Let's talk Plaid

[Hodlezerper 2,304]

For those of you unaware, I stumbled across this company. https://plaid.com/#

This company seems like they're accomplishing much of what "blockchains" would aim to accomplish. Faster transfers, identity verification, etc, but maybe with the drawback that they now own your information. This seems like maybe a bad thing for consumers? A honey pot of data for hackers, maybe worse than even Equifax? What do some of the more technically minded people here think?

 

@Hodor @tulo @Sukrim @protechtor @zerpdigger @MaxEntropy lol @nikb, @JoelKatz

[Guest]

yes it's a big concern -- we/they need to solve the identity piece of the puzzle asap

logins, trust/reputation, credit, passwords/keys, fraud/theft, et al all subject to immense pressure from hacks and negligence

my personal opinion having skimmed the material of people working on tis problem, is we need two things:

 -- extreme cryptography and complete redesign around ID online and off (obviously); and

 -- an EVOLVING online identity that's constantly updated with new information that makes the previous "blob" unusable

i'm sure you guys will have also looked into the same literature

not the best example, but in short: https://medium.com/@bitmintnews/blockchain-iota-building-unforgeable-cyber-identities-clarification-35add66a6ebe

[protechtor 225]

I will have to read through their tech docs to understand more of the details of their solutions, but they appear to be creating an API service bus model where they integrate with many banks/FI's to offer a single source of auth, verification, trans data, and other services. For companies building apps that require integrations to the many FI's/Banks their value prop is that of, well, an API service bus. Still very much a centralized approach.

[Sukrim 1,889]

2 hours ago, Hodlezerper said:

What do some of the more technically minded people here think?

No code, not interesting.

[Hodlezerper 2,304]

It's my understanding that these guys are also validating and verifying accounts and providing speedy transfers across borders. They seem to be doing a lot of what blockchain boasts under the radar and I think they're getting integrated fairly quickly. We should watch this more and more. 

[Khaleesi 1,571]

1 hour ago, Hodlezerper said:

It's my understanding that these guys are also validating and verifying accounts and providing speedy transfers across borders. They seem to be doing a lot of what blockchain boasts under the radar and I think they're getting integrated fairly quickly. We should watch this more and more. 

Integrated by whom?

[Hodlezerper 2,304]

6 hours ago, Khaleesi said:

Integrated by whom?

Banks. Financial entities. Third party companies that need access to your banking info (services like stripe, Robinhood, etc...)

 

 

[VanGogh 1,484]

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/12/visa-abandons-takeover-of-plaid-after-doj-raises-antitrust-concerns.html

..."Visa has ended its takeover efforts of Silicon Valley start-up Plaid about two months after the Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit on grounds that it would limit competition in the payments industry."

Here's an older article when Visa first started to acquire Plaid and how it applies to Ripple: https://cryptodaily.co.uk/2020/01/visa-throws-down-gauntlet-to-stellar-ripple

"Ripple, Stellar and Visa Duke It Out

As of now, the demand for international rapid payment services is sky-high. Its latest acquisition will enable Visa to meet more of this demand and will be bad news for the likes of Ripple and Lumens. Ripple currently has over 300 partners all over the globe, with some of these being heavyweight financial institutions. Its expectations remain bullish and it expects to do a serious amount of business this year.

As for Stellar Lumens, it has a big share of the rapid payment sector and must be enviously eyeing Visa’s latest acquisition and calculating what to do to counter it. Recently, it was discovered that Lightnet, a Thai tech-based start-up with big ambitions is seeking to take the place of SWIFT and get crowned as the top international payment system on the market. Lightnet has since raised a significant $31.2 million and will use this to craft a software solution inspired by the blockchain utilized by Stellar Lumens."