In light of the recent announcement of Venmo’s increased transaction fees, Dan Romero, co-founder of Farcaster, proposed the idea of a stablecoin payments app specifically for freelancers based in the United States. This change in fee structure by the PayPal-owned mobile payment service has resulted in backlash from the community.
Romero’s suggestion of stablecoins as a solution was aimed towards workers who are subject to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service Form 1099, such as freelancers and independent contractors.
Financial analyst Ross Hendricks commented on the fee hike by Venmo, stating that PayPal has essentially started monetizing Venmo. This statement sparked a discussion about cryptocurrencies, with one user responding with just three words.
However, Hendricks countered this statement by questioning the current state of cryptocurrency transfers. This prompted the co-founder of Farcaster, Brian Armstrong, to quickly respond, mentioning the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin on Base as an attempt to address the issue.
Romero, formerly a senior executive at Coinbase, commented on Armstrong’s response with just one word.
Hendricks expressed skepticism about using USDC for everyday transactions, stating that things may not change much in that regard.
Another user joined the discussion, sharing their opinion on the matter.
This conversation follows the announcement by Coinbase’s chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, that XRP is once again available for trading on Coinbase in New York. After Ripple Labs faced a lawsuit from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2020, many centralized exchanges, including Coinbase, delisted XRP due to allegations of selling unregistered securities. However, following Judge Analisa Torres’s ruling in 2023 that secondary sales of XRP do not qualify as securities transactions, centralized exchanges have started to reverse their stance and relist the controversial digital asset.
In other news, a Hong Kong streaming firm is set to invest $100 million in cryptocurrencies, and Worldcoin has faced sanctions.