Expensify Turning to Bitcoin to Save on Remittance Fees - Huge News?

[Zangelbert Bingledack]

http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/27/expensify-now-offers-support-for-bitcoin-an-alternative-to-paypal-for-international-contractors/

Previously, our US companies with international employees or contractors were incurring currency conversion or wire transfer fees to the tune of 4% in some cases. To this end, Bitcoin is a great tool for minimizing the cost of reimbursing companies outside of the US. As a plus, transfers are secure and instant – no more waiting multiple business days for your ACH to clear!

This is the application I've been waiting to see. I knew Bitcoin had to offer major cost-cutting opportunities some way or other, and I was always surprised no one really seemed to be leveraging that. It seems like this could be a game-changer.




[For consolidation purposes, the Press Forum thread is here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=159491.0]

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[matt608]

Wow, this looks big, more great news for bitcoin! 

[NamelessOne]

Maybe is this the beginning of the news media stating that "bitcoin is a paypal killer". Bring it on!

[Dargo]

This is great news for sure. I do wonder, however, if some will be reluctant to try it b/c of the volatility in price. If price drops 5% before one can cash out to fiat, this effectively creates a high transaction fee. Of course, price could also go up 5%, effectively giving one a profit on the transaction. It's good news either way, I'm just wondering how quickly it will catch on. But eventually I think this will be a big driver for Bitcoin.

[Gab1159]

What is Expensify exactly? I read that it has a couple of million of users, but what kind of service does it offer?

[MEGAMERICAN]

What is Expensify exactly? I read that it has a couple of million of users, but what kind of service does it offer?

Automated expense reporting.

[randrace]

This is great news for sure. I do wonder, however, if some will be reluctant to try it b/c of the volatility in price. If price drops 5% before one can cash out to fiat, this effectively creates a high transaction fee. Of course, price could also go up 5%, effectively giving one a profit on the transaction. It's good news either way, I'm just wondering how quickly it will catch on. But eventually I think this will be a big driver for Bitcoin.

Easy fix: convert to fiat at time of BTC transfer.

[Dargo]

This is great news for sure. I do wonder, however, if some will be reluctant to try it b/c of the volatility in price. If price drops 5% before one can cash out to fiat, this effectively creates a high transaction fee. Of course, price could also go up 5%, effectively giving one a profit on the transaction. It's good news either way, I'm just wondering how quickly it will catch on. But eventually I think this will be a big driver for Bitcoin.

Easy fix: convert to fiat at time of BTC transfer.

I was assuming conversion to fiat at time of transfer. The point is that Bitcoin is sometimes so volatile that price could change a few percent during the time it would take to get enough confirmations and convert to fiat. Granted, it is somewhat unusual for BTC to be this volatile, so I don't think there is major risk here. But I was wondering if the perception would be that this is a risk, and make some reluctant to try it.