Phillipino nannies remit over $20billion yr

[hilariousandco]

The remittance market is huge all over the world and there's much more to it than Phillipino nannies. I really think this is an industry where bitcoin can thrive. You don't even need to know bitcoin is involved if you use other companies that take advantage of bitcoin for you, but you could also do it yourself too.

Then you realize none of the local shops in 3rd world countries accept bitcoin nor have the means to.    What advantage does a 40 year old nanny who doesn't know a lick of computing have to switch over to bitcoin when they're already being paid in readily usable cash?

Good god, the IQ level on this forum is astounding.  

I'm not sure he's the one who needs to be checking IQ. You don't need to know anything about bitcoin to take advantage of what will likely happen in the remittance market. There will be remittance companies that will do that for you and give you your cash just like western union do except they can cut a decent chunk off fees in doing so. Of course you could always do it yourself as well and cut fees even more. It's not hard to use the blockchain.info app on your smartphone.

[Elwar]

As someone who uses Bitcoin for remittance, it is short sighted to say that it cannot be done because people don't use bitcoins in whichever country.

I get a much better rate going USD->BTC->EUR than I do USD->EUR.

And now that I can get paid in bitcoins using bitwage.co I just do BTC->EUR.

As has been shown here several times in this thread, sending money fiat->Bitcoin->fiat is cheaper than the current options for Phillipinos.

It is just a matter of time before it is used all over the world for this. If you have a cheaper version of the same product as someone else, either your product will eventually take over or the competition will need to lower their prices to compete. It is only a matter of adoption.

[Will.i.am Shakespeare]

It is just a matter of time before it is used all over the world for this. If you have a cheaper version of the same product as someone else, either your product will eventually take over or the competition will need to lower their prices to compete. It is only a matter of adoption.

I hope you're right. Logically this seems like it should come true, but at the same time I can't see why more companies or industries haven't already implemented bitcoin when the savings are quite clear. I guess we just need more people involved and awareness.

[TriggerX]

It just a matter of time before the big remittance companies in the Philippines start accepting bitcoin. Once they adopt it they are capable of advertising it in television, internet and in newspaper that can reach the majority of the Phillipinos. This is just a matter of advertising.

Most of this remitances are not coming from nannies. They come from nurses, teachers, sailors, workers in oil industry, military contractors and many more working abroad.

There are estimated 10 to 15 million Filipinos working abroad.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overseas_Filipino

Most of the nannies and OFW are computer literate now. My cousin is working in the government and his work is teaching the OFW's how to use the computer.

[theblacksquid]

@flipstyle: You're right in saying that the Philippines has a lot more problems than learning how use a new technology, 'cuz we get a hang of new tech pretty quickly. The only reason why its not so widespread here is only a matter of building the front-end tools necessary for people to use it, and the awareness that it exists in the first place. I want Bitcoin to be successful here in the Philippines as much as I want it to succeed everywhere, and I'm contributing to the projects that I believe will make it happen.

[Rassah]

Reddit post on this topic:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2rn46k/been_using_western_union_and_xoom_for_years_to/

Been using western Union and xoom for years to send money to philippines. Just used coins.ph to send bitcoin. It was faster and cheaper. (self.Bitcoin)

submitted 2 hours ago by peilthetraveler
Unfortunately the bank charged a 50 peso deposit fee(because the bank was in Mindanao and not Manila) which is still way cheaper than xoom or western union. But other than that the exchange fee only cost me about 63 cents. So using bitcoin to send 4,000 pesos only cost $1.74 vs Western Union and xoom which charge about $5 plus they would make a little extra on the exchange fee (maybe another $2.37 for a transaction like this.)
Also the money was there the same day. (I think it took about 8 hours or so) Western Union and xoom might take 3 days or longer.
Safe to say, I'm only going to send money overseas with bitcoin now.

Also, you don't even need a computer to use bitcoin. Just a phone that can do SMS.

[coinsme]

You don't necessarily need to know what is bitcoin and how it works to use it for remittance. There are a bunch of start-ups that offer bitcoin remittance services.

http://www.coindesk.com/philippines-startups-fulfil-bitcoins-remittance-promise/

http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-firm-enables-remittance-withdrawals-450-philippine-bank-atms/

https://rebit.ph/how-it-works

I've read about one of such businesses (can't find a link) enabled both senders and recipients to pay/receive in fiat, so they wouldn't even have to know that bitcoins have been used for transfer.

Thanks for sharing about our service - I'm with coins.ph, by the way. Our goal is to increase access to financial services using digital currencies / bitcoin. Remittance is a two-way process - there's the sender (OFW) and the beneficiary (family member / loved one). The good thing about this process is that it only takes the sender to understand bitcoin (how to remit money using bitcoin), and the process can be completed - money can get to the beneficiary through familiar means. Hence, we are very glad to add 24/7 instant ATM cash pick up into our list of remittance payout options. https://coins.ph/atm-cash-pickup

Advantage of remitting money using bitcoin? Convenience and being able to save on fees - hoping this could help motivate more senders / ofws to give it a try.

[FandangledGizmo]

BitShares will be big for remittance in the Philippines & one of their remittance partners already has relationships with a receiving bank there. BitShares is waiting for the release of 1.0 in the next month before they officially push hard on some of these markets.

https://bitsharestalk.org/index.php?topic=11125.0

We have relations with a receiving bank where they will be the official offramp and partner of Remitabit.

Thank you for taking an enthusiastic interest in our emerging presence.

We will be sharing our plan progressively over the coming weeks and months, some of it publicly and some of the confidential details to those we work more closely with.

To clarify whilst we are developing the business in the Philippines we are focused on all major receiving markets and have discovery meetings underway with known partners in South America and China.

Our business model is not obvious but to let you in on its objectives; we pay respect to the hardships endured by migrant workers, the legal framework of the receiving country and are working with banks to ensure our off-ramps are ensured.

In summary we enter this market keen to improve the lives of our constituents and are pragmatic regarding the need to work with institutions.

BitShares has BitUSD which is fully decentralised, an average of 300% collateralised & holds the value of USD, (currently 34 on coinmarketcap)

http://whatisbitusd.com/
http://bitsharesblocks.com/assets/asset?id=USD

(They also have all major currencies, BitGold & BitSilver trading too.)

[Elwar]

BitShares will be big for remittance in the Philippines & one of their remittance partners already has relationships with a receiving bank there. BitShares is waiting for the release of 1.0 in the next month before they officially push hard on some of these markets.

https://bitsharestalk.org/index.php?topic=11125.0

We have relations with a receiving bank where they will be the official offramp and partner of Remitabit.

Thank you for taking an enthusiastic interest in our emerging presence.

We will be sharing our plan progressively over the coming weeks and months, some of it publicly and some of the confidential details to those we work more closely with.

To clarify whilst we are developing the business in the Philippines we are focused on all major receiving markets and have discovery meetings underway with known partners in South America and China.

Our business model is not obvious but to let you in on its objectives; we pay respect to the hardships endured by migrant workers, the legal framework of the receiving country and are working with banks to ensure our off-ramps are ensured.

In summary we enter this market keen to improve the lives of our constituents and are pragmatic regarding the need to work with institutions.

BitShares has BitUSD which is fully decentralised, an average of 300% collateralised & holds the value of USD, (currently 34 on coinmarketcap)

http://whatisbitusd.com/
http://bitsharesblocks.com/assets/asset?id=USD

(They also have all major currencies, BitGold & BitSilver trading too.)

Wow, I thought Pirate was in jail. Did he create BitShares as a more technically magical Ponzi scheme?

“If you have a thousand bitcoins and you convert them to BitBTC, and then you hold it for six months, then you convert the BitBTC plus the dividends you received back to bitcoins, you’ll end up with more bitcoins than you started with.”

Wow...a Bitcoin generating alt!

But wait, where do they get the extra bitcoins to give to people that held for six months? Surely not from new people investing their bitcoins...

[FandangledGizmo]

BitShares will be big for remittance in the Philippines & one of their remittance partners already has relationships with a receiving bank there. BitShares is waiting for the release of 1.0 in the next month before they officially push hard on some of these markets.

https://bitsharestalk.org/index.php?topic=11125.0

We have relations with a receiving bank where they will be the official offramp and partner of Remitabit.

Thank you for taking an enthusiastic interest in our emerging presence.

We will be sharing our plan progressively over the coming weeks and months, some of it publicly and some of the confidential details to those we work more closely with.

To clarify whilst we are developing the business in the Philippines we are focused on all major receiving markets and have discovery meetings underway with known partners in South America and China.

Our business model is not obvious but to let you in on its objectives; we pay respect to the hardships endured by migrant workers, the legal framework of the receiving country and are working with banks to ensure our off-ramps are ensured.

In summary we enter this market keen to improve the lives of our constituents and are pragmatic regarding the need to work with institutions.

BitShares has BitUSD which is fully decentralised, an average of 300% collateralised & holds the value of USD, (currently 34 on coinmarketcap)

http://whatisbitusd.com/
http://bitsharesblocks.com/assets/asset?id=USD

(They also have all major currencies, BitGold & BitSilver trading too.)

Wow, I thought Pirate was in jail. Did he create BitShares as a more technically magical Ponzi scheme?

“If you have a thousand bitcoins and you convert them to BitBTC, and then you hold it for six months, then you convert the BitBTC plus the dividends you received back to bitcoins, you’ll end up with more bitcoins than you started with.”

Wow...a Bitcoin generating alt!

But wait, where do they get the extra bitcoins to give to people that held for six months? Surely not from new people investing their bitcoins...

No, they don't get the extra USD/Bitcoin/Other from requiring more people to invest more and more Bitcoins

If you want to buy 1 BitUSD it costs you $1 worth of BitShares.

People who want to take a leveraged position on BitShares can short a BitAsset like BitUSD at the price feed.
The shorts are required to lock up $2 worth of collateral and they compete on how much interest they're willing to pay the longs.  

When a long (Someone who wants 1 BitUSD) meets a short, a new fungible BitUSD is created.

So the interest that you earn on BitBTC or BitUSD and other BitAssets doesn't require new BitCoin coming in, it is the result of people competing to take a leveraged position on BitShares & paying interest to people who want to hold BitAssets.

http://bitsharesblocks.com/assets/asset?id=USD  - You can see this system maintains an average of 300% of collateral to back BitAssets and is able to generate interest for BitAsset holders.

http://bitshares.org/the-value-proposition-of-bitshares-part-ii-bitassets/

So BitUSD lets you send a dollar stable asset, globally, in 10 seconds, for 1¢ per transaction regardless of size. 
With the partnerships being set up in the Philippines mentioned above, it will hopefully revolutionise remittance.

[judahzhirsch]

@flipstyle: You're right in saying that the Philippines has a lot more problems than learning how use a new technology, 'cuz we get a hang of new tech pretty quickly. The only reason why its not so widespread here is only a matter of building the front-end tools necessary for people to use it, and the awareness that it exists in the first place. I want Bitcoin to be successful here in the Philippines as much as I want it to succeed everywhere, and I'm contributing to the projects that I believe will make it happen.

3 year later, its caught on pretty well

[knircky]

Phillipino nannies remit over $20billion yr. If the nannies switch to bitcoin the savings from fees etc would be enormous, maybe over $100mill per year..

Do u know how much they make? Surely their western union fees are lower than bitcoin trading and tx fees.

Bitcoin is design to only be used by elites.

[mevmike]

that is why it will be beneficial for them to know how to use cryptocurrency as a way to send their remittances to their family here in the Philippines..
being to save few more money instead of paying remittances center for services charges to truly wonderful.
that is why we Filipino's must now be more responsible in disseminating the knowledge about cryptocurrency to our fellows.

[Tapyaks72]

that is why it will be beneficial for them to know how to use cryptocurrency as a way to send their remittances to their family here in the Philippines..
being to save few more money instead of paying remittances center for services charges to truly wonderful.
that is why we Filipino's must now be more responsible in disseminating the knowledge about cryptocurrency to our fellows.

Yes it is a benificial to over seas contract workers with this   
technology at least  we have  another options for money remittances at least those remittance service provider can now think of lowering their charges because of pair compitions.

[judahzhirsch]

Phillipino nannies remit over $20billion yr. If the nannies switch to bitcoin the savings from fees etc would be enormous, maybe over $100mill per year..

Do u know how much they make? Surely their western union fees are lower than bitcoin trading and tx fees.

Bitcoin is design to only be used by elites.

Knircky,

I agree, you lose about 8% with bitcoin, that's why SALPay is making a token that will cost only 1% (no forex fees) to send money from US, SG, AUS directly into our existing SALPay wallet and card here.