[this_user]

> it enables people to transact monetary value bypassing for-profit operators such as western union and paypal

You are not even getting rid of that, you are just replacing them with a different set of middlemen in the crypto ecosystem who are demanding substantially higher fees than, say, a Wise does.

[raincole]

It's a very weird comment as people who actually use crypto (not flipping or holding) are those who without other viable choices. They're not replacing something. Those transactions would simply not happen without crypto.

Notice that the parent comment didn't use the word replacing.

[energy123]

Wise demands a massive fee via the bid offer spread and they're more expensive than many banks for FX conversion. They're basically running a deceptive advertising campaign given that many customers don't know what the bid offer spread is.

Wise is even worse than "zero-fee" stock trading platforms like Robin hood who do payment for order flow. At least PFOF is more competitive and regulated.

[sanex]

You're entirely wrong about that. A bitcoin transaction costs me pennies a wire transfer costs me $40.

[akoboldfrying]

Who are these middlemen? The miners?

[krelian]

At the other end when you need to convert your crypto to real currency.

[zmgsabst]

CashApp doesn’t seem any different than Wise; I routinely use both — including CashApp for crypto.