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Big Banks Will Vie For Your Attention With Cardless ATMs and VR

tedlistens writes In the year that bitcoin began to grow up and Apple Pay was born—and massive cyberattacks—the country's largest financial institutions want you to imagine themselves as incubators. Three of the big banks opened up innovation labs to imagine what's next in mobile banking; some are starting their own accelerators. Meanwhile, the latest research estimates that U.S. mobile payments, currently at $3.7 billion, will grow to $142 billion within five years. Now an industry not exactly known for speed is approaching 2015 with an ethos that sounds more Silicon Valley than Wall Street, touting visions of fridges that shop for you, Google Glass and Oculus Rifts, and the kind of futuristic security they hope will inspire consumers to trust them and their technology in the first place. I like that both a local book shop, and the coffeehouse nearest my house, have bitcoin kiosks.

76 comments

  1. an industry not exactly known for speed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Yet they were among the first to adopt computers back in the 1950s.

    A little detail often overlooked by the rabid space fanbois.

    1. Re: an industry not exactly known for speed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It takes days for transfers to go through. It's like going to a pharmacy and waiting a hour for some monkey to put 30 pills into a bottle.

    2. Re: an industry not exactly known for speed by dreamchaser · · Score: 1

      Get a new bank. My transfers are available to me immediately.

    3. Re: an industry not exactly known for speed by alex67500 · · Score: 2

      For the countries I've experienced, France is very slow (2-3 days) whilst the UK is 2 hours (usually instant) -- the regulator imposed it with fines if the payments are transferred late.

      Enough public pressure on your representatives might do the trick...

    4. Re:an industry not exactly known for speed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think they use them to play Space Invaders. Service hasn't improved... Fees have gone up though. I guess the damn machines consume a lot of electricity...

    5. Re:an industry not exactly known for speed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >A little detail often overlooked by the rabid space fanbois.

      Friendly reminder that you are a kook who tilts at windmills. Did a rocket scientist cuckhold your dad or something?

    6. Re: an industry not exactly known for speed by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Informative

      Get a new bank. My transfers are available to me immediately.

      It depends a lot on where you live. In America, a money transfer from one bank to another can take days to clear. In China, I am able to do it in seconds.

    7. Re:an industry not exactly known for speed by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yet they were among the first to adopt computers back in the 1950s.

      Actually, that is the problem. Because they adopted computers so early, they are now stuck with slow legacy systems. It is similar to the situation with phone companies: America used to have the best in the world, because of investments in computers and automation. But today we have one of the worst telecom systems, because we are stuck with outdated systems, while other countries computerized with much newer technology.

    8. Re: an industry not exactly known for speed by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Get a new bank. My transfers are available to me immediately.

      It depends a lot on where you live. In America, a money transfer from one bank to another can take days to clear. In China, I am able to do it in seconds.

      In reality, the transfer probably clears immediately, but American banks are only required by law to make the funds available within a specific number of days, so they hold that money - probably to their financial benefit.

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    9. Re: an industry not exactly known for speed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I've had my dad try to transfer money from his USAA checkign account to my USAA checking account. We have the exact same main bank. Same building. And it has taken days.

      You're like ".......really?"

      There are no words.

    10. Re: an industry not exactly known for speed by tompaulco · · Score: 2

      It takes days for transfers to go through. It's like going to a pharmacy and waiting a hour for some monkey to put 30 pills into a bottle.

      No, it takes seconds for transfers to go through. It takes days for them to release the funds to you while they sit on the money and make interest.

      --
      If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
    11. Re:an industry not exactly known for speed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This goes through cycles in any country. Some investments are very long term. Look at fleets of planes for example, Singapore. Yeah, it's been great, but the planes are already seeing their wear and tear, and in 5 to 15 years will be sad. However, US fleets will be upgrading. Same at any office, the new guy has the best laptop, 3 year old employee has a terrible laptop. 4 year old employee has a great laptop again.

      Eventually everything will be upgraded in banks, or telcos, and then it will be the latest and greatest ... for a while.

    12. Re: an industry not exactly known for speed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It is because ACH is a file transfer from one bank, to the Fed, to another bank. Banks process in batch every night which produces a file, that file is uploaded to the Fed, the Fed give the file to another Bank, that Bank will process the file in the morning. If the timing is right, it can take a day - but if it is a weekend or if you submit the transfer after they have already produced the file for the day, then it could take two or three days.

      The Federal Reserve is looking toward making everything same day in the future.

    13. Re:an industry not exactly known for speed by bws111 · · Score: 2

      How did this get modded 'insightful'? It appears the mods, like the poster, know nothing about computing. Banks are not using 'slow legacy systems'. The only thing 'legacy' about them is that they CAN (but do not NEED to) run old programs. Banks (large ones anyway) are running the most advanced hardware out there.

    14. Re: an industry not exactly known for speed by rjstegbauer · · Score: 1

      I can affirm that this is exact scenario is true for PNC in the USA too.

    15. Re:an industry not exactly known for speed by Minwee · · Score: 1

      Yet they were among the first to adopt computers back in the 1950s.

      And they're still using the same ones.

    16. Re:an industry not exactly known for speed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You really don't have a clue, do you?

    17. Re: an industry not exactly known for speed by jonwil · · Score: 1

      Here in Australia I have found that its faster to go to an ATM of my bank, take money out and then go into a branch of the other guys bank with their account number and make a deposit into their account than it is to do a direct transfer via my internet banking.

      Ridiculous...

    18. Re: an industry not exactly known for speed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Move to a credit union rather than a bank. Disclosure: I work in IT in a large CU.
      Check deposit at an ATM in two hours, weekdays. Online check deposit in seconds.
      Also ussualy involved in local charity work, to help keep their non profit status.
      55% of our business last year was via online and mobile, so those departments are expanded this year.

    19. Re:an industry not exactly known for speed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      call me a troll

      You called that one! They already hammered you down to a -1 in only five minutes!

    20. Re: an industry not exactly known for speed by mjwx · · Score: 1

      It takes days for transfers to go through. It's like going to a pharmacy and waiting a hour for some monkey to put 30 pills into a bottle.

      No, it takes seconds for transfers to go through. It takes days for them to release the funds to you while they sit on the money and make interest.

      Actually, the money sits in the reserve bank rather than in a private bank as the reserve bank has to vet all interbank transactions.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    21. Re: an industry not exactly known for speed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In reality, the transfer probably clears immediately, but American banks are only required by law to make the funds available within a specific number of days, so they hold that money - probably to their financial benefit.

      Correct. Federal banking regulations require that electronic funds transfers be performed within 4 days. Paralleling the theme of the comments off which this issue sprung, this is because at the time the regulation was enacted, the technology of the time meant that 4 days was a short period of time, and this short time window was designed to protect the consumer from an individual bank's desire (probably not the consumer's bank) to hold the money unnecessarily long in order to earn more interest -- which is, of course, exactly what the now-lengthy 4 days allows today.

      (In practice, many banks process transfers on a same-day basis. I'm not sure if this is due to agreements between the few big parent banks left, or if there is some other reason.)

      I am aware of no technical reason that would prevent a regulatory change reducing the 4-day delay to 24 or even 12 hours -- or less. I can imagine, however, that there are niche service providers in the financial services field whose business model somehow relies on this 4-day regulation, and therefore who would go out of business if it were to go away. Since Congress isn't stupid enough to consider a move that will cost jobs without incredible motivation, and since the only ones in this game with that level of motivation (bribe money, known as campaign contributions) would be the banks themselves, I don't see this changing anytime soon.

    22. Re:an industry not exactly known for speed by leslie.satenstein · · Score: 1

      Yet they were among the first to adopt computers back in the 1950s.

      Actually, that is the problem. Because they adopted computers so early, they are now stuck with slow legacy systems. It is similar to the situation with phone companies: America used to have the best in the world, because of investments in computers and automation. But today we have one of the worst telecom systems, because we are stuck with outdated systems, while other countries computerized with much newer technology.

      Are you telling me that these banks still use state of the art "Burroughs hardware and software"?

  2. Not known for speed? by bws111 · · Score: 1

    Who do you suppose were the first businesses to use computers? Who were some of the first businesses with online presences?

    1. Re:Not known for speed? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's quite interesting what someone can be good at but not known for. Sometimes even to the point of a perceived incompetence.

      I know parts of the banking system that are very slow, and parts that see no reason to replace what is currently working, and also parts that try to improve things that aren't working well enough for someone's taste.

    2. Re:Not known for speed? by oodaloop · · Score: 1

      And it seems they're still using those first computers sometimes.

      --
      Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
    3. Re:Not known for speed? by what2123 · · Score: 1

      Aren't banks still the largest employers of COBOL and/or FORTRAN programmers?

    4. Re:Not known for speed? by colinwb · · Score: 2, Interesting

      "Who do you suppose were the first businesses to use computers?"

      Not the banks! Actually a British chain of tea shops! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Lyons_and_Co.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LEO_(computer) The LEO I (Lyons Electronic Office I) was the first computer used for commercial business applications. Overseen by Oliver Standingford, Raymond Thompson of J. Lyons and Co.and and David Caminer, modelled closely on the Cambridge EDSAC. LEO I ran its first business application in 1951. In 1954 Lyons formed LEO Computers Ltd to market LEO I and its successors LEO II and LEO III to other companies. LEO Computers eventually became part of English Electric Company (EELM) and then International Computers Limited (ICL) and ultimately Fujitsu. LEO series computers were still in use until 1981.

      One of the LEO III's quirkier features was a loudspeaker connected to the central processor which enabled operators to tell whether a program was looping by the distinctive sound it made.

      http://www.leo-computers.org.uk/ In 1951 the LEO I computer was operational and ran the world's first regular routine office computer job.

    5. Re:Not known for speed? by J.+L.+Tympanum · · Score: 1

      It's not that quirky, in fact, it's a feature I rather miss. Back in my college days we had an IBM 1130. If you put a radio next to it you could hear it computing. The various sounds it made were a useful debugging tool. A steady tone meant your program was caught in a loop.

      But the 1130 was an aggressively single-tasking machine. The instruction set was such that it was not possible to write multi-tasking code for it. I doubt that the radio trick would produce any meaningful sounds on a modern, multitasking pc.

    6. Re:Not known for speed? by MagickalMyst · · Score: 1

      >Aren't banks still the largest employers of COBOL and/or FORTRAN programmers?

      Yes, and Exxonmobil.

      (I used to work there).

      --
      Political correctness is really just herd psychology pushed by insecure people who desperately seek social conformity.
  3. Hmm by koan · · Score: 1

    Even though for most people the ROI on running their own Bitcoin mining hardware is in the past, it still fascinates me that I can make my own money and buy things with Bitcoin.

    --
    "If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
    1. Re:Hmm by Overzeetop · · Score: 1

      It's like being your own little federal government.

      --
      Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
    2. Re:Hmm by vux984 · · Score: 1

      Even though for most people the ROI on running their own Bitcoin mining hardware is in the past, it still fascinates me that I can make my own money and buy things with Bitcoin.

      Dedicating capital and expending energy resulting in money. Is pretty much how we all make money.

    3. Re:Hmm by TheCarp · · Score: 2

      Except without the ability to designate a group to invent money out of thin air by lending it to your friend's wives with no-recourse loans. I mean, you can still do that but, you have to actually get the bitcoins first before you can give out those no-recourse loans and, in the end, only you lose out when they don't pay you back, since you had to actually have the bitcoins to lend out in the first place.

      But other than that, yup exactly like it.

      --
      "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
    4. Re:Hmm by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      Except that in normal systems the size of the money supply adjusts to the size of the economy. You do some work, produce something of value, and then the reserve banking system uses this to construct a corresponding amount of money (and then, 60 or so years later, people say 'OMG! Money is created from debt!' as if this is some awesome revelation and not simply the way that you move assets into the system where value is tracked by money). With Bitcoin, there is no correlation between the amount of Bitcoin and the size of the economy and so the system is inherently unstable, just as gold-based currencies were.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    5. Re:Hmm by vux984 · · Score: 1

      Except that in normal systems the size of the money supply adjusts to the size of the economy.

      As you yourself observed this "normal" system is only a very recent "innovation".

      With Bitcoin, there is no correlation between the amount of Bitcoin and the size of the economy and so the system is inherently unstable, just as gold-based currencies were.

      Which makes bitcoin more or a throw-back to the "old normal" rather than anything new.

    6. Re:Hmm by Enry · · Score: 1

      When you mine bitcoins you're pulling them out of thin air.

    7. Re:Hmm by TheCarp · · Score: 1

      No you are pulling them out of an agreement protocol by its rules. It may not seem like an important difference to you but, it does mean you can't pull out more of them than the protocol allows for based on how much you have participated.

      Even that however isn't the important part, the important part is that you can't just do it arbitrarily for arbitrary amounts.

      If you wanted, say, to give 10 million dollars to your friend by loaning it to his wife in a no recourse loan (which is a very accurate description of how money routinely enters the US economy), as a fed regulator, you can do that.

      As a bitcoin miner....you can do that too but, you are strictly limited to the bitcoins that you have already mined, and in no way are you adding in more bitcoins than had previously existed except for as allowed by what you already did and everybody else already knew about.

      --
      "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
    8. Re:Hmm by Enry · · Score: 1

      That doesn't change the fact that bitcoins come from nowhere.

      There's rules that govern how USD are created. Just because you don't like them doesn't mean they're not being followed.

    9. Re:Hmm by TheCarp · · Score: 1

      Theres rules that govern how bitcoin are created as well. whether you like them or not, they are self-enforcing.

      I never once claimed the rules, as they are for US currency were not followed.... the whole point of pointing out what they are is because people deserve to know how corrupt the rules that are followed really are.

      Just because they are being followed, doesn't mean I have to like them; and I encourage others to learn about them and not like them either; because unless you are a billionaire, it really should piss you off.

      --
      "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
    10. Re:Hmm by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      As you yourself observed this "normal" system is only a very recent "innovation".

      Yes, an innovation by learning from past mistakes.

      Which makes bitcoin more or a throw-back to the "old normal" rather than anything new.

      Indeed. Innovation involves making new mistakes, not repeating old ones.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    11. Re: Hmm by colinnwn · · Score: 1

      New ones don't come from nowhere. You trade an investment in compuing equipment and electric costs to mine the next bitcoin.

  4. They won't see a dime from me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's utterly insane that people even trust these criminals.

  5. they aren't talking about bitcoin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I like that both a local book shop, and the coffeehouse nearest my house, have bitcoin kiosks.

    Besides the mention at the beginning of the article (and it's anecdotal), there isn't any mention of Bitcoin. It's a statement that seems barely relevant to the article (barely).

  6. quote from the article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    "There’s still a lot of customers who don’t have debit cards..." Do these customers wait in line for a teller to withdraw cash? Why wait in line? Just go to the automated teller machine at the bank and withdraw cash. Most ATMs at the bank are outside the main business area and are also open 24 hours a day. Maybe I missed the explanation of why people don't have debit cards in the article.

    1. Re:quote from the article by tompaulco · · Score: 1

      "There’s still a lot of customers who don’t have debit cards..." Do these customers wait in line for a teller to withdraw cash? Why wait in line? Just go to the automated teller machine at the bank and withdraw cash.

      In all of the accounts I have held in the last 20 years, the Debit Card IS the ATM card. So if they don't have a Debit Card, they don't have an ATM card.

      --
      If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
    2. Re:quote from the article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree that this is confusing. If the customer does not have a debit card, what makes you think they are going to want/trust an eATM? JHG

  7. Error by jamesl · · Score: 2

    The post says, " ... the latest research estimates that U.S. mobile payments, currently at $3.7 billion, will grow to $142 billion within five years."

    The Forrester research piece linked says, in fact ...
    Over the next five years, US mobile payments will grow from $52 billion in 2014 to $142 billion by 2019 with both national brands and local merchants.

    1. Re:Error by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      None of this will make a shit of difference one the AI takes over, anyway.

  8. I like that they don't by Bob+the+Super+Hamste · · Score: 1

    I like that both a local book shop, and the coffeehouse nearest my house, have bitcoin kiosks.

    I like that none of the shops I frequent don't have them.

    How does it impact what banks are doing that the little book store and coffee shop near your house have a bitcoin kiosk? There is a shop near by where I work that will gladly barter with me over various other things I can bring in for trade or sale, big deal. There is a casino nearby too that now has slot machines that will dispense and accept tickets but no one cares other than the slot players who no longer have to lug around 50 lbs of nickles.

    --
    Time to offend someone
    1. Re:I like that they don't by fredrated · · Score: 1

      "none of the shops I frequent don't have them." Does this mean all of the shops you frequent have them?

    2. Re:I like that they don't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Q: How does it impact what banks are doing that the little book store and coffee shop near your house have a bitcoin kiosk?
      A: Because it implies adoption. Between 2012 and 2013, Bitcoin merchant adoption grew by a factor of 1000%. Now extrapolate that over 5-10 years and pretty soon doing banking (store money safely, pay your bills, buy goods, etc) can be done without banks... and way the heck faster and pretty much free.

      Bitcoin adoption rate:
      http://coinmap.org/
      http://www.bitcoinpulse.com/
      https://blockchain.info/charts/my-wallet-n-users

    3. Re:I like that they don't by jenningsthecat · · Score: 1

      "none of the shops I frequent don't have them." Does this mean all of the shops you frequent have them?

      I'm pretty sure that's exactly what he meant. Also, Grammar Nazi says that "none" is singular, so the quote should have read "none of the shops I frequent doesn't have them".

      --
      'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
    4. Re:I like that they don't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, no

      This is a major misconception. “None” can be a singular pronoun if it’s referring to “not one” or “no part,” but it also can be plural when referring to “not any.” None of the apple was eaten. Apple is a singular item, so you’d use the singular verb “was.” None of the ballplayers were on the team bus after the game. Here, “none” refers to “not any of the ballplayers” just as much as it refers to “not one of the ballplayers,” so it can be plural. Pluralizing it not only makes it a clearer sentence, but also makes it less awkward to read.

      http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/questions-and-quandaries/grammar/is-none-singular-or-plural

  9. Kitche/Home computer by jraff2 · · Score: 1

    In the future - 2 or 3 days - an AI will be listening to all communication and take notes, answer questions etc. It's primary interface would be verbal, voice communications. It would have to know the voice and stress level of everyone in the house. Programmers could easily provide one voice recognition, and get money for each voice added to the repertoire This would be the beginnings of HAL or SkyNet depending... It would have to be aware of it's surroundings so as to not interrupt normal conversation or take sides in some human argument, but possibly call police, fire, ambulance when requested. Yeah I know this already was posited by some movie in the past, but it's time has come. How do we put "intelligence" behind the voice recorder? How good are the voice to word translators? Or does what I am proposing already exist. But we must make it smaller, faster, cheaper and much more intelligent.

    1. Re:Kitche/Home computer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It already exists and it isn't intelligent. Parsing words and triggering predefined triggers is far, far away from learning to understand and extract useful meaning from previously unknown things. Then it would need to act on those previously unknown concepts with intent. I don't know any AI system that can form its own intentions.

  10. It's obvious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe I missed the explanation of why people don't have debit cards in the article.

    The main reason people don't have debit cards is they don't want to lug around that weight all day.

  11. Industry not exactly known for speed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is an industry with heavy ties to Wall Street. Ask them what they've thought about speed when dealing with stock market trades.

    This is an industry that's one of the best at showing whatever it needs to when ensuring its own survival and profiteering. It showed plenty of weakness when it wanted free money from tax payers and went ahead and horded it. Now that it's making absurd levels of money again, it's finding a new way to make more money. If they race fast enough, they can make the rules. If they can make the rules, they'll make them in favor of themselves.

    I'll use whatever technology they roll out when my credit union has it.

  12. mer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As an IT employee of JPMorgan Chase Co.........this is awesome, and also horrendous. Please no.

  13. buzzword bingo! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ahhh yes "Incubators", "innovation labs" and "accelerators" ... otherwise known as "actually making something", a concept so foreign to management of financial institutions that they had to invent trendy new buzzwords to describe it, lest someone think that they might be down for getting their hands dirty.

    Those people are still in charge of course. So you can be damn sure it's just for show and absolutely nothing will come of it.

  14. Mobile payments by tompaulco · · Score: 1

    Mobile payments are a bad idea. I can't believe anyone would buy something with their phone. The phone industry is regulated as a common carrier. They are not bound to the same regulations that a Bank or a Credit Card company has and therefore should never be trusted to perform a monetary transaction. There is no consumer protection and whereas Credit Card companies usually get 1 to 2% of a purchase price to perform a transaction, the mobile industry often gets up to 1/3 of a transaction. The more scammy the purchase, the more the cell phone company receives in exchange for looking the other way and always siding with the scam site. For example: the $10 a month joke of the day scams.
    Never ever link a credit card or a bank account to a mobile phone. Not until they are subject to the same rules and regulations as the banks and the Credit Card companies.

    --
    If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
    1. Re:Mobile payments by Microlith · · Score: 1

      Way to not read the article. "Mobile payments" has nothing to do with the carriers - their billing systems are not involved. Proper systems like Apple Pay and Google Wallet (and anything similar to them) are effectively just virtual credit cards.

    2. Re:Mobile payments by mccrew · · Score: 1

      Never ever link a credit card or a bank account to a mobile phone. Not until they are subject to the same rules and regulations as the banks and the Credit Card companies.

      Amen, brother. As an illustration of the problem, look at the ongoing issue with "slamming," where a shady company somehow gets ahold of your phone number and tells, er lies to, the phone company that you signed up for some dubious "information service." Shady operator collects fees, and can effectively intimidate customers because they stand on top of massive carrier billing and collections machine.

      I will never, ever link any payment to my phone bill.

      --
      Hey, Windows users, there is no such thing as "forward" slash, there is only slash and backslash.
  15. Depends on how you do it by sjbe · · Score: 1

    In America, a money transfer from one bank to another can take days to clear

    Generally only true if you write a check which can take a few days to clear sometimes. Other methods of payment or funds transfer are considerably faster. ACH transfers take a few hours usually. Wire transfers are nearly instant.

    1. Re:Depends on how you do it by Laguerre · · Score: 1

      Most checks are cleared via ACH these days. Still takes 3-4 days.

  16. Where is that, I am moving there.... by slidedaddy · · Score: 1

    Where do you live that the CoffeHouse and bookstore have bitCoin Kiosks??????

  17. Big Banks by rochrist · · Score: 1

    ...can suck my dick. I left Bank of America for Digital Credit Union and I would never, EVER go back. You call DCU on the phone and guess what? You talk to an actual human! And they're HELPFUL.

  18. Re:Bitcoin Creation by DanielRavenNest · · Score: 1

    Nope. They require a considerable amount of energy to create, that of all the mining rigs combined. The energy is used to update the transaction history (block chain). One of the transactions adds 25 new bitcoins to the history, but that event can't happen without finding a hash value for the block. Finding the hash value requires all the mining rigs to search for it, using energy.

  19. Re:Bitcoin Creation by Enry · · Score: 1

    It comes from nowhere. The time it takes or energy invested in searching is as irrelevant as the effort needed to mine gold or the cloth and ink needed to print bills.

  20. 2 factor banking ideas by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Save Some tokens: https://tiqr.org

    Come on bank's; don't only take what was invested by others... Tcp, HTML, SSL, ... Innovate a bit and give back again to the one you owe....

    http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kDzDmI_6Vds

  21. Banks innovate? by sabbede · · Score: 1
    I find that rather hard to believe. I left my bank for a local Credit Union (best idea I've ever had) after finding out that a simple transfer from one account to another (both at the same bank) involved printing and mailing a check! When I asked why I couldn't just log in to my account and make the transfer electronically, they said it was too insecure. I pointed out that if a thief could get into my account, a simple electronic transfer wasn't even the best way to rob me, but all I got was some ignorant line about industry practices.

    Well, that wasn't the only reason - their practices (industry standard according to them) seemed to revolve around providing me with as many fees as possible. Last straw was my rent check bouncing the same day my paycheck deposited.

  22. quote from the article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Up until recently I was one of those individuals who went into the bank to make withdraws and didn't have a debit card. For better or worse though I was pretty much forced to get one as due to some consolidation, customer influx, difficult customers, etc the foot traffic into my bank expanded significantly. It used to be you could get to a teller in under 3 minutes, the two times previous to my getting a debit card I had to wait 30-40 minutes.

  23. Am I the only one who doesn't care? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've been an engineer and programmer for 30+ years and I truly don't see the point. What is the value proposition? Especially given what I must give up for the "privilege" of using this technology solely for the sake of the technology itself?

    It's idiocy like this that makes me want to move overseas. You see this kind of "cashless society" does not exist anywhere outside of the US, and culturally will likely never become popular any place BUT the US. In most of Asia, everything is not merely NOT cashless but actually completely cash-base and never debt-based - credit cards aren't even particularly popular. And you know what? Everything works better that way - without credit cards, never mind wireless/cashless nonsense.

  24. Bitcoins?? by MoarSauce123 · · Score: 1

    About 90% of bitcoins are used to bankroll illegal activities...not sure anyone should support that system.