Modern payment systems: convenience sometimes comes at a cost, but not with the SuperOne model

The process of completing a payment is quite simple really. It’s all about reducing the balance in one person’s account and increasing the balance in the recipient’s account by an equivalent amount.

It’s a process that has not changed since the 16th century, even though the technology that allows the process to be completed has changed radically in 500 years — and particularly over the last decade or so.

First, the records and ledgers have been converted from paper to electronic form, which has increased the speed of completing transactions and reduced operational risks. Second, the emergence of low-cost technology has allowed new payment schemes to emerge in recent times. These incorporate:

• Mobile money schemes (anything involving payment by phone)
• Worldwide online money transfers (eg PayPal)
• Peer-to-peer payments through a decentralized ledger (cryptocurrency)

The SuperOne community is an example of an operation that would be incredibly difficult to manage and run smoothly in a world where everything had to go through a centralized system.

Because while it can seem incredibly straightforward to buy stuff digitally using fiat currency — that is to say a mainstream traditional currency like dollars, euros, and yen — what is actually happening behind the scenes is pretty complicated.

The many layers of a centralized system

At the heart lies a central ledger, with settlement taking place across the books of a central authority, acting as a clearing bank, a service usually undertaken by the central bank of a given economy. Each participant, typically a commercial financial institution, holds a balance at the central bank, recorded in the ledger, but also reflected in the participant bank’s own internal ledger.

Individual customers, branches, or even other (typically smaller) banks would then hold balances at the participant bank, which would again be reflected in their own ledger. With so many layers to this structure, it is inevitable that fees come into play.

Typically, these are recorded as “booking” or “handling fees” when buying stuff digitally within your own country. Internationally, there is a whole new stratum of costs to bear in mind. For example, if I want to pay in advance for car hire in a country that uses a different currency to mine, the price I end up paying might be quite a lot more than I first imagined it to be.

The bank accepting my payment is likely to charge me for the privilege of performing a conversion from one currency to another, and it is unlikely to give me a preferential exchange rate either. Exactly the same thing happens when I use a credit card to buy something abroad, take cash out of an ATM or tap my phone on a device incorporating near-field communications (NFC) technology. Lots of ledgers at lots of levels in two different countries are being adjusted and somebody (mostly me) is paying for it.

Technology can come at a cost, but not always…

In other words, while we marvel at the technology allowing us to buy stuff easily with our phones or cards or through the internet, we are not necessarily getting a fair deal. And this is the beauty of SuperOne and to a certain extent cryptocurrency as a whole.

While it would be dangerous to suggest that crypto, at this point in its young journey, has reached a stage where it can negate the requirement for fiat currency, it is an incredibly useful second string to your payment bow.

SuperOne chooses XRP (Ripple) for its low transaction costs, overall agility, and scope for rapid settlement. It may not be as well-known as Bitcoin but in terms of dealing with lots of complex payments, you can be assured it is the right choice.

Everyone who has a crypto wallet of any sort will be familiar with the process of copying payment addresses from one field to another. SuperOne allows you to keep your digital wallet separate from your SuperOne account, or connect it to the platform. It’s up to you. Please note: the commissions payable to SuperOne business partners are paid in XRP but not stored as XRP.

So if you want to enjoy potential “price appreciation” versus fiat currency you should connect their external wallets to their SuperOne accounts. The best thing of all about everyone in the community being paid in Ripple, whether they are the first “genesis” leaders, newer affiliate partners or successful gamers is simply this: no cross-border transaction costs.

And given that the SuperOne community stretches across almost every territory in the world, it’s great that it comes together under the roof of one currency alone.