[rauljordan2020]

This is $10 for sending a transaction in the base Ethereum blockchain. Imagine you're sending millions, can do so quickly, only for $10, and without needing permission or paperwork from any bank? Also, most normal transactions should happen at Layer 2, which would cost orders of magnitude less. zkSync, which is a layer 2 solution for Ethereum, is incredibly cheap and inherits the same security as the base chain. The costs would be fractions of a penny.

[pavel_lishin]

So the blockchain is for the rich, got it.

[taylorfinley]

This is such a ridiculous take. Blockchain is completely fixing the remittence industry. It is one of the most empowering technologies for the developing world.

And your statement isn't even true. On layer 2s like Polygon you can send $0.50 anywhere in the world for less than a penny in fees. Think of Ethereum like the New York Times. You want to place an ad--so do many other people, and page space is limited. It's a pretty ridiculous critique of the entire advertising industry to say it's only for the rich because placing an ad in the New York Times is expensive. You can post your ad on craigslist for free.

[pavel_lishin]

> Blockchain is completely fixing the remittence industry. It is one of the most empowering technologies for the developing world.

I'd love to see some numbers to that effect.

[taylorfinley]

Happy to oblige:

https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/crypto-fast-becoming-a-prefe...

https://techcrunch.com/2021/10/09/crypto-remittances-are-a-l...

https://restofworld.org/2021/crypto-remittances/

And a fun (mind-blowing, to me) demo https://twitter.com/jackmallers/status/1441089090628177933

[captn3m0]

to be very honest, this experience isn't much different from early days of bitcoin. It's only recently that fees have gotten exorbitant and we've had to invent layers to fix that.

Bitcoin in 2008 was as good for remittances as it is today - it's just easier to acquire and costlier to move (lightning being the exception). However, it manages by ignoring all regulations (Indian examples: [0], [1]). Whether these laws are just or proportional in a world where information moves at the speed of light is a question for democratic processes, not multinational corporations to answer.

Payments via SWIFT are slow not because the bits transferring money over SWIFT are much slower, but because international remittance regulations are genuinely complicated.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Exchange_Management_Ac...

[1]: https://fcraonline.nic.in/home/PDF_Doc/FC-RegulationAct-2010...

[rvz]

> Imagine you're sending millions..

This is the problem.

Ethereum is for those who can afford the astronomical gas fees even on a slow transaction speed which is quite worse than card payment at this point.

Basically it is useless for anyone that pays for their groceries given that the gas fee itself will be more expensive than the food you are paying for.

Other blockchains already exist to avoid these issues from the start without relying on, fixing / patching, building on top of Ethereum.