extinguishing Western union

[eerygarden]

I am quite a fan of Andreas Antonopolous. I have seen numerous videos of him on YouTube and his enthusiasm for bitcoin is fantastic. I have heard him say before that bitcoin is a threat to Western union and in the latest video I watched of him (brilliant BTW) he again mentioned Western union.

"We are going to see bitcoin impacting remittances long before we see it impacting retail. We are not going shopping with bitcoin, we are taking out Western union."
https://youtu.be/SEJGFY0iDUw

He mentions that UK to the Philippines is a major remittance route and bitcoin ATMs are facilitating this today and hints at a 1% fee but I believe that bitcoin ATMs have higher margins than this. If this is happening, where is it happening and how can we speed it up?

[Possum577]

Absolutely true! How many immigrants send money home from developed countries (UK, US, EU, etc.) to their home country? Millions...and that means hundreds of millions of dollars is flowing through these transmitter services. Bitcoin can absolutely provide a better option - lower fees, easier transaction, faster transaction, potential for asset appreciation.

[gentlemand]

He mentions that UK to the Philippines is a major remittance route and bitcoin ATMs are facilitating this today and hints at a 1% fee but I believe that bitcoin ATMs have higher margins than this. If this is happening, where is it happening and how can we speed it up?

The Philippines seems to be a hotbed of BTC activity compared to elsewhere. It's humming along.

https://www.goabra.com/ seems to be pushing the remittance angle. I've no idea how many people they've signed up and it's pretty interesting that there's virtually no mention of Bitcoin anywhere but I'll be keen to see how far they get.

[yayayo]

"We are going to see bitcoin impacting remittances long before we see it impacting retail. We are not going shopping with bitcoin, we are taking out Western union."

Western Union will be replaced for sure, because they can't compete cost-wise with the entirely free infrastructure of Bitcoin. Though it remains to be seen how fast. WU can lower their margins and slow down customer drain.

In my opinion omnipresent possibilities to shop with Bitcoin would be a huge leap forward and would actually speed up adoption in the remittance market as well. The reason is simple: If you don't have to convert your Bitcoin anymore to buy things, a whole step in the remittance process becomes obsolete and any conversion fee will be eliminated. There will be absolutely no remaining economical difference in global vs. local transactions.

So the key to Bitcoin succeeding in remittance is the same as for Bitcoin succeeding in general: Acceptance by businesses (esp. brick-and-mortar businesses).

ya.ya.yo!

[jbrnt]

"We are going to see bitcoin impacting remittances long before we see it impacting retail. We are not going shopping with bitcoin, we are taking out Western union."
https://youtu.be/SEJGFY0iDUw

This is so true. The best of all is that the ultimate solution is already here. All they need is a two-way Bitcoin ATM in both countries and Western union is dead! Foreign workers feed fiat on one end, send Bitcoin to the family's address. Wait for a few confirmations. The family relay the coins to another ATM at home and cash is home within 2 hours (time for confirmations).

[unamis76]

WU is up for replacement ASAP... many services are already facilitating fund transactions across boarders with Bitcoin for a very small fee, we've had examples of such companies on the forum in the past. And when people are literate enough to fiddle with Bitcoin themselves, costs will reduce, and the advantages comparing to WU will be immense and will make people save a lot of money.

Enough of remittance empire for these companies

[gentlemand]

Their rates are despicable but surely a fair chunk of the cost is down to having to comply with local laws and probably bribing their way into being allowed to operate in certain areas.

As we've seen with Uber, these disruptive companies are delighted to ignore laws wherever possible. You might just be able to get away with that in the taxi world. When it comes to money they're going to hit the buffers pretty rapidly once they get beyond the minnow stage.

[knowhow]

the only way to wester union to remain in the market and create a crypto currency propia fixed value, which does not happen with other crypto thus would avoid the high rates and could stay in business otherwise already began to lose customers and soon will be asked to close .

[NyeFe]

Although Bitcoin does seem to be some sort of obstacle for WU, couldn't Ripple (XRP) be a simple and efficient solution for them? Their users could be given XRP which would be redeemable at any of their outlets...

[gogxmagog]

Although Bitcoin does seem to be some sort of obstacle for WU, couldn't Ripple (XRP) be a simple and efficient solution for them? Their users could be given XRP which would be redeemable at any of their outlets...

WU would still charge exorbitant fees. That's what they are all about. Their dependance upon huge fees IS their business model. BTC should, and probably will, destroy them. Good riddance to bad trash!

[aso118]

Although Bitcoin does seem to be some sort of obstacle for WU, couldn't Ripple (XRP) be a simple and efficient solution for them? Their users could be given XRP which would be redeemable at any of their outlets...

WU would still charge exorbitant fees. That's what they are all about. Their dependance upon huge fees IS their business model. BTC should, and probably will, destroy them. Good riddance to bad trash!

There are multiple regulations around know your customer, anti-money laundering, etc, which these companies have to comply with. A big chunk of their costs is in relation to these regulations. Having said that, Bitcoin will still make the process much more efficient.

[Alley]

People trust western union.  Right now most people don't think bitcoin is safe.

[MarketNeutral]

People trust western union.  Right now most people don't think bitcoin is safe.

Ironic.

[ransomer]

People trust western union.  Right now most people don't think bitcoin is safe.

Ironic.

Not really.

In a well-regulated western country - losing access or getting scammed out of ones money in a bank account (without getting the full amount refunded by the bank) happens very very very rarely... in fact in my entire life I have never heard about a single incident in my country...

People losing access to or getting scammed out of ones bitcoin is much much much much higher occurrence.

...

So, obviously for now bitcoins are much more unsafe.

"But that is because people are dumb and do not jump through hoops to keep their btcs safe"....

yeah maybe, but that is not a legitimate argument. If this is meant to be an improvement - it should be an improvement... not make things harder and unsafe etc.

[newb4now]

I am quite a fan of Andreas Antonopolous. I have seen numerous videos of him on YouTube and his enthusiasm for bitcoin is fantastic. I have heard him say before that bitcoin is a threat to Western union and in the latest video I watched of him (brilliant BTW) he again mentioned Western union.

"We are going to see bitcoin impacting remittances long before we see it impacting retail. We are not going shopping with bitcoin, we are taking out Western union."
https://youtu.be/SEJGFY0iDUw

He mentions that UK to the Philippines is a major remittance route and bitcoin ATMs are facilitating this today and hints at a 1% fee but I believe that bitcoin ATMs have higher margins than this. If this is happening, where is it happening and how can we speed it up?

I think he is right, but I doubt there are any ATM's with fees as low as 1%.

Due to ATM cost, leasing fees for their location and regulatory expenses I suspect fees would need to be a lot higher

There are far cheaper ways to use BTC without involving ATMs

[qwep]

i havent used western union in ages, what is % they charge to send money to other countries like an average?

[MarketNeutral]

People trust western union.  Right now most people don't think bitcoin is safe.

Ironic.

Not really.

In a well-regulated western country - losing access or getting scammed out of ones money in a bank account (without getting the full amount refunded by the bank) happens very very very rarely... in fact in my entire life I have never heard about a single incident in my country...

People losing access to or getting scammed out of ones bitcoin is much much much much higher occurrence.

...

So, obviously for now bitcoins are much more unsafe.

"But that is because people are dumb and do not jump through hoops to keep their btcs safe"....

yeah maybe, but that is not a legitimate argument. If this is meant to be an improvement - it should be an improvement... not make things harder and unsafe etc.

You're comparing apples to oranges, but I suspect you know this.

Banks function differently from bitcoin. Very differently. Identity theft, wire fraud, money laundering, and other crimes exist within the banking system. Likewise, they can exist under bitcoin. You say, "But that is because people are dumb and do not jump through hoops to keep their btcs safe." To which I could make the same argument about the people who have lost fortunes under the banking system.

The famous UNIX quote is fitting:
UNIX was not designed to stop you from doing stupid things, because that would also stop you from doing clever things.
Replace UNIX with Bitcoin and it still makes sense.

[MarketNeutral]

What do you do, MoneyGram? Join the fight against WU and adopt Bitcoin as a means of remittance? Or go down the same dead-end path as WU?

[Jhacker]

I am quite a fan of Andreas Antonopolous. I have seen numerous videos of him on YouTube and his enthusiasm for bitcoin is fantastic. I have heard him say before that bitcoin is a threat to Western union and in the latest video I watched of him (brilliant BTW) he again mentioned Western union.

"We are going to see bitcoin impacting remittances long before we see it impacting retail. We are not going shopping with bitcoin, we are taking out Western union."
https://youtu.be/SEJGFY0iDUw

He mentions that UK to the Philippines is a major remittance route and bitcoin ATMs are facilitating this today and hints at a 1% fee but I believe that bitcoin ATMs have higher margins than this. If this is happening, where is it happening and how can we speed it up?

My site www.morsecoin.com is up and does exactly this, for only a .5% fee. It is in beta but the basic functionality is there. Private keys are handled locally and are not stored or sent across the internet. The only place they reside is in the form field itself. And there is no risk of sending bitcoin to the wrong address because the recipient must confirm it with their private key. There is no longer any need for Western Union or any wire service for anyone using bitcoin.

If you want to help speed it up I could use help marketing it and would be open to a revenue sharing arrangement. Hit me up at admin@morsecoin.com

[redhawk979]

Everytime I see a Western Union death thread, it fails to point out that WU has been experiencing record growth and profits over the past few years, so Bitcoin hasn't been making any sort of dent in it.