Federal Reserve launches FedNow instant payment service

[dothebeats]

I believe their digital payment system won't be able to rival Bitcoin in any case. The swiftness of their digital payment system is confined to the US alone, while Bitcoin transcends borders, making it a global option for transferring money. The universality of Bitcoin is a compelling reason for people to prefer it. Even if the US digital payment system were granted global access, it would still be a centralized fiat currency, unlike Bitcoin, which remains decentralized. Consequently, no other digital currency can match Bitcoin's unique attributes.

I agree. It's a good change that will surely help a lot of people in a way (at least in the US), but it can't be compared to Bitcoin. Majority of individuals will still prefer decentralized currency which is very beneficial for international transaction. That is such a unique thing about Bitcoin that many cannot trade for other currency system.

[1714550254]

1714550254

[LoyceV]

Enlighten me, please. What similar system have we been using?

SEPA. Before that, most national transactions between different banks were already instant, and before that, at least the transactions within the same bank were instant. Nationally, we've had iDEAL since 2005, which is mainly used for instant payments to webshops. It has much lower costs than credit cards.
I'm surprised US banks couldn't do this on their own, now the FED has their name on it. Now that I think about it: CBDCs have the same problems: Central Banks promoting themselves by putting their name on it, just so the average person doesn't realize they don't share their interests.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

SEPA. Before that, most national transactions between different banks were already instant, and before that, at least the transactions within the same bank were instant.

That would be where you live, or in the UK for example, where transfers are generally instantaneous. In Spain, SEPA transfers currently take up to one working day to be reflected in the destination account, or up to two if you do it after the cut-off time. There are some banks that offer instant transfers but it is not widespread. Although I see that in the USA before this it took several days to be reflected, as it has not happened in Europe for a long time, so it took them a while to modernise.

[LoyceV]

I see that in the USA before this it took several days to be reflected, as it has not happened in Europe for a long time, so it took them a while to modernise.

Isn't that only because the sending bank still earns interest during the time they delay the transaction?

[Captain Corporate]

And we still pay a few dollars to send someone money in 30 minutes. All those dreams about having some sort of result where you can see the world using bitcoin all around? Thats just pure dream and not going to happen at all. How could it, we have instant payment everywhere all around the fiat world. You go to any store, any shop, any diner, you pay for the things you get, do you wait? Of course not. I can understand payment, because banks get a cut from the payment as well, not this much but they still do, and they are more reliable as well, there is no clogged chain or anything. I am sure that this is going to end up very bad for the whole world if bitcoin doesn't get better.

[larry_vw_1955]

And we still pay a few dollars to send someone money in 30 minutes. All those dreams about having some sort of result where you can see the world using bitcoin all around? Thats just pure dream and not going to happen at all. How could it, we have instant payment everywhere all around the fiat world. You go to any store, any shop, any diner, you pay for the things you get, do you wait? Of course not. I can understand payment, because banks get a cut from the payment as well, not this much but they still do, and they are more reliable as well, there is no clogged chain or anything. I am sure that this is going to end up very bad for the whole world if bitcoin doesn't get better.

it's nice to see someone with a realistic point of view. bitcoin has a long way to go if it wants to appeal to people that like to buy things and do it quickly on the spur of the moment. we may never get there in the usa. i mean bitcoin already is fully mature and no one is using it to buy things right now! everyone is just hodling it like it's going to be worth some huge amount of money someday. well if it doesn't have a practical real world use then how can it be a store of value? how can something that no one really uses in their daily life have a large value?

if you took the benefits of fednow which is the ability to send your bitcoin directly from your bank account to someone else's bank account instantly with little or no fee 24/7/365 then bitcoin would be worth alot. it would have a use case and i would expect it's value to reflect that. until something better came along if it ever did!

[icalical]

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/federal-reserve-launches-fednow-instant-payment-service-bypass-venmo-p-rcna95380

The U.S. Federal Reserve has launched a long-awaited service which will aim to modernize the country’s payment system by eventually allowing everyday Americans to send and receive funds in seconds, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the central bank announced on Thursday.

Seems like this could be a good thing for people living in the USA. If I could send money using this thing internationally to anyone why would I need bitcoin?

Didn't mean to insult or roast the US.but for a country that has very advanced tech, and so many inovation. The banking system in the U.S seems like archaic. I am from a 3rd world country, and I have enjoyed the instant transfer between different bank, 24/7 for years. Start with the Cellular SMS Banking, up until now the internet banking with mobile apps. It's not available for international transfer tho, so I still mainly use Bitcoin for that.

[LoyceV]

Didn't mean to insult or roast the US.but for a country that has very advanced tech, and so many inovation. The banking system in the U.S seems like archaic. I am from a 3rd world country, and I have enjoyed the instant transfer between different bank, 24/7 for years.

It's the law of diminishing returns: far too many people have interests in keeping the current system, and replacing it would make their existing investments worthless. If your country started later, it could skip all those steps.
Don't they still use checks in the US? We stopped using them decaces ago.

[kryptqnick]

It's hard for me to understand (or just very surprising, I guess) how it's a long-awaited modernization to send and receive funds in seconds in the US, to be honest. In my low-income developing country, online banking is very popular, and people often send money this way to one another. It literally takes seconds to receive the funds, and it's just a part of everyday life. Exceptions are related to international transfers, but as long as it's something within one currency and all the banks involved belong to one country, it's almost instantaneous payments. Sometimes there's no fee, and sometimes there's, like, a 1% fee or something like that. The op mentions international payments, but it seems that the article does not, so I don't think that's what FedNow is about.

[Abiky]

Bitcoin might be decentralized but people are not decentralized unless they renounce their usa citizenship. They still have to pay taxes. Still are accountable for how they use bitcoin. Right now the government doesn't really demand to know the identities of everyone they transact with and for what purposes but they could. And people would have to comply with that. So it's just an illusion that bitcoin really gives anyone any control. The government is the one in control in any event. No matter if they use bitcoin or just traditional fiat. But enjoy the illusion, is what I say! 

Yes. We still can't avoid the government. One way or another, they have control over everything we do in life. Still, that doesn't mean Bitcoin can't be decentralized. If the government can't control it, everything will be just fine. I see FedNow as a way for the US government to solidify the USD's position as the world's reserve currency. Payments between banks and individuals will be a lot faster and cheaper than before. This might be the new CBDC everyone was talking about.

I'm yet to see if FedNow will compete directly with BRICS' new currency in the long run. For people like us, there's nothing we need to do other than keep using BTC as an alternative to Fiat currencies. It's been doing fine since day one, so I'm certain it'll last alongside the USD for generations. Who knows how CBDCs will reshape our society? Just my thoughts

[tjtonmoy]

Seems like this could be a good thing for people living in the USA. If I could send money using this thing internationally to anyone why would I need bitcoin?

The difference that makes Bitcoin and this different from each other is decentralization. Everything that involves the government is totally centralized and they do it because they want control over everyone. As long as you are using services that are provided by the government, they are in control of your personal life. Bitcoin put all of that control shit in the trash. And that's the beauty of Bitcoin. No one will have control over your things. You are the owner of your stuff.

Even if we talk this and that about Bitcoin and govt. services, it will always depend on personal preferences. Those who know about Bitcoin and what it could do, also who are concerned about their privacy. They will use Bitcoin for sure. I have never heard of anyone who knows in depth about Bitcoin not using it. Those who are ignorant or don't know about Bitcoin and have no concern about their privacy will have no problem using government-issued services. This is all about knowing. If you have enough knowledge about bitcoin, you won't ask this question in the first place.

[larry_vw_1955]

The difference that makes Bitcoin and this different from each other is decentralization. Everything that involves the government is totally centralized and they do it because they want control over everyone. As long as you are using services that are provided by the government, they are in control of your personal life. Bitcoin put all of that control shit in the trash. And that's the beauty of Bitcoin. No one will have control over your things. You are the owner of your stuff.

I just don't see the upside to using bitcoin as a payment mechanism when there's much simpler things that don't incur a tax reporting requirement. No wonder people don't want to pay in bitcoin and businesses don't really care to get involved with it.

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/digital-assets

Tax Consequences
Transactions involving a digital asset are generally required to be reported on a tax return.

Taxable income, gain or loss may result from transactions including, but not limited to:

Sale of a digital asset for fiat
Exchange of a digital asset for property, goods, or services
Exchange or trade of one digital asset for another digital asset
Receipt of a digital asset as payment for goods or services
Receipt of a new digital asset as a result of a hard fork
Receipt of a new digital asset as a result of mining or staking activities
Receipt of a digital asset as a result of an airdrop
Any other disposition of a financial interest in a digital asset

Didn't mean to insult or roast the US.but for a country that has very advanced tech, and so many inovation. The banking system in the U.S seems like archaic. I am from a 3rd world country, and I have enjoyed the instant transfer between different bank, 24/7 for years. Start with the Cellular SMS Banking, up until now the internet banking with mobile apps. It's not available for international transfer tho, so I still mainly use Bitcoin for that.

Here in the USA, if you wanted to send money instantly used to be you had to use western union. Get the cash out of your bank account and go send it at some western union retailer. Then it would be instant. Then these services like Zelle started popping up. If you don't mind trusting a unknown company like Zelle maybe you would think everything was perfect but it's not. Zelle just popped up like a mushroom after the rain. And it could be gone just as fast...

Some banks don't even let you send money out. They don't support Zelle and they want to charge you a fee if you try and do an ACH out to another one of your bank accounts which an ACH can take DAYS.

[dansus021]

It's hard for me to understand (or just very surprising, I guess) how it's a long-awaited modernization to send and receive funds in seconds in the US, to be honest. In my low-income developing country, online banking is very popular, and people often send money this way to one another. It literally takes seconds to receive the funds, and it's just a part of everyday life. Exceptions are related to international transfers, but as long as it's something within one currency and all the banks involved belong to one country, it's almost instantaneous payments. Sometimes there's no fee, and sometimes there's, like, a 1% fee or something like that. The op mentions international payments, but it seems that the article does not, so I don't think that's what FedNow is about.

Where do you live because in my country it does do the same as yours.

I'm living in a small city in Indonesia but dozen of merchants now is using QR-code for their list of payment system and there is a bunch of Electronic wallet here and digital bank.
the QR can be scanned from different e-wallet or bank and go through one system.

and you can send from bank to another bank very cheap from $0.66 and now become $0.17 because system called BI-Fast maybe similar with FedNow.

But for internationally transfer it still better to use Crypto rather than fiat

[Don Pedro Dinero]

Isn't that only because the sending bank still earns interest during the time they delay the transaction?

I don't think so, because the bank doesn't need that to make money. When you deposit money in the bank, that money becomes an entry in your account and they put it in with the rest of the capital that they play with to earn interest.

As for the transfer, I don't see that it adds anything if the issuing bank A has a certain amount of money 3 days more than the receiving bank B, because bank B to bank A will also issue transfers and then it will be bank B that will take advantage of that money to earn interest. I think it was more an inefficiency of the system.

[Haunebu]

It's good to see the US government helping out their citizens in this manner for a change, but that doesn't change the fact that it's still centralised and popular cryptocurrencies like BTC, LTC etc will always be better in several key areas.

These instant services are just great alternatives to crypto in some situations in my opinion.

[mindrust]

As long as they don't remove physical FIAT completely, this is a good move going forward. We all know that it is not going last forever though. Sooner or later they will make their move to remove FIAT from circulation and then this new CBDC network will become a digital prison. You can only escape it using bitcoin. Some people think CBDC's will make bitcoin obsolete. Actually it is completely the opposite. Bitcoin will become even more popular when people find out the bullshit they are being fed with FEDCOIN.

[dothebeats]

As long as they don't remove physical FIAT completely, this is a good move going forward. We all know that it is not going last forever though. Sooner or later they will make their move to remove FIAT from circulation and then this new CBDC network will become a digital prison. You can only escape it using bitcoin. Some people think CBDC's will make bitcoin obsolete. Actually it is completely the opposite. Bitcoin will become even more popular when people find out the bullshit they are being fed with FEDCOIN.

Removing physical FIAT is not as easy as it looks like. Yes, perhaps the sudden emergence of these digital currencies may look like it will soon bring physical FIAT down, but it will take years. The changes, adaptation, acceptance and adjustment of the public will play a major role in this. But I do agree that if this happens Bitcoin will become more popular, but it will be long in the future.

[larry_vw_1955]

Removing physical FIAT is not as easy as it looks like. Yes, perhaps the sudden emergence of these digital currencies may look like it will soon bring physical FIAT down, but it will take years. The changes, adaptation, acceptance and adjustment of the public will play a major role in this. But I do agree that if this happens Bitcoin will become more popular, but it will be long in the future.

realistically how many people carry much cash around these days. when's the last time most people paid anything in cash? they use debit cards, credit cards and then pay those bills electronically from their bank account never seeing a dollar bill. i think 75% of Americans could barely notice if they couldn't withdraw physical cash. point being, I think American society has already adjusted to treating their money electronically and not physically.  so in a certain sense I'd say a majority of Americans already are living under a CDBC type system even though it's optional. but they don't have any issue with it

[darewaller]

This is nothing new really under the sun, it's swift 2.0 other countries have had this technology for years. It's the same people who brought you fractional reserve banking, now it's just a bit faster. It's more or less a glorified telecom accounting messaging system for banking money. Its like a protocol they use, its the new global standard for banks. Why would you use bitcoin instead? Because it's entirely separate from these corrupt systems, bitcoin is a whole other animal over the hedge. It is the hedge.

I was going to say the same thing, but maybe the real change is, its is now more reliable? I mean there will now be lesser maintenance but at the end of the day, it was still centralized and any things can still happen like they can freeze your account or your money even if there is no real reasons or you did not commit a violation, so yeah I agree that it is better to use Bitcoin because it is decentralized and we have a freedom to do whatever we can with our money as long we also use a full decentralized wallet for it.

I'm not biased so I will also admit that BTC has its disadvantages and that is the transactions around it are not instant. By this, we need to practice having a good patience.

[panganib999]

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/federal-reserve-launches-fednow-instant-payment-service-bypass-venmo-p-rcna95380

The U.S. Federal Reserve has launched a long-awaited service which will aim to modernize the country’s payment system by eventually allowing everyday Americans to send and receive funds in seconds, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the central bank announced on Thursday.

Seems like this could be a good thing for people living in the USA. If I could send money using this thing internationally to anyone why would I need bitcoin?

I mean for everyone who's living in the US, this kind of remittance system is just perfect especially since it's carefully formulated within the US demographic including all their wants and needs. The thing is, it might not bode well for the rest of the world if such a feature is implemented worldwide. The reason why bitcoin is winning in the global remittance battle is because well, it's faster, cheaper, and at the same time decentralized and anonymous. If fednow is to be implemented worldwide it wouldn't see use especially with users who wishes to stay anonymous while sending their payments, plus not every country is dollar-backed so the discrepancy of conversion is also there although this is minor compared to the former dilemma.