https://dcebrief.com/revolut-receives-66-million-in-funding-to-fuel-expansion/
I just had a look at the Revolut website, and watched their promo video. On the one hand it seems too good to be true. Then on the other hand, I could never understand how banks justify a huge transaction fee when I know that all they are really doing is sending the tiniest bit of information to another institution.
My partner and I live the life of digital nomads. I get paid for work I do online and when a client wants to send me money, they usually have to wire transfer it using Western Union. This process costs us about US$40 in total. That is a lot of money for receiving instructions from one bank and sending them to another.
And when we are travelling, exchange rates are never what I find on the Internet. Some places offer no-commission exchange, but when you do the math on their rates, you're often better off paying the commission at the exchange with the better rate. The other alternative is to use the ATM and get hit with overseas machine charges and another poor exchange rate. I've even had two different multi-currency credit cards. Both cost more in fees and bad exchange rates than using the institutions' normal cards.
So half of me is wondering how they can make any money. And half of me is wondering how banks justify their fees. And all of me is looking forward to them incorporating DNotes into their system. The easier you make it for them to do that, and whatever you can do to reduce their exposure to risk, the sooner it will happen.
https://revolut.com/
I just read that as well but you beat me to the post!
I see this as the next (first?) step in the "sea change" of finance and banking. For years, banks have had a monopoly on the personal financial sector (not to mention business) that has slowly bled consumers dry. From deposit interest rates to loan points, banks have been fully in control of each and every one of us with the possible exception of the very rich and even they have to deal with them at one time or another and, at less than favorable terms, even for them. For the most part, the bank always wins.
This kind of power and control breeds contempt and is one of the prime drivers of crypto today. Banks have enjoyed a monopoly in the field of personal finance, not to mention business, and that only creates stagnation and fuels greed. As with most innovations, crypto has been working to re-invent itself within the field of finance and become a major player on the world stage. I submit that the appearance of fully digital/crypto online banks are the harbinger of a new world. Moving all the old standards of banking including safe haven, loans, credit cards, mortgages and business finance online, without fiat. A new world needs to start with eliminating the old one and that is happening now.
Let's face it, the crypto ecosystem does not need "brick and mortar" branch offices and 20 employees in hundreds of cities to satisfy customers needs. The overhead this will eliminate is staggering in, and of, itself. Twenty four by seven access is the holy grail of banking right now but, until now, only ATM machines and bank web sites could come close and the reality of it is that it's an illusion, and an expensive one at that for the consumer.
So, think about this for a minute: Today's crypto exchanges will be tomorrow's pioneering online, full service, no fiat banks. Is there a better fit or road to the evolution of these entities? Current thinking sees services such as Bittrex, Poloniex, Kraken and the others as mimicking the stock markets but, I see then evolving into full service online banks with crypto eventually totally replacing fiat at some future point. As far as ATM's go, they will eventually be a thing of the past like color TV picture tubes, they will yield to new technology. If everyone has access to and, could spend their funds anywhere using their cell phone or some other sort of portable electronic device, who would have the need for an ATM? No cash, no ATM. Even Bitcoin ATMs days are numbered unless they morph into a form of "crypto coin exchanger", like a hardware ShapeShift perhaps. But even here, if you can do it on a cell phone, why the need for a kiosk? I suppose in areas and countries where cellular enjoys less than 98% penetration, it would be needed, for now.
Darwin's contribution basically states "adapt or die" which fully encompasses the state of the financial industry we are dealing with today. It is a given that people will adapt by using the easier of two different choices all else being equal. Why would you drive to the bank or ATM to get "cash" when you can click an icon and your purchase is payed for? Kind of a no brainer really, cash and the institutions that support it and control us through it are as dead as the dinosaurs, they just haven't looked up at the sky, yet...