
A simple explanation of how money moves around the banking system (2013) - rndn
http://gendal.me/2013/11/24/a-simple-explanation-of-how-money-moves-around-the-banking-system/
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rebelidealist
This is the problem that Stellar ([https://stellar.org](https://stellar.org))
can solve better than Bitcoin. Unlike Bitcoin which takes 10-30 minutes to
confirm transactions, Stellar takes seconds with its new consensus system
([https://medium.com/a-stellar-journey/on-worldwide-
consensus-...](https://medium.com/a-stellar-journey/on-worldwide-
consensus-359e9eb3e949)). This eliminates the need for mining which consumes a
exorbitant amount of electrical energy. Stellar is also built to work with a
diverse set of currencies (USD, EUR, CNY, BTC etc).

~~~
o-0
I'd bet my money on ripple instead of stellar. RL is more professional and has
much better personal resources. From Stellar Foundation I've seen only a chain
of fails - initial distribution using facebook, modifying consensus and
blaming RL for breaking it, STR auction, promised&undelivered STR distribution
to BTC&XRP holders, community communication, mccalebs secret bitcoin projects
revealed as just a ripple fork with no real innovation..

~~~
rebelidealist
Ripple Labs is strong in the business development side. Stellar's new
consensus system is very much different from Ripple's. I would say the
Stellar's FB distribution is a major win since over 4 million people have
signed up.

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MichaelGG
>First, we need to acknowledge that SWIFT is not cheap. If Barclays had to
send a SWIFT message to HSBC every time you wanted to pay £10 to Charlie, you
would soon notice some hefty charges on your statement.

Why is this so? Sure in decades past it might have been expensive to send so
many messages, but today it should be easily accomplished with moderate
hardware. Wikipedia says SWIFT did about 15M tx/day in Sept 2010. That seems
pretty miniscule as far as hardware load goes.

~~~
pjc50
Fortunately SWIFT pricing is freely available on the Internet:
[http://www.swift.com/solutions/pricing/fs_pricing_easier_200...](http://www.swift.com/solutions/pricing/fs_pricing_easier_200803.pdf)

All the per-transaction prices are below 15 euro cents. Banks charge you many
£/€ for a SWIFT transfer because they can, not because of what it costs;
usually to subsidise the existence of branches.

Edit: I see another commenter has hit the same link :)

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andrewstellar
Great article on the global correspondent banking system.

For anyone interested in how US domestic payment systems work (checks, ACH,
Visa/Mastercard) check out Payment Systems in the US by Carol Benson. It is
the bible.

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bdamm
Now that was one of the most eye-opening small articles I've read in a while.
Many a times over the years have I been privy to a tiny glimpse here and there
of the internal workings of the banks. This helped open the portal a little.

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dublinclontarf
Part of the issue is that banks and banking in general is so large and they
have so many systems that the vast majority of people have no idea on the big
picture of how things worked on a more fundamental level.

This changed to a large extent when Bitcoin came about and people
(technologists especially) began asking what is money and how does it move.

The average person still has no idea though.

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TeMPOraL
I love the article. This is a kind of explaining that really works for me -
building bottom-up, outlining the problems that are to be solved and the new
ones a solution introduces. Thanks for posting it, rndn!

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wcbeard10
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6793063](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6793063)

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ww520
Learned something today. This is an informative piece on the behind the scene
activities on fund transfer between banks. Very nice.

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gadders
I met Richard when I was working at a different bank. Nice chap.

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photonios
Awesome! A nice and rare view into how banks work internally.

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zilly
Thanks for sharing, really interesting.

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PebblesHD
Thats fascinating! nice find

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cm2187
Excellent article

