How Bitcoin will smash Donald Trump's Mexican remittance wall

[OROBTC]

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I stand by my opinions mentioned earlier.  If both governments do not OK the idea of BTC remittances, I do not see a massive BTC Infrastructure that could be built soon (and that Mexican migrants would use).  That goes for both the US side (BTC ATMs, exchange shops, etc.) as well on the Mexican side (banks taking it, non-governmental interference).

localbitcoins?  I have a hard time using it myself (probably too few interested in my city, and there ARE immigrants here).

Mexico allowing it?  I don't really have a good opinion to offer, but my guess would be no way, too much seignoriage to be made off making the local currency).

[Spendulus]

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/how-bitcoin-will-smash-donald-trumps-mexican-remittance-wall-1554717

Last week, presidential candidate Donald Trump revealed his plan for funding the wall that he wants to build on the border between Mexico and the southern United States. How would he generate the billions of dollars to construct it? He has a simple plan: block the flow of remittance funds from United States to Mexico. Cutting off that resource would compel the Mexican government into agreeing to pay for the the wall, which has a reported cost of $10 – 12 billion dollars.

Trump's plan is woefully ignorant of what remittance is, how it works, and why it is so important. Millions of Mexicans living in the United States work and save their money so they can send it to their families who still live in Mexico. This is called remittance and it is estimated that over $24 billion dollars per year flows from the US to Mexico.

In a spirited blog post to accompany its latest poster campaign, eco-friendly Bitcoin mining company Genesis Mining imagined what would happen if Trump succeeds in getting his plan approved and Mexicans in the US could no longer send money home to support their families. Companies like Western Union, MoneyGram, and Xoom are all forced to comply with these laws since they are strictly regulated. What would the average worker do to make sure they can still support their family?

"The solution would be Bitcoin because Bitcoin can't be stopped. Not by Trump. Not by Putin. Not by anyone. Sure, you can pass regulations to make it more difficult to use but at the end of the day, if people need it, they will always find a way," said Marco Streng, CEO, Genesis Mining.

26B a year in remittances USA to Mexico in 2014.  Assume Trump puts a 3% fee on these, that is 780M per year.  A 7B wall would be paid off in 10 years at this rate.  A 3% fee would not discourage remittances, because it would legitimize them.  Note that a fee which was too high would discourage remittances, in which case they would seek alternative black market means of getting around it (including bitcoin).

Fees which are too high result in lower total collections, hence are counter productive.

There is no problem whatsoever with Trump's idea of using fees to finance the wall.