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150 sats \ 0 replies \ @leo 15 Nov \ on: I'm Miles Suter, Bitcoin Product Lead at Block, AMA! AMA
Hi Miles! Congrats on the launch(es). Super cool stuff, very excited for you!
I tried some of it out yesterday, despite (only) being in Canada.
- One friend seemed to not have a lightning address associated with their cash tag. Is he supposed to? Or does he have to sign up for something else?
- I saw in the videos that users have the option to pay from their USD balance. Is this only available when paying to Square merchants? Or to all merchants?
- And finally: When Canada!
I don't think it's liquidity, both SGD and HKD are freely convertible and easy to swap. Also, why would they have different exchange rates for different SGD products?
It seems they are hiding costs in the exchange rates
In my experience the exchange rates (USD, EUR, CAD) have always been fair in the past. Their Lightning node is also well-managed, so there are usually no significant routing fees.
But you're right, the card in question has an absurd exchange rate, regardless of what you pay with. I also checked for the Ikea and Grab SGD vouchers, and it seems like they use at least three different exchange rates for SGD/USD, then apply a fair rate for USD/BTC.
I also checked for HKD, and the 7-Eleven vouchers are also marked up by 8%, the Foodpanda cards were marked up 10%.
For CAD or EUR I couldn't find any cards with a markup. Glad you noticed, will look carefully in the future!
I agree, Canada shouldn't miss this historic opportunity. They might have to legalize housing and healthcare, though!
Flying sucks generally, and lounges are just a way to upsell you on a slightly less bad experience. Trains in Europe or Asia are amazing, especially when the station is downtown. You can sip aperitivos in a cute local cafe, then ten minutes later speed with 200mph towards your destination. No security, no queues, no faux status upgrades. I'll always take a 6h train ride over a 1h flight.