The effects of Bitcoin on System D – The shadow economyArticle up on Coinbrief.net, written from Jason De Costa's experiences in Indonesia. Snippet below:
In the past, Chukwuma had to rely on fellow Africans, who are traders in the city, to transfer any funds he wished to remit home, by using their own personal bank accounts. This was needed because Nigeria's anti fraud police units station their plain clothes officers at all major banks, and payment processors like Western Union or Money Gram, to apprehend anyone suspected of retrieving funds that may be proceeds from the various scams that originate from there.
In Chukwuma's case, he sends the bitcoins to his wife in the Philippines, where she cashes it out to fiat and remits provisions and goods to Chukwuma's siblings in the town of Abuja where they sell it on the streets for a big profit. Chukwuma reasons that using crypto currency is much safer for him, and he enjoys not needing to fill out forms and pay a hefty transaction fee, use his friend's bank accounts, or rely on a remittance agency to send his earnings to his family.
