this post was submitted on 27 Oct 2023
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“If it involves money. It’ll be on our platform. Money or securities or whatever. So, it’s not just like send $20 to my friend. I’m talking about, like, you won’t need a bank account.”

Well that sounds terrifying!

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[–] jollyrogue@lemmy.ml 117 points 11 months ago (2 children)

He’s recreating Venmo. 😂

[–] PumpkinEscobar@lemmy.world 81 points 11 months ago (4 children)

FWIW his white whale or inspiration is more like the Chinese “we do everything” apps / platforms https://wise.com/us/blog/chinese-payment-app

[–] otter@lemmy.ca 59 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Without getting official government institutions on board or making the app mandatory in some way, I don't see how this would work outside of authoritarian countries

They're bleeding users and advertisers as it is

[–] cyd@lemmy.world 35 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

The Chinese super apps didn't really have government institutions on board, aside from the chat censorship aspect which was the main thing the government was originally paying attention to. In other aspects, the Chinese government and its regulators didn't initially get involved, and the rapid dominance of Alibaba and Tencent took them by surprise.

The super apps benefitted from a mix of rapid smartphone adoption, first mover advantages, weak consumer protections, and fierce competition with each other. It's probably that combination of circumstances that's hard to replicate, not the authoritarian country bit (there are lots of authoritarian countries that haven't fostered super apps).

The Chinese government was not entirely happy about the result; for example, the dominance of WeChat Pay and AliPay poses a threat to the state-owned banks, which are a major channel of government control over the economy. That is why the Chinese government has spent the last few years cracking down on the super app companies in various ways.

[–] thantik@lemmy.world 14 points 11 months ago

I don't see how this would work outside of authoritarian countries

I mean, you saw the people he was meeting up with during world cup and stuff right? I think that's the plan.

[–] ours@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago

That explains him supporting the alt-right.

[–] ThirdWorldOrder@lemm.ee 13 points 11 months ago (2 children)

He was involved with PayPal so it’s not a huge stretch but I wouldn’t trust anything with that clown.

[–] takeda@lemmy.world 12 points 11 months ago

He was ousted from PayPal before it become PayPal. Actually his name for the service was X, so this might be long awaited dream.

[–] TenderfootGungi@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago

He really wasn’t that involved. He was trying to build an everything app. Peter Theil went with PayPal and booted Elon.

[–] TenderfootGungi@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

Which are basically operating systems, and therefore not needed and against the rules of the iOS and Android app stores.

[–] Blastasaurus@lemm.ee 1 points 11 months ago

Yeh was going to say this sounds more like wechat.

[–] Coasting0942@reddthat.com 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] remotelove@lemmy.ca 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

That is too simplistic of a name and un-original.

If this product moves forward, it's likely to be on a small scale. For example, like when a person needs to send a friend reimbursement for a coffee. So, initially, if it needs a simple name for paying back friends, or other pals, why not just call it Pay-A-Pal, or PayPal for short.

No bank account, no actual cash and everything happens in the system. It's revolutionary! It's like digital transactions that happen through pure accounting for a small fee. Like credit cards, but those are old.