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Welcome to Amr's internet island!

Hi, I’m Amr 👋🏽
A Software Engineer based in the UK specialising in building mobile and web applications.

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Notes

Crypto money transfer is not cheap

Enjoyed reading the article on the GENIUS legislation.

However, I wanted to add that it’s rarely cheap to actually make a money transfer via stablecoins even transfers on the same exchange.

To make a transfer you have to buy the coin and that’s where exchanges charge the first bit of money. Then you make the transfer and pay the network fees which fluctuates but I admit it’s relatively low in itself compared to bank transfers. The recieving party now has to convert the stablecoin to their desired currency and that’s where exchanges make some extra money by marking up the FX rate. Finally the receiver get slapped with a final service charge to withdraw the money to their bank account.

Making the argument that crypto is cheap just because the network fees are low is only true for crypto bros who transfer to each other wallets without exchangs. That sounds similar to paying someone cash directly, doesn’t it?

Don’t get me wrong, I am for digital currency and payments but letting a group of private equity backed (read as for-profit) companies convince is cheaper is akin to Starbucks convincing me that coffee is cheaper when I buy it from them instead if making my own coffee.

As an Egyptian it is painful to pay anyone internationally largely due to the central bank monetary policy and transferring via crypto is common but ask anyone and they would tell they feel safer making any EGP transfer compared to making crypto transfers.

Central banks should facilitate digital payments, like in the UK with Faster payments and open banking, instead of offloading the solution to for-profit organisations.

Thanks for reading!

Goodbye Baba (Dad)

It was Friday the 9th of May 2025. A typical Friday. I woke up made coffee, started my work and expected the usual family video call.

As usual, my phone rings. I see both my mum and dad on the call. I had this bug that I was fixing and a queue of pull requests to review, so I quickly say good morning, ask how they are doing and say goodbye. I didn’t know this would be the last goodbye.

My dad had a normal day, he woke up and called me and my mum. My brother had breakfast with him and went to Friday prayers with him. A typical Friday routine.

I will miss you dad. I looked up to you in everything in life. You never held a grudge, you never hurt anyone, and you loved sharing your knowledge and your craft.

ان لله وان اليه راجعون