Bitcoin Forum

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/14/us-transferwise-thiel-idUSBRE94D00E20130514

PayPal co-founder Thiel invests in London start-up TransferWise

(Reuters) - London-based start-up TransferWise, a peer-to-peer international money transfer business, has secured an investment from Valar Ventures, the venture fund set up by PayPal co-founder and Facebook investor Peter Thiel.

TransferWise, which launched in 2011, said Valar Ventures was leading a $6 million funding round, marking the U.S. fund's first investment in Europe.

TransferWise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus said having Thiel on board would enable the company to accelerate its expansion plans.

"This year we're aiming to add a dozen new currencies and launch the site in new markets including Germany, Spain, France, and Italy," he said on Tuesday

Hinrikus and his fellow founder Kristo Kaarmann realised they could exchange pounds and euros between themselves at the mid-market exchange rate, saving on the fees imposed by banks.

The business has now transferred more than 125 million pounds ($192 million) worth of customers' money, the company said.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Mark Potter)

Is this an alternative to inflationary currencies?

I guess thats why they stopped doing transfers to bitcoin exchanges....
http://transferwise.com/blog/2013-04/notice-to-bitcoin-users-april-2013

Does this not show that bitcoin is really a centralised currency competitor and a real threat at that. I don't really believe that transferwise is a threat to bitcoin. What do yous think?

Haha, this is all centralized crap. Same old, same old.

So, no, it's not a Bitcoin competitor. At best, it's a competitor to Facebook credits, PayPal, or WoW-gold :)

how is it any different than WU or moneygram but with supposed lower fees? how is this even a competitor when it adds nothing truly new to what's out there. even ripple sounds better somewhat

IF they were smart they would do it with Bitcoin. :-)

This is not competition for bitcoin. They are only for transferring money and they know who you are sending money to. You cant make a shop that is accepting payments through this as far as i understand. And it is created by one of paypals owners so one can expect the same fun as with paypal.

Just a cheaper WU, nothing more, not p2p at all

I want to point something extremely important that most people overlook: Bitcoin is a payment system more than anything else.

The currency aspect is just one of its features. Without the payment system, bitcoins are worthless. No matter what happens to the value of a bitcoin now, if the payment system fails to gain acceptance, a bitcoin will be worthless in the future.

Bitcoin is thriving at $115/bitcoin.  I would have to argue that it already has gained acceptance at a payment method and can only go one direction.....UP.

It'd be nice to see some competition with PayPal for international transfers. The current fees make it unappealing compared to an international wire (except I don't trust the reliability of wires) when buying/selling Bitcoin with friends. Otherwise, there's no significant fee with Bitcoin to transfer wealth, so...

Maybe that's something already in the roadmap?

Look at the competition:


“There may be ways to enable [Bitcoin] inside PayPal.”
 - John Donahoe, CEO eBay

"If Bitcoin continues to grow and the value is defined more internationally, we may find an opportunity for Bitcoin to be used to pay for commerce transactions through a Western Union business solution,"
 - David Thompson, CIO of Western Union


Their decision to restrict withdrawals to bitcoin exchanges may have been just temporary until they have further compliance procedures in place, but there's no technical or business reason they couldn't extend their list of currencies to include BTC.

A multi-million dollar business just to move money around?

What's Bitcoin again?

Don't be fooled by the price. Bitcoin didn't go from $12 to $115 based on its acceptance as a payment system. Most of that rise is due to the expectation of future success. If Bitcoin doesn't succeed as well as people expect, the price of the currency will fall.

Furthermore, people can't to expect the value of the currency to rise forever. At some point, the industry built up around the Bitcoin payment system must generate enough income to keep it in business or it will fail. When people are no longer depending on the currency to rise in order to make a profit, then we can say that the payment system has gained enough acceptance.

The success of the Bitcoin payment system is ultimately what will determine the value of the currency.