Is Bitcoin an option for low- and middle-income countries [Fees & Costs]

[BitcoinPanther]

Easier and faster, yes! This is also true. I wonder though, how much time it takes to send a traditional remittance from a country to another. I have never sent one, so...

According to the internet[1] it usually takes on or two days up to 5 working days depending on the currency. So using Bitcoin to transfer fund is way much faster than the traditional bank transfers.  Aside from that I believe Bitcoin fee is also way cheaper than this cross-boarder processing fee charges.

So to have a cheaper and faster means to send funds to other country, I believe Bitcoin is a good option for low and middle income countries since people can have a cheaper means of transferring funds while enjoying a faster transaction if we are talking about international transfer.



[1] https://www.inpay.com/cross-border-insights/how-long-do-international-bank-transfers-take

[Odohu]

This is part of the reason Bitcoin was created, to offer a better alternative to conventional payment systems. Personally, it was the need to send money across borders that led me to Bitcoin because accessing FX for other needs was restricted in my country apart from education, medical needs and some selected businesses. I found Bitcoin which was easier, cheaper and more convenient to use.

I am curious to know if (and how much) Bitcoin is adopted in low- and middle-income countries.

People in my country see Bitcoin more from the angle of investment than what it was actually meant for, however, there is growing awareness on the usage aspect of Bitcoin, it may be slower than expected but there is progress. When the Russian-Ukraine war broke out, a lot of people repatriated their money home through Bitcoin. Some that were also stranded were able to receive funds through Bitcoin as well

According to these, do you feel like Bitcoin has helped? Do you use it to avoid all those remittance costs?

Bitcoin has helped me and a lot of people I know but the percentage of people using Bitcoin is still very low. Not many people know that Bitcoin is a cheaper option for cross borders transaction.  I feel we still have a long way to go.

[Dunamisx]

We should not make it come in any complex form, bitcoin is for everyone, if we want to use bitcoin, then we are free to independently adopt this digital decentralized currency for our own good, for the low income earners or countries, it's an opportunity for them to take advantage in bitcoin to balance up their lives by taking advantage of the opportunity in bitcoin adoption, everything about it's fees or cost are not beyond the average of what they can accept because everything is made affordable with the use of bitcoin regardless of class or status.

[dothebeats]

It will help most of the time, but when there is something going on with the network like the one we're having now, bitcoin isn't any better compared to these money transfer services. Assuming they wanted to use bitcoin for the sole purpose of sending and receiving remittances, transfer fees aren't the only fees they'll be looking at but also the change fees together with the withdrawal fees the exchanges will be asking. There's a lot of things to consider before jumping the gun and say bitcoin is the 'one' solution that overseas workers are looking for to help them lessen the amount of fees that are being taken from them.

[oktana]

Of course Bitcoin is really helping. For the data you provided, there are fixed percentages charged and if you’re sending more money, you get charged even more. Bitcoin isn’t that greedy, all you pay for is just the necessary transaction fee that is not dependent on how much you are transacting. Also, you even have an option to pay lesser transaction fee for a slower transaction (same time the banks could take just to process papers, etc).

[serjent05]

It will help most of the time, but when there is something going on with the network like the one we're having now, bitcoin isn't any better compared to these money transfer services.

Bitcoin is different, the user or sender just needs to pay an adequate transaction fee to be prioritized.  I think this is not possible for international transfers in the banking system. Anyone can confirm?  As far as I know bank fastest international transaction is within 1 day but obviously it won't be as short as 10 minutes.  Even Moneygram is known to have faster international fund transfers gives 1 hour at least for the transfer to come through with a fee ranging from $9.99  to $256 when sending $10k(from USA - PH converted to local currency) depending on the option we choose.  Bitcoin with the same amount of transactions is way cheaper than this.

Assuming they wanted to use bitcoin for the sole purpose of sending and receiving remittances, transfer fees aren't the only fees they'll be looking at but also the change fees together with the withdrawal fees the exchanges will be asking. There's a lot of things to consider before jumping the gun and say bitcoin is the 'one' solution that overseas workers are looking for to help them lessen the amount of fees that are being taken from them.

Still, I think Bitcoin is way more economical when transferring huge funds than using banks for international transfers. 

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

Well, yes, Bitcoin has helped. In my country, the value of our local currency is low compared to the dollar, and in a few spaces, I buy good cross-border. I sometimes make payments in dollars or another currency, whose value is also higher than my local currency. Before I exchange the currency I wish to pay with through the traditional banking system, the process takes a bit of time, and the exchange rate is high too, but if I have to pay with Bitcoin, it doesn't take any longer to process or get approval from anyone in order for my payment to go through.

[wallet4bitcoin]

I am curious to know if (and how much) Bitcoin is adopted in low- and middle-income countries.

I am reading the Bitcoin Magazine (Issue 24 - The El Salvador Issue).

Here are some stats, according to the magazine:

• The global average cost of sending $200 remained high at 6.5% - or $13, in 2020.
• In Sub-Saharan Africa, the average cost of sending $200 was 8.2% in 2020.
• Sending money from Japan to Brazil cost 11.5% in remittance costs in 2020
• 1 out of 9 people on the planet depend on remittances sent by migrant workers to support their families.

According to these, do you feel like Bitcoin has helped? Do you use it to avoid all those remittance costs?

I think its part of the reasons why we have Bitcoin Lightening Network, however, we still have about an average $3 fees attached to it (at maximum, that's what I've been charged for transactions on the regular category). I still think the remittances costs much more as there are also some hidden charges that may incurr costs in some cases.

In the Blockchain Network, once you are being charged on the network for fees, its a one-off fee, again the volatility can also be advantageous to you if there happens to be an increase in price and against you if the price plummets.

If we talk about remittances then Bitcoin is good for those low and middle income countries but for internal expenditure, I do not think it will be as loads of those people survive on an average of $1/day.

[Sarah Azhari]

• 1 out of 9 people on the planet depend on remittances sent by migrant workers to support their families.

According to these, do you feel like Bitcoin has helped? Do you use it to avoid all those remittance costs?

I've felt that how I live with that situation. But, We live in an era where technology continuously developing, and if we don't move along to follow new developments we will definitely be left behind. In this case, we don't help migrant workers who help to send the fiat money but help the people who want to send the money to another country. As you prove the stat above, I really sure many people helped because there are more people than migrant workers. So, with this situation of course bitcoin is the solution, If the migrant workers want to continue his work, better to them learning how the bitcoin work, maybe they will get jobs with that, like to be escrow, or create p2p decentralization exchange.

[dansus021]

According to your data, Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies help a lot personally I'm using USD as a default payment. and Im just registered on wise the fee rate and forex rate are expensive in my opinion even tho Wise is considered cheaper than a bank you can get way cheaper by using crypto. The spread of forex here on crypto is very tight compared to other forex. So I do believe crypto is the best choice to do transactions with other countries.

the cost and convenience in my opinion are great in crypto In my opinion.

[Solokan]

Bitcoin has helped my life a lot starting from income and others. and indeed, when compared to sending traditional money, of course it is always complicated and sometimes the process is also a bit complicated, in contrast to bitcoin which always provides convenience and whatever the amount of btc sent is of course fast, the main thing is that there is convenience that btc provides.

but in this case of course every country has different opinions, but in El Salvador, because as far as I know, BTC has been legalized, can use BTC more freely because it can be used as a means of payment, but in some countries, of course, BTC is still prohibited from being used as a means of payment. and I think everything has a reason, and in this case only the government knows what is best for its people.

[Zlantann]

According to the internet[1] it usually takes on or two days up to 5 working days depending on the currency. So using Bitcoin to transfer fund is way much faster than the traditional bank transfers.  Aside from that I believe Bitcoin fee is also way cheaper than this cross-boarder processing fee charges.

There are cases where bank transfer can take several weeks to go through especially when it is suspected to be proceeds from crime. Sometimes you have to wait longer when there are public holidays, political instability, conflict, or natural disasters but this is not the case with Bitcoin.

So to have a cheaper and faster means to send funds to other country, I believe Bitcoin is a good option for low and middle income countries since people can have a cheaper means of transferring funds while enjoying a faster transaction if we are talking about international transfer.

One of the reasons that most of these citizens still use fiat is because of ignorance and government policies. Many of them are not aware of the benefits of using Bitcoin and in most cases don't care about privacy. Another reason is that these citizens will avoid using Bitcoin because it looks more complicated to them (due to high rate of illiteracy in some low income nations). Since most banks are restricted from dealing with Bitcoin, people will still have to look for means to convert the funds to fiat. Meanwhile, they would get the funds directly in fiat if they use bank transfers.

It will help most of the time, but when there is something going on with the network like the one we're having now, bitcoin isn't any better compared to these money transfer services. Assuming they wanted to use bitcoin for the sole purpose of sending and receiving remittances, transfer fees aren't the only fees they'll be looking at but also the change fees together with the withdrawal fees the exchanges will be asking. There's a lot of things to consider before jumping the gun and say bitcoin is the 'one' solution that overseas workers are looking for to help them lessen the amount of fees that are being taken from them.

This is the point that is ringing in my mind. After incurring the cost of receiving the funds in your wallet, there is still another fee for converting the money to fiat. The cost of Bitcoin transaction is certainly cheap but it will become more attractive when it becomes cheaper. The benefit of Bitcoin is far beyond transaction fees but a cheaper rate will attract low-income earners to the sector.

[danadc]

You don't have to see Bitcoin like this, you have to see it as a global option of Becoming a very millionaire if you make the investment at these times, is that what Should be said , that it is good and profitable in very low economic countries? Yes, the benefits are obvious, but that is not the only thing because what countries with bad economies do is take advantage of the inflation rates in their local currencies to be able to buy more dollars, that is what countries with inflation do. high live, for bitcoin s? It could be but they are going to make it very undervalued, because black markets are created and they are really unfair to the market, but even so, yes, it is very Valuable.

[uneng]

According to these, do you feel like Bitcoin has helped? Do you use it to avoid all those remittance costs?

Yes. It has been helping a lot of people working on foreigner countries and people working on the internet. Before Bitcoin, we were restricted to Paypal which charges a very abusive tax for their services, besides the local regulations from our country which also grabs another abusive portion of our hard earned money through more taxes. In the end, you aren't working for yourself, but for the government and the middleman service.

That was pretty pointless and annoying, but thankfully Bitcoin changed our reality for the better. Now we can make our income virtually and still enjoy it on its maximum profitability, while people working abroad can also send money to their families on their native countries without being extorted by the local government.

[hugeblack]

Bitcoin can help if its market value increases so that the price becomes stable, then the transaction fees will be much lower than the cost of mining Bitcoin, and then the price of the currency may become stable and become a currency for international trade rather than an asset to be speculated on, and this may happen within 16 years.
Currently, Bitcoin fees, although low, pay more hidden fees due to lack of adoption.

[tbct_mt2]

Bitcoin can help if its market value increases so that the price becomes stable, then the transaction fees will be much lower than the cost of mining Bitcoin, and then the price of the currency may become stable and become a currency for international trade rather than an asset to be speculated on, and this may happen within 16 years.

Bitcoin can help people in low and middle income countries to be richer if they invest in Bitcoin and don't lose their bitcoin through trading. To succeed in investment, they must hold their bitcoin and it brings two benefits: avoid losing bitcoin by trading in spot or margin or futures; reduce waste of bitcoin for transaction fee if they move bitcoin to exchange, back to own wallet many times.

Currently, Bitcoin fees, although low, pay more hidden fees due to lack of adoption.

One of hidden fee is Withdrawal fee. Centralized exchanges charge very high Withdrawal fee and they don't say but they include like their business operation cost, wallet security and maintenance cost to user withdrawal fee. They do batch payment for many users' withdrawals but charge a same high withdrawal fee on every user in that batch payment.

[kryptqnick]

My country is certainly low-income, and it's a very crypto-friendly country. We have tons of exchanges, major foundations accept donations in Bitcoin and a few altcoins, and there's a general roadmap to gradually adopt legislation to become a good place for crypto businesses, as well as enable usage of Bitcoin as money.
Of course, many people still use international bank transfers, but Bitcoin is quite well-known. International fees really depend on a country, and sometimes there are no fees at all, but the exchange rate isn't great, and you often can't send fiat without exchanging it.

[KiaKia]

Bitcoin can be send to anyone in anywhere in the world, it doesn't work using location, it works using Bitcoin address to another Bitcoin address, even if the receiver is in another planet with internet connection they will receive their Bitcoin.

From my own past experience, I believe that countries with low income and hardship are into Bitcoin more than other countries, it's cheaper for transaction over remittances and it's also secured than any other.

Bitcoin is also a good investment for people that are struggling with low income, all they need to do is find good amount of money to invest in Bitcoin, even if their monthly salary isn't good enough for them to start saving money, having Bitcoin is more than enough.

[apogio]

My country is certainly low-income, and it's a very crypto-friendly country. We have tons of exchanges, major foundations accept donations in Bitcoin and a few altcoins, and there's a general roadmap to gradually adopt legislation to become a good place for crypto businesses, as well as enable usage of Bitcoin as money.
Of course, many people still use international bank transfers, but Bitcoin is quite well-known. International fees really depend on a country, and sometimes there are no fees at all, but the exchange rate isn't great, and you often can't send fiat without exchanging it.

Sounds like a good choice for a country to have open mind.

You don't have to see Bitcoin like this, you have to see it as a global option of Becoming a very millionaire if you make the investment at these times

Ok, but I see Bitcoin as a new payments standard and not as an investment. Of course I appreciate the market going up, but I hope to see Bitcoin becoming a huge payments network.

[Assface16678]

Without a dought yes, bitcoin transfer is more efficient than using remittance now a days, even not bitcoin, online transfer is a trend now why? Because its much faster and safe also lost fees, but why many people still use remittance is because they lack knowledge or hesitant about online transfer, and as we know not all people are knowledgeable about bitcoin or crypto currency so they don't know the advantage of using crypto currency transfer and of course not in all occasions that cryptocurrency transfer is applicable. So in short its more advantageous to use online transfer now a days and there a lot of platform for that, in every country they have a popular online transfer, and for use crypto currency transfer is more efficient, but in some occasions only. Still we can't force others to transition and use online transferring like what they used, because it hard to know things that is new to them.