Re: The path forward for Web Payments

Well said!

On Sun, Oct 27, 2013 at 7:54 AM, Joseph Potvin <jpotvin@opman.ca> wrote:

>
> All I'm recommending is to ensure that vendors are free to choose whether
> their prices shall be indexed to the speculative forex market, or to
> something else, and to provide an API for those choices.
>
> For a vendor and a purchaser to have autonomy over their transaction(s),
> among other things they need to be free to (a) choose their transaction
> currency(ies), and (b) negotiate their price(s). In multi-currency
> contracts, the parties must see prices in two or more currencies. They may
> well agree to externalize inter-currency valuation to an external third
> party, or instead they can choose to "be the currency market" for the
> purposes of that transaction. (Have you ever autonomously negotiated
> inter-currency valuation on a streetcorner or at a hotel front desk in a
> country with controlled official exchange rates?  The derogatory term is
> "the black market" for currency. The respectful term is "the free market"
> for currency.)
>

I've discovered that McDonald's Gift Certificates, which are the same
dimension as US FRNs but on slick paper, can be used for purchasing things
at businesses other than McDonalds. I wouldn't want to try to buy anything
real substantial with them, but for a relaxing cup of cafe con leche at the
corner not-a-starbucks, no problem.

By handling the whole inter-currency valuation matter this way too, as just
> one of the variable price indexing options, we can keep everything within
> the realm of contract law, and steer clear of international trade law which
> you get into when dealing directly with "exchange rates". Trying to come up
> with some autonomous exchange rate system for both legal tender and
> non-legal-tender fungibles -- beware: that's a very prickly place to be. My
> strong recommendation: keep the whole thing under contracts law. Let
> vendors control prices for their products and services.
>

Recommended: The standard will refrain from promoting any particular
exchange or listing service, except for purposes of providing examples in
definitions and explanations.

Recommended: The standard will include descriptions of features for
requesting pricing in other currencies within "price request" modules.
Implementation of these features will be optional and conformant
implementations need not include them. Conformant implementations that do
include equivalent features MUST support the described messages and
responses.




>
>