> if I write a check, anyone who sees it can trivially withdraw whatever they want from my account using the above API, no
You always were able to do that - even before this post - using traditional online banking. I won't go into the details here, but trust me, it's frighteningly easy[1].
> What sort of fraud protection is there?
This isn't up to Balanced to solve. It's a banking system problem at its core.
[1] The problem is actually much worse, because it allows anyone to compromise your entire banking account (not just your checking account) trivially, but I'll leave that as an exercise to the reader!
If you're in SF, I'll buy you a coffee and we can talk about how terrible the ACH network is. I have very strong opinions on this. We're just trying to jump on the grenade and make it bearable for everyone else :)
Unfortunately I'm in NYC, though I'd love to hear your thoughts on ACH! Let me know if you happen to make your way out here at some point - my email is nqvgln@nqvglnzhxrewrr.arg (ROT13).
You always were able to do that - even before this post - using traditional online banking. I won't go into the details here, but trust me, it's frighteningly easy[1].
> What sort of fraud protection is there?
This isn't up to Balanced to solve. It's a banking system problem at its core.
[1] The problem is actually much worse, because it allows anyone to compromise your entire banking account (not just your checking account) trivially, but I'll leave that as an exercise to the reader!