Stripe payment service told how it sees Bitcoin prospects
Stripe payment service recently announced a new decentralized currency Stellar ( post on Habré ). Prior to that, an interesting post appeared in their blog, in which they shared their vision of the development prospects for Bitcoin, and also stressed that they had already developed a system for accepting Bitcoins .
Our project about payment systems and cryptocurrencies with monitoring of the Web-payment.ru exchangers could not leave aside such an interesting argument, therefore we publish the translation:
At once I would like to apologize for the overly optimistic forecast, which, perhaps, does not fully correspond to the Russian reality , but let's hope that we will have that too.
')
Many people point out that Bitcoin today reminds them of the Internet at the dawn of its existence, in the early 90s - when there was no Google, which made the global network open for almost everyone, Facebook and Netflixe, which allowed us to fully use its potential. . Thus, you can ask the question: what will Bitcoin look like if it captures the hearts of a wide audience?
Money has three main functions: they are a means of storing value (that is, what your savings can be represented by), a unit of account (in other words, a measure of value), and a medium of circulation (thanks to which we can transfer value). On the first two points, Bitcoin is a fairly promising system for economies with high inflation , but if we talk about the broad consumer of more economically stable countries, this is somewhat different: the consumer wants to have a place where he could keep his savings. Insured bank accounts and consumer protection standards set an extremely high standard.
However, Bitcoin has great potential when it comes to value transfer. Today it is surprisingly difficult to move money - even though we now have the opportunity to pay for goods via the Internet, which, however, has not undergone much change over the past twenty years. Of course, there are several payment zones surrounded by a high fence (such as the App Store or Amazon), but in general, the Internet is still a dense forest, where the hunters behind your payment cards are hidden behind every tree.
Even more difficult is the case with the transfer of value when we are faced with the need to transfer funds abroad. Striking contrast with the transfer of information: if you are, say, in Honduras, you don’t have to worry about how to get your Internet service provider to send a letter to Kenya. But when it comes to traditional payment systems, it starts to seem that we are back in time before the advent of the Internet.
And it is cryptocurrency that is a real opportunity to solve these problems.
If we want to make Bitcoin a really useful tool and at the same time leave consumers the opportunity to think in their local currencies, then we should start by creating a number of so-called “gateways” that allow people to use the network and at the same time do not need constant transfers of numbers from one currency to another.
Imagine that a consumer can at any time subscribe to the use of a gateway in his country, link his bank account to it and make any monetary transactions in his own currency: “send 10 pounds to-and-fro; or send 20 dollars to something. ”
Behind the scenes, the following scenario unfolds: with the passage of the sender's gateway, the funds are converted into Bitcoins, which are then forwarded to the recipient's gateway, where they are converted into the currency preferred by the recipient.
If such a scheme can be implemented, we will have a reliable system that will connect all the global payment systems. Today, each of these systems performs its function of transferring money within any one country or market, while there is no possibility to transfer funds between systems at all. And if each of these systems starts using Bitcoin (or any other cryptocurrency), we can assume that the look of our familiar world will become like this:
You can easily imagine an ecosystem of gateways in which all traditional payment systems will be closed on bitcoins. However, this is very difficult to achieve - this will require a large-scale change in regulatory laws and partnership standards in two countries: in the sending country, in which the transfer person feels like a fish in water, and in the recipient country, where the destination is located translation and where our fish turns out to be thrown out on land. A good example: let's take the American bank ASN as the final destination, and the Australian bank of direct debiting as the sender - if we want to transfer money successfully, first of all, we will need to improve relations between these two banks.
One of the interesting implications of the implementation of a network of gateways built around Bitcoin will be that they will all be technologically based companies in an open ecosystem. And of course, each of these companies will want to use open protocols to transfer additional value. Imagine, for example, a protocol through which the practice of online payments will look like this:
That is, each subject on the Internet will have a billing address that resembles a regular email address. To pay for something online, you just need to enter your billing address on the site, after which the necessary funds will be sent from your gateway, and you will receive a notification to your phone.
So, Bitcoin can be analog IP for money. And just as users choose readable names for hostings and sites that are attached to a specific IP address, the new system will use similar names for gateways (alice@cad-gateway.com). And on an invisible level, Bitcoin addresses will still be used to communicate between themselves (Mike Hearn has a couple of ideas on this).
Ultimately, we will have a global interconnected network that would not replace existing financial systems. At the same time, consumers will be able to use the same infrastructure that exists today. It is worth noting, however, that this will entail a significant increase in the cost of the existing system, similar to the way the value of all networks of its components increases when local networks are connected to the Internet.
Of course, the proposed system will not become the first global payment network. A comparison with PayPal immediately comes to mind. But the fundamental difference and advantage of the Bitcoin gateway ecosystem is that it is open. By its nature, any closed network exhausts itself under its own structural pressure, so necessary for its development. Third parties cannot improve closed networks in any way - and even if they have such a desire, they will be forced to create its duplicate, i.e. - start from scratch. Bitcoin space, on the contrary, is characterized by constant rapid development and improvement.
Take another global network - for example, Swift . When we send money using Swift, one bank informs another: “I am going to send you 100 euros”, after which it finds the path that runs through the set of intermediate banks through which the transfer will take place. At the same time, it is impossible to forget about the need to transfer currency and the numerous fees that are charged for such operations. These are current trends (often simply astounding ). A person must fully understand what is happening when he sends his money through a particular protocol - depends on how clear and convenient the final system will be. The advantage of Bitcoin over Swift is the fact that all the “transfers” and fees for transfer are initially included in its protocol, and there is simply no need to transfer funds from one currency to another.
There are a number of other cryptocurrencies that already use gateways at the protocol level (these include, for example, Open Transactions and Ripple ), but they are not able to cope with the numerous network effects that cause any payment transactions, and to date have not won the sympathy of users.
If we want to make a global network, closed to Bitcoin, really useful for consumers, it would be logical to compare it with another system that is already recognized as extremely useful. Let's talk about Visa . The Visa system has a number of functions that can be divided into three categories:
(Other functions, such as, for example, lending, are carried out rather by banks than by the Visa system itself).
Of these functions, the Bitcoin gateway network described above includes number 1 and some technical aspects of number 2 (users know “how the protocol works”, but they don’t need to maintain confidentiality). However, other features are also very important. The message that a Visa consumer inspires is that if they see the Visa logo, they can feel relaxed. But if something goes wrong (for example, you get a defective product), the consumer is simply returned to its original position. This leads to a huge number of transactions, which could not be and which make the whole system more expensive.
So, when we solve the problem of decentralized reputation (which people are beginning to think about, little by little), thanks to Bitcoin, we will have a new type of so-called. "Reliable suppliers".
Already, with the advent of the Bitcoin escrow service, you may feel the need for such innovations. However, it should be noted that the deposit is not the key to trust - rather, it is a way not to have the need for trust. In addition, it only makes sense in relation to a limited segment of purchases and requires strong nerves from you - you must be sure of the quality of the goods before you make a payment.
The winners in this situation will be those companies that inspire consumers with confidence in who they work with. They will provide the consumer with various services like mediation in refund (and therefore will have a direct relationship with the seller in order to be able to pay damages for reimbursing the cost of consumers). Thus, they will be associated with all Bitcoin merchants:
Since the main assets of "reliable suppliers" are their brands, which, in turn, depend on the network, companies will begin to unite with each other. Ultimately, one or more major players will remain - just as it did in the world of credit cards.
Other participants in the ecosystem, of course, also want to “light up” their brands, which will lead to integration with “reliable suppliers”. Thus, the situation in which various card systems were forced to integrate with Visa and its issuing bank will repeat.
As a result, “reliable suppliers” will begin to build a network consisting of multiple gateways and proven vendors. And in order to ensure the legitimate behavior of all participants in the system, they will need to develop and implement their regulatory framework - otherwise, the reputation of their brands will begin to fall. Thus, we return to a world where several players set the rules.
You can ask a logical question: why is all this necessary? There are at least three main aspects that will undoubtedly improve the existing financial system.
We are at the very beginning of the road, but now we can see the outlines of the future, which is built on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. And if we do everything right, the lives of billions of people will probably be much better.
Users who do not have the opportunity to comment on Habré, we invite you to express your opinion about the article on our site .
Our project about payment systems and cryptocurrencies with monitoring of the Web-payment.ru exchangers could not leave aside such an interesting argument, therefore we publish the translation:
At once I would like to apologize for the overly optimistic forecast, which, perhaps, does not fully correspond to the Russian reality , but let's hope that we will have that too.
')
Many people point out that Bitcoin today reminds them of the Internet at the dawn of its existence, in the early 90s - when there was no Google, which made the global network open for almost everyone, Facebook and Netflixe, which allowed us to fully use its potential. . Thus, you can ask the question: what will Bitcoin look like if it captures the hearts of a wide audience?
Money
Money has three main functions: they are a means of storing value (that is, what your savings can be represented by), a unit of account (in other words, a measure of value), and a medium of circulation (thanks to which we can transfer value). On the first two points, Bitcoin is a fairly promising system for economies with high inflation , but if we talk about the broad consumer of more economically stable countries, this is somewhat different: the consumer wants to have a place where he could keep his savings. Insured bank accounts and consumer protection standards set an extremely high standard.
However, Bitcoin has great potential when it comes to value transfer. Today it is surprisingly difficult to move money - even though we now have the opportunity to pay for goods via the Internet, which, however, has not undergone much change over the past twenty years. Of course, there are several payment zones surrounded by a high fence (such as the App Store or Amazon), but in general, the Internet is still a dense forest, where the hunters behind your payment cards are hidden behind every tree.
Even more difficult is the case with the transfer of value when we are faced with the need to transfer funds abroad. Striking contrast with the transfer of information: if you are, say, in Honduras, you don’t have to worry about how to get your Internet service provider to send a letter to Kenya. But when it comes to traditional payment systems, it starts to seem that we are back in time before the advent of the Internet.
And it is cryptocurrency that is a real opportunity to solve these problems.
Gateways
If we want to make Bitcoin a really useful tool and at the same time leave consumers the opportunity to think in their local currencies, then we should start by creating a number of so-called “gateways” that allow people to use the network and at the same time do not need constant transfers of numbers from one currency to another.
Imagine that a consumer can at any time subscribe to the use of a gateway in his country, link his bank account to it and make any monetary transactions in his own currency: “send 10 pounds to-and-fro; or send 20 dollars to something. ”
Behind the scenes, the following scenario unfolds: with the passage of the sender's gateway, the funds are converted into Bitcoins, which are then forwarded to the recipient's gateway, where they are converted into the currency preferred by the recipient.
If such a scheme can be implemented, we will have a reliable system that will connect all the global payment systems. Today, each of these systems performs its function of transferring money within any one country or market, while there is no possibility to transfer funds between systems at all. And if each of these systems starts using Bitcoin (or any other cryptocurrency), we can assume that the look of our familiar world will become like this:
You can easily imagine an ecosystem of gateways in which all traditional payment systems will be closed on bitcoins. However, this is very difficult to achieve - this will require a large-scale change in regulatory laws and partnership standards in two countries: in the sending country, in which the transfer person feels like a fish in water, and in the recipient country, where the destination is located translation and where our fish turns out to be thrown out on land. A good example: let's take the American bank ASN as the final destination, and the Australian bank of direct debiting as the sender - if we want to transfer money successfully, first of all, we will need to improve relations between these two banks.
Bitcoin at the internetwork level
One of the interesting implications of the implementation of a network of gateways built around Bitcoin will be that they will all be technologically based companies in an open ecosystem. And of course, each of these companies will want to use open protocols to transfer additional value. Imagine, for example, a protocol through which the practice of online payments will look like this:
That is, each subject on the Internet will have a billing address that resembles a regular email address. To pay for something online, you just need to enter your billing address on the site, after which the necessary funds will be sent from your gateway, and you will receive a notification to your phone.
So, Bitcoin can be analog IP for money. And just as users choose readable names for hostings and sites that are attached to a specific IP address, the new system will use similar names for gateways (alice@cad-gateway.com). And on an invisible level, Bitcoin addresses will still be used to communicate between themselves (Mike Hearn has a couple of ideas on this).
Ultimately, we will have a global interconnected network that would not replace existing financial systems. At the same time, consumers will be able to use the same infrastructure that exists today. It is worth noting, however, that this will entail a significant increase in the cost of the existing system, similar to the way the value of all networks of its components increases when local networks are connected to the Internet.
Difference from other global networks
Of course, the proposed system will not become the first global payment network. A comparison with PayPal immediately comes to mind. But the fundamental difference and advantage of the Bitcoin gateway ecosystem is that it is open. By its nature, any closed network exhausts itself under its own structural pressure, so necessary for its development. Third parties cannot improve closed networks in any way - and even if they have such a desire, they will be forced to create its duplicate, i.e. - start from scratch. Bitcoin space, on the contrary, is characterized by constant rapid development and improvement.
Take another global network - for example, Swift . When we send money using Swift, one bank informs another: “I am going to send you 100 euros”, after which it finds the path that runs through the set of intermediate banks through which the transfer will take place. At the same time, it is impossible to forget about the need to transfer currency and the numerous fees that are charged for such operations. These are current trends (often simply astounding ). A person must fully understand what is happening when he sends his money through a particular protocol - depends on how clear and convenient the final system will be. The advantage of Bitcoin over Swift is the fact that all the “transfers” and fees for transfer are initially included in its protocol, and there is simply no need to transfer funds from one currency to another.
There are a number of other cryptocurrencies that already use gateways at the protocol level (these include, for example, Open Transactions and Ripple ), but they are not able to cope with the numerous network effects that cause any payment transactions, and to date have not won the sympathy of users.
Comparison with card systems
If we want to make a global network, closed to Bitcoin, really useful for consumers, it would be logical to compare it with another system that is already recognized as extremely useful. Let's talk about Visa . The Visa system has a number of functions that can be divided into three categories:
- This is a network that allows money transfers.
- It establishes its regulatory framework .
- And it is built on trust and consumer protection (providing various refunds , blocking stolen cards, etc.).
(Other functions, such as, for example, lending, are carried out rather by banks than by the Visa system itself).
Of these functions, the Bitcoin gateway network described above includes number 1 and some technical aspects of number 2 (users know “how the protocol works”, but they don’t need to maintain confidentiality). However, other features are also very important. The message that a Visa consumer inspires is that if they see the Visa logo, they can feel relaxed. But if something goes wrong (for example, you get a defective product), the consumer is simply returned to its original position. This leads to a huge number of transactions, which could not be and which make the whole system more expensive.
So, when we solve the problem of decentralized reputation (which people are beginning to think about, little by little), thanks to Bitcoin, we will have a new type of so-called. "Reliable suppliers".
Already, with the advent of the Bitcoin escrow service, you may feel the need for such innovations. However, it should be noted that the deposit is not the key to trust - rather, it is a way not to have the need for trust. In addition, it only makes sense in relation to a limited segment of purchases and requires strong nerves from you - you must be sure of the quality of the goods before you make a payment.
The winners in this situation will be those companies that inspire consumers with confidence in who they work with. They will provide the consumer with various services like mediation in refund (and therefore will have a direct relationship with the seller in order to be able to pay damages for reimbursing the cost of consumers). Thus, they will be associated with all Bitcoin merchants:
Since the main assets of "reliable suppliers" are their brands, which, in turn, depend on the network, companies will begin to unite with each other. Ultimately, one or more major players will remain - just as it did in the world of credit cards.
Other participants in the ecosystem, of course, also want to “light up” their brands, which will lead to integration with “reliable suppliers”. Thus, the situation in which various card systems were forced to integrate with Visa and its issuing bank will repeat.
As a result, “reliable suppliers” will begin to build a network consisting of multiple gateways and proven vendors. And in order to ensure the legitimate behavior of all participants in the system, they will need to develop and implement their regulatory framework - otherwise, the reputation of their brands will begin to fall. Thus, we return to a world where several players set the rules.
Conclusion
You can ask a logical question: why is all this necessary? There are at least three main aspects that will undoubtedly improve the existing financial system.
- First, the final ecosystem will be technologically open. This means that it will be able to develop much faster than any closed system. Everyone can join it, start building good tools and applications on top of it. New regulatory laws , of course, can change certain established rules, but the essence remains the same.
- Secondly, this model will distribute existing financial systems into separate levels that will be managed by independent companies. To understand the significance of this, let us cite as an example the US mobile operators, which in addition to providing communications, is engaged in selling phones, developing mobile applications and operating systems, etc. Each of these aspects is carried out by separate units, which to a certain extent compete with each other, thereby obtaining opportunities for development .
- And third: it will be the first truly global payment network: everyone will be able to open their own gateway in their own country instead of relying on third-party players. It will be especially beneficial for people living in countries with underdeveloped banking systems, which traditional payment systems are unlikely to ever get to.
We are at the very beginning of the road, but now we can see the outlines of the future, which is built on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. And if we do everything right, the lives of billions of people will probably be much better.
Users who do not have the opportunity to comment on Habré, we invite you to express your opinion about the article on our site .
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/231767/
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