My (non-crypto) company uses USDC daily on L2 Arbitrum for international settlement, and have seen the fees drop to a few cents per transaction with the release of blobs. We have replaced the need for wires/TransferWise/Revolut on several of our routes.
There is absolutely no reason for USDC to be on a blockchain other than to interact with DeFi. Once DeFi hype dies USDC will be outcompeted by a centralized solution. It's multisig controlled anyway so it's the same thing.
Why is it that no other solution has been developed in the 40 years of the internet, but you believe now is a particularly ripe time for one to pop up?
Because there's not enough demand to justify the regulatory headache for most types of international payments, unless you have the added benefit of interacting with DeFi protocols during a massive shitcoin bubble.
Sorry, but I thought you said in your last comment that you believe USDC will be outcompeted by a centralized solution. Do you believe that, or do you believe that there is not enough demand to justify the regulatory headache of launching a centralized solution? Those seem to me to be opposing viewpoints.
Yes, because Circle will either start using whitelists at which point it will shrink to the point where competition is trivial or it'll just shut down completely. If for some reason there's massive demand in the next decade for sub-minute international money transfers then surely CashApp will get back on that. There's just not, existing slower solutions work fine in most cases and not enough people need something better.
Also important to emphasize, I know I said it'll be outcompeted by a centralized solution. But actually USDC is centralized because it has a multisig, and all of its contracts are 100% upgradeable. So it's like a very inefficient centralized solution that really doesn't belong on a blockchain or at least not a popular one with high fees. But again, DeFi protocols exist, and people want to swap USDC for crypto hedge funds to frontrun.
That's because it has regulatory approval (for now). It's not because of a blockchain.
You can start the thought experiment by asking why USDC is on Ethereum and other popular chains rather than own private blockchain. People could make payments faster. Fees would be lower or more likely zero.
No one would use it because people don't actually want to send money internationally badly enough to create a profit opportunity. They want to interact with DeFi protocols, that's why USDC exists on eth, once the DeFi protocols die then so will USDC.
There's no good other way because people don't actually want to send money internationally badly enough to create a profit opportunity.
Huh? International payments are a HUGE industry. What are you talking about? Western Union and Transferwise are both huge companies that specialize in international payments.
DeFi protocols are a benefit, but even without it USDC would still persist.
There's no good other way because of extreme regulations that harm law abiding citizens under the guise of AML and other junk.
If your application is evading AML then your scale will always be limited. I don’t know how you could possibly feel like that’s a serious pitch. Sounds like, “We’ll just evade the law”. I guess ICOs got away with it for a bit.
They want it sure, but again, not enough to create a profit opportunity. Profit is revenue minus costs, so there's a lot of revenue opportunity (from the bank deposits by the way, not the payments), but the costs are huge. The revenue has to justify the legal headache involved with processing payments in under a minute. That's why the only live solution needs a DeFi bubble to support it.
AML is good, no I don’t. My turn to ask the questions. Is there literally any scenario where you'd accept that maybe crypto isn't actually useful and maybe it is just a big scam? Think about it hard, otherwise you'll waste years of your life in an internet libertarian larp. Bro USDC is multisig'd, it isn't decentralizing anything and it doesn't even need a blockchain except to interact with DeFi.
Kinda crazy how willing you are to let government step all over you under the disguise of AML, when it does jackshit for it. Soon enough you will be convinced that government being able to intercept all communication is good because think of the children!
> Is there literally any scenario where you'd accept that maybe crypto isn't actually useful and maybe it is just a big scam?
What scenario? Crypto is useful in current world. Not useful to everyone, that's fine, no one is forcing you to use it, but a lot of people do find it useful, myself included. Disregarding something as a scam just because you don't find it useful in your life is shortsighted. Think about it hard, otherwise you'll waste years of your life whining about how others are enjoying their lives and you will miss out on yours.
Blockchain/DeFi allows USDC to exist, even you admitted to that. The fact is, USDC exists on the blockchain. Sending international payments is the easiest with blockchain (provided both parties have a way to ramp on/off).
Idk what to tell you. Profit model that can’t work without a speculative DeFi bubble, which will die eventually because it’s not useful. AML is good and there’s a lot of history there. I don’t care much about the libertarian stuff.
