Bitcoin could take over third world currencies

[Markjacobs]

Anyone see it happening with countries like zimbabwe and somalia? There's so many weak currencies out there supplied by countries that put them out just for the sake of it. Does anybody else not see the top currencies in the world like the dollar and the yen taking over alongside virtual currencies? Shits revolutionary when u take a close look at it and I see Bitcoin being the main leader in all of this. Read this article that gave me the idea to make this http://www.panture.com/bitcoin-taking-over-third-world-currencies/

I hope the world takes on Bitcoin because poorer countries need to abandon their good for nothing currencies. Many don't use dominate fiat currencies like the dollar either, so using their own currency becomes inconvenient. Now imagine if ppl started using virtual currencies instead.

[psylence]

Places like Zimbabwe end up going for usd maybe one day still far too early

[Bit_Happy]

Bitcoin is still a baby, not ready to take over much of anything.
Progress is being made, so in the future "amazing" things are possible.  

[kooke]

It's actually already being used in some 3rd world countries. Do a quick forum search for 'hawala'. I know a few people who are using it to send money to relatives in Africa, so there must be a place for their relatives to exchange BTC to fiat in some of these countries already. There are lots of people with net-enabled phone in countries where you wouldn't expect it, mostly due to the lack of regulation, which makes it easy to introduce new tech without having to jump through 100s of hurdles like in developed nations. Believe it or not, Somalia actually has one of the cheapest and most advanced cellular voice and Internet services in the world.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Somalia (Scroll down to telecommunications)

[jamesc760]

As long as ALL the coins are in the hands of Western and Chinese speculators, those poor unwashed mass in Africa have no chance at bitcoin, especially at $450 a pop. Cheap altcoins maybe.

[ShitHappens]

I Think the same that's it's too early and we should mention that all cointes have different rate of economical growth so as it has already mentioned countries in Afrcica do not have chance as BTC!

[Dafar]

What would be needed for bitcoin to take over 3rd world countries?

-it needs to be easy, simple and convenient (the biggest challenge w/o the proper tools)
-people needed to be convinced it's a better store of wealth than their national currency
-merchants need to accept it all over, even street merchants (through mobile or something like square)
-there needs to be some sort of internet or mobile connection for everyone (sending BTC thru SMS is possible right?)
-companies like Coinbase to provide bitcoin banking/debit cards without the extraneous fees, restrictions and requirements of typical banks


Anyone wana go on a 5 year expedition with me to to transform these 3rd world countries and make bitcoin #1 by tackling the challenges above?

Seriously, I'll quit my job.

As long as ALL the coins are in the hands of Western and Chinese speculators, those poor unwashed mass in Africa have no chance at bitcoin, especially at $450 a pop. Cheap altcoins maybe.

Who says they need to buy an entire bitcoin?

[fonzie]

The fees to convert BTC to USD or the other way round plus transaction fees are probably not the lowest compared to other transfer methods.

[tionil]

nobody is giving a shit about bitcoin here, sorry.

[semaforo]

As long as ALL the coins are in the hands of Western and Chinese speculators, those poor unwashed mass in Africa have no chance at bitcoin, especially at $450 a pop. Cheap altcoins maybe.

    You know there were people a couple years ago laughing about the idiots who were buying those INSANELY expensive $20 coins? It is entirely possible and even reasonable to consider the possibility of people in five years kicking themselves for not buying a mBTC when they were only $10. Altcoins generally offer no real advantage over bitcoin- more like gimmicks. The main barrier keeping people from getting into bitcoin is the difficulty of buying and using them- and in terms of user friendly interface and infrastructure, bitcoin is way ahead of any of the alts and poised to stay that way. It would take a huge game changing innovation to rob a significant amount of bitcoins momentum, and I have not yet seen any indication of anything on this scale.

   Bitcoin adoption in Africa is really only held back by network latency- as internet and smartphone penetration increases, so will bitcoin.

[WompRat]

Millions of people in Africa are already using digital currency.  It's called M-Pesa and Vodafone have rolled it out to about a dozen countries now.  Pretty sure Bitcoin has missed the boat in Africa. 

[jbrnt]

It is important for a nation ot have their own currency. Interest rate on their own curency, money supply, are tools gov need to regulate nations' growth, exports, unemployment...

So, a third world nation giving up their currency for bitcoin is unimaginable. Yet, nothing stopping them from using other currencies, fiat or cryptos, in parallel.

[UnDerDoG81]

This is a digital currency. How on earth could somebody poor without smartphone or laptop pay with bitcoin in Zimbabwe?

[aminorex]

As long as ALL the coins are in the hands of Western and Chinese speculators, those poor unwashed mass in Africa have no chance at bitcoin, especially at $450 a pop. Cheap altcoins maybe.

Bitcoin is available in any desired quantity, from pennies up to a billion dollars.

[aminorex]

This is a digital currency. How on earth could somebody poor without smartphone or laptop pay with bitcoin in Zimbabwe?

SMS is typical.

[aminorex]

nobody is giving a shit about bitcoin here, sorry.

they will be interested when they have something valuable to sell.

[jamesc760]

Has anyone ever tried to send a billionth of a bitcoin? Seriously. You can't, not with bitcoin-qt or bitcoin-core or whatever they are calling it these days.

Bitcoin is for RICH, relatively speaking, people, in the West and China. No real person wants to buy a fraction of a btc, only bots.

Africa is NOT ready for bitcoins. They are too busy fighting ebola, figuring out where their next meal is coming. Sure, some are using their phones for micro transactions, but they are too miniscule in amount to attract any real usage.

[tionil]

they will be interested when they have something valuable to sell.

This is backwards. If they have some valuable to sell they will ask for fiat or anything they value more, and this is not bitcoin.

[kooke]

Bitcoin is for RICH, relatively speaking, people, in the West and China. No real person wants to buy a fraction of a btc, only bots.

Africa is NOT ready for bitcoins. They are too busy fighting ebola, figuring out where their next meal is coming. Sure, some are using their phones for micro transactions, but they are too miniscule in amount to attract any real usage.

Years ago I gave a poor African farmer my old sneakers. Most people in the western world be insulted if I'd offered them my shoes, but this farmer was elated to have them. You say there's no people who would want a fraction of a BTC yet there's tons of people who use faucet sites that give out tiny amounts of BTC.

Also, populations there have a much higher percentage of young people who would be more open to BTC than older generations. Africa is ready for BTC, it's just a matter of it starting to flow in that direction.

[aminorex]

By going to BTC early, Africa might leapfrog Europe.