this post was submitted on 16 Apr 2024
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Reserve Bank considers the digital dollar: 'NZ's money must innovate to stay relevant ' (www.rnz.co.nz)
submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Whenever I hear things like this, I ask 'What's the problem they are actually trying to solve?'

Most of the time there is no problem, it's a solution looking for a problem. In this case, it seems like the only problem to solve is:

Today, New Zealanders still cannot make instant payments electronically to other people, unless they are both with the same bank."

I'm pretty sure that could be solved with a middle-man app instead of a 'digital currency.' Venmo exists in the US, something like that?

I'm sure we have had similar.. TradeMe has Ping which "Make payments safely with Ping. Pay or get paid instantly – using a credit or debit card, or Ping balance." .. so, yeah problem already solved, instant payments.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago

I think the problem to solve is that you can't do it for free. Currently you get charged fees for every transfer, something that doesn't happen with cash.

Plus this is a single standard. If I go to pick up a trademr purchase I'm unlikely to be able to pay with Venmo, because there are a dozen other options and no one has heard of any. With a government backed option, people can start advertising that they accept it, and vendors/banks know where to focus their efforts.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago

Whenever I hear things like this, I ask ‘What’s the problem they are actually trying to solve?’

Let me list some possible benefits. Presume a premined centralized currency like XRP.

  1. You can impose a mining fee and control the exchanges (miners). This would impose a tiny tax on every exchange of money and you can reduce or eliminate other taxes.
  2. Easy exchange and transfer of money to and from overseas.
  3. Easy peer to peer payments.
  4. Easy tracking of transactions to eliminate money laundering.