[Nextgrid]

> It amazes me that in 2020, we still struggle to implement a simple system where someone can reliably and permanently transfer money to someone else as the default, expected behaviour of the financial system.

Certain countries have done so; look at Faster Payments in the UK for example. There's technically nothing preventing FPS to be used right now in place of the majority of card transactions. All it needs is better UX and a standard, like a fps://<sort_code>:<account_number>/<reference> URL that can be either put in a QR code for in-person payments or a clickable link online. Mastercard, Visa and plenty of other companies that make their $$$ off card payments in one way or another (whether supplying overpriced card terminals or selling fraud detection services) wouldn't be too happy that their entire industry is obsoleted by a feature everyone has by default in their bank account that is no longer earning them any fees.

I'm pretty sure any effort to improve the payments system and fix its inherent flaws would see pushback (either obvious, or behind the scenes) from a (big) industry which makes its money on patching symptoms one by one instead of fixing the root cause of the problem (as an example, the fraud detection systems for online card payments - they need fraud to exist and be possible because otherwise if the system is bulletproof in such a way that fraud is technically impossible they wouldn't have a business).

[Silhouette]

I'm in the UK, and yes, Faster Payments are clearly an improvement and more like how things ought to work. But they only work for payments to others in the UK.

Elsewhere across Europe, SEPA provides a similar facility, but again only "within its own walls".

I would love to see the sort of alternative payment methods you mention taking off as a replacement for card payments. That is exactly what needs to happen. But as you say, there are some very powerful organisations with a vested interest in preventing or disrupting any such change.