←back to thread

Brazil's government-run payments system has become dominant

(www.economist.com)
666 points jcartw | 1 comments | 08 Apr 25 10:59 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
Show context
marcodiego ◴[08 Apr 25 11:55 UTC] No.43620631[source]▶
I'm a Brazilian. Everything here can be paid through pix. It's very convenient, fast reliable and, for a country like ours where walking on the streets with money is a risk, safe.

There's only one reason I don't use it: there's no FLOSS app (AFAIK) to use it.

Something as common as the dominant payment system should not depend on proprietary software.

replies(6): >>43620665 #>>43620750 #>>43620844 #>>43621225 #>>43621994 #>>43637403 #
JusticeJuice ◴[08 Apr 25 11:59 UTC] No.43620665[source]▶
> Something as common as the dominant payment system should not depend on proprietary software.

Name one dominant payment system worldwide that doesn't? Banks are proprietary, credit cards are proprietary, paypal, crypto is all proprietary.

replies(3): >>43620703 #>>43620732 #>>43620743 #
Asraelite ◴[08 Apr 25 12:06 UTC] No.43620732[source]▶
> crypto is all proprietary

What?

replies(1): >>43620747 #
Etheryte ◴[08 Apr 25 12:08 UTC] No.43620747[source]▶
I think a steelmanned version of their comment is that crypto apps are proprietary, which I think is mostly true. There are open source apps, but most of the big ones are all proprietary.
replies(3): >>43620862 #>>43621177 #>>43628370 #
1. JusticeJuice ◴[09 Apr 25 02:26 UTC] No.43628370[source]▶
Sorry, I should've been way more clear. But this is what I was getting at. If the average person wants to buy or trade in crypto, they don't reach for an open source solution, they'll use a proprietary service. I know that's built ontop of a lot of great open source tech, but the final 'app' people interact with isn't open. The fact that pix doesn't have an open source app just strikes me as a weird reason not to use it.