Bitcoin Forum

OK, So I just sent £1000 of Bitcoin to a friend who is in Northern Namibia (just above South Africa).

He received the funds via an app on his phone - Mycelium..

The problem is we have no idea what to do now. Ideally he needs to transfer the btc to his local currency (NAD) or spend the bitcoin locally but noone there accepts bitcoin. How can we convert this money to something he can actually spend?

Thanks in advance.

 ::)

My hope for humanity is dying little by little everyday...

what you can do is getting a credit card that you can load with btc or sell btc online/offline for fiat in SA

he can sell bitcoins for paypal @ localbitcoins.com
or any other websites out there. then he can withdraw the money from paypal to his bank account or what ever...
but i am sure there are some locals that would love to buy those bitcoins from him..he just needs to post on his local forums and search for them.

And he will be able to get one of these credit cards will he.
He doesn't have a proper address,  just a Po box.
Also, he doesn't, Have a Pc, just a phone so can't scan documents unless he goes to an Internet Cafe.
I doubt he even has a passport.

I don't think many people there have heard of bitcoin,  it's like they are 20 years behind.

I thought bitcoin was supposed to be great for countries like this?

He might be able to pay his phone with this service: https://www.bitrefill.com/

He should be able to use this exchange: https://bitx.co/

Also check this: https://hellobit.com/

How about:

He sends back to you
You convert to local currency (USD?)
You bank wire it over to him

Found a couple of South African exchanges:

https://bitx.co/za
https://ice3x.com/


He could always try localbitcoins, might be able to find some cash buyers   https://localbitcoins.com/country/ZA

tell him to go here: https://localbitcoins.com/country/NA (https://localbitcoins.com/country/NA) register and find someone that wants to buy his BTC for USD. should be pretty easy

Plenty of reputed sellers in the Namibian section of LBC. Another option is to travel to Cape Town (a few hours away) and to exchange the BTC for SAR. Also, if I am not wrong there are a shops which accept BTC in Cape Town.   

I think we are missing the point here... OP's imaginary story has hit the nail on the head - truth is Bitcoin is not ready for remittance around the world, not without support of WesterUnion or MoneyGram like services able to exchange it to local currencies. Bitcoin is too new and not very good at most things it's designed for. With time this will change but for now we just have to take a punch instead of sending Namibian man to a Machete exchange (sorry, local bitcoins).

if he can not sell his bitcoin to fiat directly, i think the best way for him is to do a double conversion of bitcoin to paypal and then to fiat. just find a trusted person who does paypal exchange.

He should be able to use localbitcoins: https://localbitcoins.com/country/NA

Or https://www.coincorner.com/ if he can accept credit card payments paid in USD.

Maybe before sent him these 1'000 dollars you should inform you about the bitcoin situation in Namibia. If he can't exchange bitcoin for USD and then for NAD, he should send back the 1k dollars in bitcoin and you should send these money (to him) through WU or moneygram. Bitcoin is not ready for all the world, some people have never used a credit card or owned a bank account...

You can try with bit Bitstamp, there is no fee for existing users for next 5 weeks, i assume for new users too. www.bitstamp.net
Bank account, some personal information and scanned documents (ID or passport and proof of residence) is needed to open an account.   ;)

It's either he actually sent the £1000 or he's trying to spark a discussion with the quoted post above.
Bitcoin isn't for the world to use as of yet, it's impossible to have everyone use it as of their remote locations or their status in the economy. With the limited amount, I doubt it will be used by a country as their main type of currency. To tie in with the OP, Bitcoin is still in its early stages. That should be expected, not everyone will be able to convert. If he's dealing with £1000 surely he should have a bank account, he should at least be able to find an exchange online or a person who's willing to trade.

What about Kipochi. Their site seems promising. https://www.kipochi.com/namibia/bitcoin

so he can't convert to his local zone?

just use localbitcoin then, i can also advise paypal if you can do it here with a trusted member, i see no problem with charge back

As some of you guessed I didn't really send £1000 worth of bitcoin to Namibia but what I wanted to do was discuss and highlight the difficulties of using the currency in places where it would be most beneficial.
I am married into a Namibian family. My wife likes to send funds to her parents in Namibia every couple of months. She has been doing this for the last 9 years.

Currently they use one of her bankcards and she has given them her PIN. She uses a UK bank account specifically for the purpose.
So, when she decides she wants to send money she transfers money from regular account to the account her parents have a card for and just does a regular bank transfer. This works fine however she probably shouldn't have given her card and PIN to someone else.

Most people are not in a position to do this.

Prior to doing it this way or if their are some issues with the account she would use Western Union.

I showed her how simple is is to send btc if you have Mycelium installed on your phone. But we were discussing what you would do with it.

At this point LocalBitcoins is proberbly out of the question, The nearest big town is a two hour drive away. Travel to Cape Town involves a flight.
PayPal.. I don't know. I had a bad experience with it related to bitcoin previously.

I guess bitcoin just isn't ready for these communities yet.

As we said bitcoin is not ready for all the world population, some people don't have the knowledge to use it. Other people don't have a bank account so they cannot easily convert bitcoin to fiat money (they have to use localbitcoins).

In your situation I suggest you to inform more about the bitcoin "ecosystem" in Namibia.

No one has asked what he wants/needs the BTC for?


I'm sure postage to many parts of Africa is pretty poor but not impossible. They can buy anything anyone in a developed country can buy and get it posted.


Also of course https://localbitcoins.com/country/NA

I think you should have just said that it's a hypothetical question. People might accuse you of lying lol.

Did you try searching this up on google(You should provide more info as redsn0w said, about your needs and the bitcoins in Namibia):
https://www.google.com.au/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=send+money+to+Namibia&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=active&gfe_rd=cr&ei=NMkPVc2CLbPu8wf5_oHwBQ#safe=active&rls=en&q=send+money+to+Namibia

Maybe he could use gyft to buy gift cards and use them to get the stuff he wants ordering through his phone but it depends on which shops will ship to his PO box.

Instead of complaining about how nobody uses it you could find somebody who's willing to experiment with it and sell it to them, but as you said, that's not possible because you just made the story up, in that situation what you would do is find several people to sell the coins to and sell the £1000 worth of it in chunks.

Of course, this means that you actually have to take some initiative, I would have turned it into a small event and help explain what Bitcoin is to people, that's how you get them interested and spread it's use.

I keep coming back to this video whenever somebody complains about the use of Bitcoin, a family in your situation went and did it rather than saying nobody knows about it and giving up - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrRXP1tp6Kw

He said he was trying to figure out a way to send money to his wife's parents in Namibia, did you even read the previous posts?

lol it's getting ridiculous now how people don't actually read anything properly anymore, we should call these fuckers out I think because often they end up completely derailing the thread.

No I read this first. I think you should visit some anger management classes to calm yourself as fast as possible.

Yeah.


Lol. Did you read the posts after that?

It's hardly anything unreasonable, getting angry? No it's just fucking irritating seeing people glance at the title or one post instead of looking at the whole conversation and then making up what the person has actually written throughout the whole thing and then picking a fight entirely based on that and making themselves look stupid.

If you think someone has made an insubstantial post, report it with the 'report to moderator' button.

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On topic :

Can you explain better what is happened with paypal? A chargeback or they have blocked your paypal account? There is other new possibilities, like abra (but it is not open to all the world and it is 'needed' a bank account). The best option I can give you is to try search buyers on localbitcoins.

When I saw title of this topic I was like. Wow, another topic how bitcoin is great and how can you send money across the world with no problems now.
But after reading every post here I am now little sad. People here are just  too optimistic over bitcoin in my opinion. Bitcoin is not good choice when you have no electronic infrastructure to back it up - then bitcoin is borderline useless. To sum this story up: You can't do anything with just smartphone with shitton of bitcoin on it. No when there isn't any bitcoin service :/ Sad really.

I agree. Especially when merchants are accepting bitcoins as payment, but sooner or later they're going to exchange it back to USD, GBP or whatever fiat currency they're using.

It would be good if they can just keep that amount of BTC(As they do in banks, depositing fiat), or buy more goods with that BTC, instead of having to exchange it back to fiat everytime.

Just for the theory.
Yes your imaginery friend could get himself one with just a photo or soon/already anon prepaid cc's - no id check - that he can load with btc or you could do it and send him.
not a great danger of theft too because you can send a fresh card and load after he received it.
Imho way safer then what your wife is doing right now.

Most countries around you with less infrastructure are gearing towards BTC. {BitX operates from within Botswana}

Kenya has also started to invest in BTC enabled ATM's {Albeit their first one} So they should not have to travel to Cape Town to get their money.

The BitX account just have to be linked to your local bank account and then you exchange it for fiat and have it deposited in to your local bank account.

It's not that difficult at all...  ;)

I was thinking about a scam, as I was doubting there's a phone network in Northern Namibia. This is no London! And driving to SA isn't an option, African roads mean the journey would take 3 days. So there's an opportunity. It's probably very small because of Northern Namibia being so remote, but Africa badly needs BTC-to-cash shops. In America, there used to be many small shops offering people without a bank account to cash their checks, the same thing needs to be done in every large city in Africa.

Otherwise, the credit card solution is a good one, but I understand it can only be done within a family.

Hmm...to think of it if you can find some buyers in ebay or local marketplace who would accept your btc in exchange for goods then ship it to Namibia, perhaps that is worth considering. I mean come on, there is bound to be something that you will find it useful and which you can easily get buyers for it. I know it sounds awful having to receive the items and then finding buyers who would buy those stuff and then only you get back your local currency but any way is better than nothing. Unless you can find someone in your country willing to pay you in your local currency in exchange for btc

By reading the few posts before me, I would say that bitcoin is for primarily to be used within developing or developed countries. In under developed countries, the poverty would not allow people to use bitcoin as they would not have the correct resources to access and use bitcoin to it's full potential.
In an under developed country the people that would be able to use bitcoin may not have a good enough technical knowledge for in order to understand what they're doing. They may just treat their wallets as another piece of software on a machine, which could always be recovered by downloading again if something has to happen.
Obviously you can do that,but what happens when they haven't backed up?
This goes for the same with the financial aspects as since it's so easy to use bitcoin on illegal activities.

It might help if you asked yourself what you are doing and why.  Why does your friend need exchange commodities?  Food?  Rent?  Real estate?  To pay his/her employees?  Who does he need to procure whatever it is from?  Apparently he wanted the coins so you sent them to him.  What's the problem?   How could we possibly help you with the information you have given us?   

I find this as a very interesting experiment.

I think that a service / directory with all possible ways to buy, sell and spend bitcoin for each country (region) needs either to be done, either to get popular/used.



I know a lot of ways to sell BTC in US/UK/western europe, but not in my own country. Maybe I could research more. But this is not the real problem.
The real problem is: if I don't know, can I expect my father, or my grandfather know?

There's still work to do if we really want this to become widely used, as a global currency.

I don't think you have covered the whole thread. Look at this.

For the best experience look for an exchange or localbitcoins ... using Paypal just does not cut it for me, unless ofcourse he/she plans to use paypal to buy further stuff.

It's too bad there's no service like Bitpesa yet in Namibia like there is in Kenya and Tanzania:

https://www.bitpesa.co/

That'd make it really easy, if they'd did it the mobile money way like Kenya started with M-Pesa...

Thats a lot of money. The problem is he needs to find either a local seller that it's into bitcoin, or buying whatever he wants with bitcoin itself and hoping someone wants to send whatever he buys to there.

Thanks, I hadn't. 

More to the point, it looks like you have fiat available and people are willing to accept it there.  If so, hold on to your bitcoin.  Gresham's law and all. 

In Namibia you can use both ice3x.com and bitx.co, both exchanges will allow clients from Namibia. Namibians can also sign up with payfast.co.za to be able to accept bitcoins on their websites, or get paid in bitcoin, and the bitcoin will be converted to Rand or Namibian dollars and put into the bank account, the fee is 1.9% to do that. http://www.bitcoinzar.co.za/buy-bitcoin-in-south-africa/ same rules apply for Namibia.

Is this an made up story or real one?
If it's real then i belive there are few exchanges for sure and even if not, you can get plenty of buyers on localbitcoins.com.

I wish people would stop keep suggesting localbitcoins at a way to transfer btc to cash in somewhere like Namibia.

I just took a look and there is one seller for the whole of Namibia and he is actually based in London and he only accepts Western Union!

This is interesting to know, thanks.

World Mitter accepts bitcoin, its bitcoin transmitter, this is what we need?

The demand is not there yet, we are still int the adoption phase

Go back to square one.
Have your friend send the Bitcoin back to you, and then send money in his own fiat via Western Union or whatever is the most liquid for his location.

I guess the safest way would be for them to get a verified account with an exchange like Bitstamp which would allow them to convert the BTC to USD and have it transferred directly to their bank account. You can also convert BTC to USD through Virwox and then withdraw it to a Skrill or Paypal account but they have some nasty fees.

Well, a friend of mine solve this problem by using his family and friends in a city where there are Bitcoin Atm's.... He sends them money to their bank accounts and they buy him BTC. The opposite can also be done, if he wants to sell it.   :D

You have to be creative, if you live in a 3rd world country. {Not saying Namibia is 3rd world} The technology will catch up, if their are a demand for it..... look what Mpesa did for Kenya.   ;D

I is nice that you think everything bitcoin related can be done just by being creative. But I am not so sure it is possible. After all, you need to have that bitcoin ATM, you need to have dedicated service which is available in your country without 3rd party infrastructure bitcoin is nothing more that just line of code unfortunately.

buy gold bars, and send it to him ;D
anyway, i almost read the title like 100000 BTC
with no £ before BTC ;D

Maybe he can exchange from here
https://bitx.co/za

So, did OP try anything?
Reading through this thread, there seem to be ways, to make it work, even in Namibia.

It really get on my nerves, how people always just suggest, that it wouldn't work, making statements about a country, they don't know anything about.
Fun fact: Not everybody in Africa lives in a hut, with no clean water. Your educations system obviously failed you.

 

Only if you treat BTC as an temporary asset, that in the end will be converted back to fiat money.  Point of view may change if you can spend bitcoins to buy something.

Nope, it was merely a hypothetical question to stir up discussion.  No attempts have been made yet...

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=999791.msg10857611#msg10857611

Interesting discussion.
So it is still a probelm for a unbanked African, without a passport and just a mobile phone.
Hmm, I thought, that was fixed somehow...


SO BITCOIN DOES NOT WORK FOR THE UNBANKED YET !!!


...and it looks like there is no reason for them to jump in, before a new created service is providing a solution...

If you are clever, this might be a big business!

Only works in Kenya and Tanzania so far:

https://www.bitpesa.co/

Yes of course but if you will find someone that wants pay you with cash I think you can sell bitcoin to him. Bitcoin is not ready for the "mass" and it will be never ready if someone will not create an user-friendly system withou the help of the banks.The banks is the cancert at the moment.

Here a fantastic article about Uganda & bitcoin : http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2014/05/22/using-bitcoin-to-send-money-to-your-brother-in-uganda-would-be-awesome-if-it-actually-worked/   but it is only an example.

and there were suggestions. Are all this suggestions crap?
This thread was made to tell everybody, that it doesn't work without even trying.
I see that really often. People complain about something, and when you offer help, they just don't want it, they just want to complain.

you're late...
that was only an experiment. you should read everything before posting ;)

You should do the same ;)

OP was just a troll.

He  neither have 1000 £ nor a wife with relatives in namibia.

There are solutions but he only bothered to point out what would not work.

How do you know that? Do you have some proofs or are your thought only a normal supposition? I also don't think he didn't (or will not) send money to Namibia.

its called logic and is quite obvious.

OP only points out options that doesnt work and ignores solution that are working and are cheaper.

No need to be a rocket scientist to see that.

SMS technology is availible almost everywhere and there's already things at work to allow blockchain operations with SMS, the problem is having people that accept BTC directly, or converting BTC in the local currency.