You simply wire money to your account from your bank and your good to go. Another option is... simply asking if that vending machine could be swapped for one that accepts debet cards and cash.