My wife placed a large clothing order some months back, but the package got ripped in transit and we only received about a quarter of it. The seller company refused a refund because the tracking data said "delivered", even though I was able to get confirmation from USPS that the package weight in transit lost most of it's weight between two shipping centers. The fact that we placed the order through paypal ended up saving us, we were able to bring them in as a mediator and they got us a refund.

I wouldn't store any money in it though.

"In 2008, PayPal Europe was granted a Luxembourg banking license, which, under European Union (EU) law, allows it to conduct banking business throughout the EU.[173] It is therefore regulated as a bank by Luxembourg's banking supervisory authority" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PayPal#Regulation

You're not wrong that they don't act like an honest bank, or abides by any sort of ethics about whose money it really is that they're holding onto... but know that they are regulated in case that ever helps you!

In the US, this is true with some important caveats.

"If you have opened a PayPal Debit Card Mastercard® account, enrolled in Direct Deposit, or bought or received cryptocurrency with your personal PayPal Balance account, we will place your U.S. dollar PayPal Balance funds at one or more Program Banks. Any other balance funds and all cryptocurrencies are not held in FDIC insured bank deposits. Cryptocurrencies may lose value." [1]

[1]: https://www.paypal.com/us/legalhub/paypal/program-banks-tnc

Costs 1.5%. Or wait a few days.[1] Plus a fee for receiving cryptocurrency. There are additional fees for buying cryptocurrencies, other than PayPal's own. And none of this is FDIC insured.

[1] https://www.paypal.com/us/legalhub/paypal/pp-balance-tnc?loc...

I switched to a hardly used checking account for paypal after they held $20 hostage for a couple months after selling an old video card on ebay. I'd heard some one say their bank account had become frozen by paypal during a dispute and that event reminded me of it enough to get some separation.

All very true, but banks are doing exactly the same thing, all while following banking regulation: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38150606

The thing that gets me is the 40% cash back on Walmart purchases up to 500$. It's such an incredible incentive it has to be shady af. Are the Rand oligarchs trying to buy out the poor? We'll never know because poor people don't have PayPal accounts.

"A something-or-another big enough to give you everything you want is a something-or-another big enough to take from you everything you have." -Voltaire

The benefit comes from having the option to go elsewhere. A business that cannot lock you in is more likely to try to retain your custom by offering a good service.

You don't need Paypal to use Bitcoin, but there's nothing in the spec that prohibits it.

The reality is, we will have a mix of custodian - through third-party - and self-sovereign usage; depending on the context and user's skill

> Under capitalism necessities become luxuries, while luxuries become false necessities. Umair Haque

In practice, the word "decentralized" just speaks to whether anyone can join in the protocol if they want. But it doesn't mean the protocol is easy to implement.

I used to work at a few big banks, and because of the "friendly" nature of digital currencies. The traditional banking entities are trying to get in on the grift while they can.

https://a16zcrypto.com/posts/article/stripe-bridge-acquisiti... has some examples

I feel like this is the wrong question to ask. Instead try "why would someone purchase with crypto over fiat?". I prefer to use crypto for international online purchases because the transaction and conversion fees from my native currency are way too high. With crypto it's a one off deposit fee and then gas is trivial these days.

Most large company entries into the crypto space seem to fizzle out and disappear due to lack of use, and how annoying it is to deal with currencies which fluctuate in value between the time you've spent them and the time the transaction is approved (I understand there are lightning networks), and then there's the issue with maintaining wallets.

It really just adds nothing but extra complexity to the existing electronic payment methods. And takes away tons of things like regulators, regulations, consumer protections, strong case law.

Investment accounts on the other hand take a while for sales to settle before your funds are available as cash.

I also use it myself as a backup abroad when my regular bank foreign account doesn't work for any reason.

I got the card in the middle of the night in 10 minutes.

I think all that is simply awesome.

Stablecoin payments really are just better: - Instant settlement - Extremely cheap - Extremely reliable - Highly programmable - Built on open protocols - International

There are no traditional banking systems that offer all of these properties!

If anyone is tempted to reply with "okay but that could have been done with a database" I would really encourage that person to try to think hard about why that didn't happen.

https://www.attejuvonen.fi/paypal-sends-phishing-emails/

Well, they're not above the law. They're effectively a bank and must follow the laws in the countries in which they operate.

"Look how global we are… as long as you have a U.S. address, the correct passport, a bank account in a supported country, a smartphone with the correct OS."

Of course it will be as far from "anyone" or "anywhere" as possible, because they will start the crypto expansion in a much more restrictive fashion than TradFi.

People who love crypto will hate anything that has anything to do with legacy censorship-prone fraudulent financial institutions like PayPal.

Who is this for?

For a general background, searching for 'paypal' reveals a thing or two: https://hn.algolia.com/?q=paypal

> - Thinking of Selling on eBay using Paypal? Think Again

> - “We found PayPal vulnerabilities and PayPal punished us for it”

> - We got banned from PayPal after 12 years of business

> - PayPal stops payouts to models on Pornhub

> - More Paypal nonsense

That's five of the top eight results. The last one pretty much sums up the sentiment of the whole page

To look at it another way - why one would spend $100 from their brokerage account if they know a year later they can spend $110?

Stablecoin issuers earn yield from holding U.S. Treasuries, which sustains their business model. Meanwhile, people in distressed economies get practical access to a digital dollar, often cheaper and faster than navigating restrictive exchange rules or paying steep conversion fees at money-changers. That’s meaningful when local currencies are unstable or losing value.

Of course, not all stablecoin issuers are trustworthy, and some governments under economic distress may ban or limit these instruments. But when the setup works, both sides benefit.

USDC on Coinbase yields interest. The USDC people make a little spread on it, but you aren't financing the US government at 0%, you're financing them at market rates. There is counterparty risk just like with a bank. Unlike a bank, there are liquid markets onchain for other fungibles.

As MMT teaches us, a government that issues its own currency does not need to borrow to finance itself, as it can create the money it needs, though it may still issue debt for other reasons.

Further, stable coins / crypto are almost certainly being used to slop up as much liquidity as possible and has essentially so far pulled 4 trillion out of circulation. If not for that sleight of hand trick, hyperinflation, at least in the USA, would have already happened. Probably still will as there's only so much can kicking that can occur. I know of 30 year olds that literally live in mom's basement and dump nearly all of their just above minimum wage checks straight into Robinhood to blindly purchase crypto. Will forever beat inflation is the mentality.

Sure looks like there's going to be lots of pain for poor and middle class people in the next 5 years.

I agree that it is confusing.

(also thought that it's phishing or scam domain).