[Discussion] SWIFT as a payment method

Payment methods
1

Hi there, people.

Just wondering, did we ever consider SWIFT transfer as a payment method?

Pros:

  • 99% (or it seems so) of the banks in the world are connected to SWIFT.
  • You can easily accept payments in any currency as long as you have a bank account in this currency with a valid IBAN and other credentials (intermediary bank)

Cons (that I know of):

  • It can be expensive sometimes. It costs me 1 USD to do a SEPA transfer and 4.5 USD to make a SWIFT transfer
  • It can take up to 5 business days for the transfer to be executed
  • Needs extended bank account details (intermediary bank)

I haven’t investigated chargeback risks yet

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2

I’m not an expert but afaik swift is useful for international payments. It could make sense for those located in countries where bisq’s offer book is rather small, right?

If the Chinese buyer is alone and wants to trade with someone in the UK e.g. it could make sense, although it might end up being extremely expensive.

It may be a better idea to put our efforts into building a strong market in each country so that swift transfers are not necessary in the first place? (thinking out loud)

3

Good thinking.

On the other hand, if I don’t have a UK bank, I’m locked out of GBP liquidity and I’d rather use dip my toes into foreign currencies than be stuck with only one or two payment methods that are possible for me.

If there’s a flat fee for SWIFT transfers, traders can simply offset it by using distance from the market price or a set price

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4

Yeah, I guess it wouldn’t hurt just giving more choices to users. As with everything, it may simply be a matter of priorities.

5

Alright, I’ll come up with a proposal, but first, I’d like to hear an opinion from someone more experienced (devs and/or @Plutoide). My main area of concern is chargebacks

6

Alright, I’ve done some of the research and there are the following risks:

  • Chargebacks are technically possible, but if there is a fraud transaction, it usually gets pulled back mid-way before getting credited to the recipient
  • There are known cases of double amounts being credited, but they usually get resolved by the banks
  • A long time of execution (3-7 days for my banks) would mean the max allowed trade period will have to be set for 10 days

With that in mind, is SWIFT something worth considering?

7

The whole SWIFT story has once been discussed in this thread:

https://bisq.community/t/accepted-country/3531

and been rejected because of the long settlement duration and the fee situation.

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