Bitcoin being used for International money transfer. Repercussions?

[kooke]

I was talking with one of my neighbors the other day and he asked me if I had heard of BTC before and mentioned that people in his community are using it to send money to relatives in Somalia. They use a system based on hawala; an honor-based value transfer system that works outside of official financial institutions. They used to have albarakat before, but that didn't go down too well with the US. Do you think this could affect the price if it starts to pick up? And more importantly, will this cause more people in goverment to push for regulation?

[Undone]

It can and will absolutely affect the price positively, provided that people on the other end can "cash out" smoothly.

This is a great example as to why bitcoin does not have to necessarily ever be a "currency" as we traditionally use the term in order to be successful. Activities like this stimulate a demand for bitcoin, and a usage of bitcoin.

It's wealth storage combined with ultra-fast wealth transfer.

[JimboToronto]

I always thought that fast, cheap international wealth transfer was one of Bitcoin's core functions, not an afterthought.

For me, using it as a vehicle for speculative trading was the afterthought. I bought mining equipment before I bought my first bitcoin.

[kooke]

I always thought that fast, cheap international wealth transfer was one of Bitcoin's core functions, not an afterthought.

For me, using it as a vehicle for speculative trading was the afterthought. I bought mining equipment before I bought my first bitcoin.

You're correct about bitcoin's functions, but this is a little different. They go through brokers to transfer money. So the people using the system don't need to have access to the Internet or know how BTC works. The brokers are the ones who deal with the BTC aspect of the system.

[Hyena]

I just figured something --- think of all these armoured vehicles riding around every day with massive amount of money or gold as cargo. Think of the security men hired to guard that wealth and the risk involved. Bitcoin solves this all with zero cost and risk.

Here's a coin idea:
1. Premine 1 000 000 000 PaperCoins.
2. Create an ATM-shredder that destroys paper money if you insert it.
3. ATM-Shredder gives PaperCoins to the user.

This way we can convert all the paper money into its cryptographic equivalent.

4. Profit

[johnny211]

Here's a coin idea:
1. Premine 1 000 000 000 PaperCoins.
2. Create an ATM-shredder that destroys paper money if you insert it.
3. ATM-Shredder gives PaperCoins to the user.

This way we can convert all the paper money into its cryptographic equivalent.

4. Profit

Gox already tried that, instead I propose a novel mechanism where the money is kept as redeemable reserves.

[antimattercrusader]

Lol good one

[Sindelar1938]

regulation of remittances is inevitable

You can democratise prices for the many or have anonymity. Both will be difficult as govt buy-in is critical for large-scale adoption of btc into the remittances industry

[Sindelar1938]

And lest I forget, a functioning derivatives market for cryptos is critical too