I'm generally in favor of central bank independence, but I feel that proposals like these should get approval from the legislature. There's been some public polling on this, but I feel that the...
I'm generally in favor of central bank independence, but I feel that proposals like these should get approval from the legislature. There's been some public polling on this, but I feel that the issue is too wonky for individuals to readily perceive the potential problems with it.
In general the European Parliament should have more rights imo, such as drawing their own proposals among others. Far too much of the EUs status apparatus is hidden in backroom politics. Which...
In general the European Parliament should have more rights imo, such as drawing their own proposals among others. Far too much of the EUs status apparatus is hidden in backroom politics. Which doesn't help with trust or understanding from the general public.
The article was light on implementation details so its hard to really have much opinion. I see the appeal in digital currency. I have to go out of my way to keep physical cash on me for those...
The article was light on implementation details so its hard to really have much opinion. I see the appeal in digital currency. I have to go out of my way to keep physical cash on me for those places that are cash only. Honestly though, most of my physical cash ends up being given to homeless or folks in need I come across. Those are the folks I'm most worried about, because they can struggle to access services without a steady address, etc.
If they've got all that figured out and solved well, I'll be interested to see if other currencies take that step.
This whole initiative smells like a solution in search of a problem with too much cryptobros kool-aid. EU has been tightening requirements for banks to provide instantaneous transactions, provide...
This whole initiative smells like a solution in search of a problem with too much cryptobros kool-aid.
EU has been tightening requirements for banks to provide instantaneous transactions, provide APIs and so on. At this point we are single directive away from making debit cards unnecessary. I don't think EU needs to tiptoe around. We should just make a directory of bank endpoints managed by e.g. ENISA, mandate uniform, versioned API for direct transfers and let cards and cash slowly die out as everyone gives in to the convenience and zero fees.
And if we want people to use ECB money directly, just fund a publicly owned bank with zero fees with online-only service that would provide checking accounts and nothing else where any money on accounts would be deposited at ECB and any costs to run it are paid from taxes. It would work just fine if we get rid of the cards.
We'd still need retail banking for compatibility with the rest of the world for a while.
My understanding is that the default state of Germans is fretting about their money not being secure. Is this wrong? I thought that was why there is so much insistence on using cash there.
My understanding is that the default state of Germans is fretting about their money not being secure. Is this wrong? I thought that was why there is so much insistence on using cash there.
I remember reading about that during the pandemic, I think the article was about how Germany and Japan were very cash dependent specially compared to other developed countries.
I remember reading about that during the pandemic, I think the article was about how Germany and Japan were very cash dependent specially compared to other developed countries.
Covid helped a lot when it comes to places taking card here in Berlin (which is reportedly even more cash-reliant than other big German cities), but relying on cash is absolutely way more of a...
Covid helped a lot when it comes to places taking card here in Berlin (which is reportedly even more cash-reliant than other big German cities), but relying on cash is absolutely way more of a thing here than anywhere else in Europe. I still have to check if a place takes card if I want to grab some food, and I've never been to a döner place that does.
I'm generally in favor of central bank independence, but I feel that proposals like these should get approval from the legislature. There's been some public polling on this, but I feel that the issue is too wonky for individuals to readily perceive the potential problems with it.
In general the European Parliament should have more rights imo, such as drawing their own proposals among others. Far too much of the EUs status apparatus is hidden in backroom politics. Which doesn't help with trust or understanding from the general public.
The article was light on implementation details so its hard to really have much opinion. I see the appeal in digital currency. I have to go out of my way to keep physical cash on me for those places that are cash only. Honestly though, most of my physical cash ends up being given to homeless or folks in need I come across. Those are the folks I'm most worried about, because they can struggle to access services without a steady address, etc.
If they've got all that figured out and solved well, I'll be interested to see if other currencies take that step.
This whole initiative smells like a solution in search of a problem with too much cryptobros kool-aid.
EU has been tightening requirements for banks to provide instantaneous transactions, provide APIs and so on. At this point we are single directive away from making debit cards unnecessary. I don't think EU needs to tiptoe around. We should just make a directory of bank endpoints managed by e.g. ENISA, mandate uniform, versioned API for direct transfers and let cards and cash slowly die out as everyone gives in to the convenience and zero fees.
And if we want people to use ECB money directly, just fund a publicly owned bank with zero fees with online-only service that would provide checking accounts and nothing else where any money on accounts would be deposited at ECB and any costs to run it are paid from taxes. It would work just fine if we get rid of the cards.
We'd still need retail banking for compatibility with the rest of the world for a while.
My understanding is that the default state of Germans is fretting about their money not being secure. Is this wrong? I thought that was why there is so much insistence on using cash there.
I remember reading about that during the pandemic, I think the article was about how Germany and Japan were very cash dependent specially compared to other developed countries.
Covid helped a lot when it comes to places taking card here in Berlin (which is reportedly even more cash-reliant than other big German cities), but relying on cash is absolutely way more of a thing here than anywhere else in Europe. I still have to check if a place takes card if I want to grab some food, and I've never been to a döner place that does.
This was true in the before times, but it's very rare to find a Japanese business in a major city that doesn't take card post COVID.
https://archive.md/TZlVI
[Edit] working link
https://ghostarchive.org/archive/iIbOz
The archive link doesn’t actually work. Maybe Bloomberg started blocking them?