[trollbridge]

“Non-bank payment providers, such as Stripe, Paypal or Wise, would really like for that to happen.

‘A level playing field cannot exist today because payment institutions and e-money institutions cannot access payment systems on an equal footing with banks,’ said American payment provider Stripe in a paper submitted to the Commission.”

In Germany ATMs had no fees and were plentiful. I didn’t have enough cash to pay at a crepes place in Aachen, and the owner directed me to a bank down the street (and told me to sit down and enjoy my meal before running to the ATM).

EU banks already allow you to electronically pay people and do free transfers.

Back in the U.S. what does PayPal offer? Freezing people’s accounts with no recourse. Avoiding bank regulatory laws which exist for a reason. And charging high fees, currently 4.5%, for purchases regardless of if funded by a bank account or credit card.

This kind of “unregulated” banking will also attract fraud and seedy uses like money laundering, and then complex KYC will have to be set up to do that.

If PayPal or Stripe want to compete: go start a bank or buy an existing one.