Remittances Using Bitcoin

[botany]

I don't know if it is legal to use bitcoins for remittances in India. Because the trade of Bitcoins are heavily monitored by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the rules and regulations are very vague. That said, till now I haven't heard anyone getting arrested for Bitcoin usage in India.

Vagueness in rules suits the government. They can interpret the rules the way they want.
There are multiple companies involved with Bitcoin in India. The government can't enforce new rules overnight.

[Patatas]

If you are sending remittances to India, then this is the time to use Bitcoins for the same! Right now, the exchange rates are going at $900 to $910 per coin in Localbitcoins India. So this is what you should do:

How ? Localbitcoins India doesn't calculate the prices based on $,it values them on Indian rupee instead.Besides that,doesn't matter where are you buying the coins from,the value of coin doesn't change regardless of the currency differences.

1. Purchase BTC in UK or US, at $740 per coin
2. Send the BTC to a localbitcoins wallet in India
3. Sell the BTC at $900 per coin.

No Logic at all.
1.Your location doesn't matter for the purchase.
2.Localbitcoins wallet isn't based on locations either.
3.Just NOPE.

[botany]

If you are sending remittances to India, then this is the time to use Bitcoins for the same! Right now, the exchange rates are going at $900 to $910 per coin in Localbitcoins India. So this is what you should do:

How ? Localbitcoins India doesn't calculate the prices based on $,it values them on Indian rupee instead.Besides that,doesn't matter where are you buying the coins from,the value of coin doesn't change regardless of the currency differences.

You are anyway converting dollars to rupees if you are sending remittances to India.
If you convert 1 USD --> INR, you get ~68 Rs
If you convert USD --> BTC , send this BTC to India, and then BTC --> INR, you get ~15% more because BTC is sold at a premium in India.

[Sithara007]

No Logic at all.
1.Your location doesn't matter for the purchase.
2.Localbitcoins wallet isn't based on locations either.
3.Just NOPE.

You are mistaken. Location matters for most of the Localbitcoin purchases. Especially, if you want to use local bank transfer to buy/sell bitcoins. Also, if you are outside India, I don't know how can you trade in INR.

[dearbesz1219]

It's funny indeed. However the KYC terror imposed by governmental control freaks will surely reduce the number of people actually doing it. Of course it might still be possible to privately sell BTC against fiat cash, if fiat cash is available...

In my view Bitcoin will only succeed if fiat is taken out of the equation in the long term. Converting BTC to fiat is destroying all advantages of Bitcoin by adding costs, surveillance and centralized control over funds that could flow without such restrictions. this is especially true for most remittance applications. What we need is a closed-loop Bitcoin economy, where bitcoin are no longer converted to fiat anymore, but directly spent for goods and services by the receiver. That would eliminate all risks associated with conversion practices and show the full power of Bitcoin on a global and local scale.

ya.ya.yo!

Taking fiat out of the equation might work if there are enough bitcoin users. To get a ton of people interested in bitcoin, such advantages (discount on purchases, profit on remittances) might be just what is required. Once you have enough people in the Bitcoin ecosystem, you can work on taking fiat out of the equation.

So in your assessment, do you think how many enough people in the bitcoin ecosystem for us to take fiat out of the equation? So the advantage of bitcoin will not be destroy anymore.

[panju1]

It's funny indeed. However the KYC terror imposed by governmental control freaks will surely reduce the number of people actually doing it. Of course it might still be possible to privately sell BTC against fiat cash, if fiat cash is available...

In my view Bitcoin will only succeed if fiat is taken out of the equation in the long term. Converting BTC to fiat is destroying all advantages of Bitcoin by adding costs, surveillance and centralized control over funds that could flow without such restrictions. this is especially true for most remittance applications. What we need is a closed-loop Bitcoin economy, where bitcoin are no longer converted to fiat anymore, but directly spent for goods and services by the receiver. That would eliminate all risks associated with conversion practices and show the full power of Bitcoin on a global and local scale.

ya.ya.yo!

Taking fiat out of the equation might work if there are enough bitcoin users. To get a ton of people interested in bitcoin, such advantages (discount on purchases, profit on remittances) might be just what is required. Once you have enough people in the Bitcoin ecosystem, you can work on taking fiat out of the equation.

So in your assessment, do you think how many enough people in the bitcoin ecosystem for us to take fiat out of the equation? So the advantage of bitcoin will not be destroy anymore.

We are a long time away from that happening. If we have 1000+ shops / establishments accepting bitcoin in a city, then we might have a critical mass. That might also result in some wages being paid in Bitcoin. Once that happens, we are good to go.

[Rooster101]

Some people abroad like the migrant workers are still wary of new technology promising fast and cheap remittances and internet usage on some market particularly Asia is often less than 40% putting a cap on the reach of digital technologies. Many challenges remains ahead  for bitcoin remittance and it must be address first.   

[merchantofzeny]

It depends on how much support Bitcoin have in the receiving country. For example where I live the banks don't charge any fee when you cash out in their branches in the capital.

Even if there are fees, the transaction is mostly instant for most other ways of cashing out. The convenience is worth paying for and in bt's case, it's also much cheaper than traditional fund transfer.