And these systems exist because sellers do fraud too, merchants that don't ship after taking payment, etc. With irreversible payments through crypto you are just pushing all the risk on customers. That will never fly.
Come to Berlin and marvel at how many cash-only shops we have.
And if you are talking about internet retailers, can we make an exercise to think of how many new businesses would be viable if transactions of 20 cents were a thing?
10 years ago I remember either MediaMarkt or Saturn (large electronics/ home appliance stores) not taking credit cards. Now not only most businesses in Berlin take credit cards (I saw a couple of cash-only, for sure)… I found a couple of “electronic payments only” ones.
A lot of shops started to accepted cards because of Covid restrictions, leading to the point of "contactless transactions". Now that restrictions are being lifted, smaller shops are going back to cash only or putting high minimums.
Two explanations I've heard: (1) small-shop owners simply do not want to pay the fees to card processors and (2) people are more privacy-minded here and distrustful of both the government and the banks, so they don't use credit/debit cards for purchases as often.
Right, shoplifting doesn't exist. Movie theaters run around profitably by getting people to pay whatever they want. They even let them bring their own food. And banks give you a mortgage just because you look like such a trustworthy dude.
No. What I am saying is that for the majority of cases, there is no "trust" involved. There is a protocol that ensures that the exchange occurs properly, regardless of any trust relationship between customer and seller.
Last time I got a mortgage I had to turn over financial history and have credit checks run. I have definitely had to pass background checks as a customer before.
Your landlord asks you to post a security deposit.
We literally have an entire credit worthiness sector.
You can also invert this and take trust as a default and only ban misbehaving customers.
