Is Chime or other similar fintechs who aren't going to extend credit for overdraft and similar on a deposit account not an option? In my activist social work, I find it continually getting easier to get the unbanked banked, including finding them accounts with orgs that support Zelle for instant funds transfers [1].
People keep arguing crypto when internal fiat is likely to end up as central bank digital wallets [2] and cross border transfers will be facilitated by fintechs like TransferWise, with central banks essentially assuming more and more of the cross border infra over time [3].
Anecdote: A friend needed financial help due to COVID, and I was able to get their Citi deposit account setup with Zelle in ~2 minutes and send them cash from our reserves. The transfer was effectively instantaneous. IMHO, the problem isn't the transfer mechanism, it's ensuring that everyone has a a bank account [4].
People keep arguing crypto when internal fiat is likely to end up as central bank digital wallets [2] and cross border transfers will be facilitated by fintechs like TransferWise, with central banks essentially assuming more and more of the cross border infra over time [3].
Anecdote: A friend needed financial help due to COVID, and I was able to get their Citi deposit account setup with Zelle in ~2 minutes and send them cash from our reserves. The transfer was effectively instantaneous. IMHO, the problem isn't the transfer mechanism, it's ensuring that everyone has a a bank account [4].
[1] https://www.zellepay.com/get-started
[2] https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/econographics/the-rise...
[3] https://asiatimes.com/2020/12/cross-border-payments-on-horiz...
[4] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25262480