Using Bitcoin to send money back home

[_smudger_]

Saw this in the "Press" section but worth posting here as remittance will be an important part of Bitcoin's success


http://www.geekcipher.com/technology/using-bitcoins-to-send-money-back-home/

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[hilariousandco]

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=611604.0

Was already posted but disappointingly nobody else commented on it. I think it's a really inspiring video of how Bitcoin can genuinely help and better peoples' lives and the benefits are obvious. The remittance market is a huge industry where Bitcoin could really thrive.

[sana8410]

At this moment it can be difficult working out which exchange is right for you, and every country is different. Initial set up may require more work than traditional exchange.

[Tedward]

The remittance market is massive and anyone can see the advantages of using bitcoin, especially after watching that video and learning of all the fees and cuts the merchants take out

[Balls]

Its great as long as you can find someone to buy your coins off you. I just hope people don't start charging extortionate fees for this service.

[Dabs]

Well, it's certainly an option for the people of the Philippines. Business has not been picking up yet though.

[simtal]

The issue is finding somebody to buy the coins you receive otherwise you end up with overseas transfers and the benefits are lost.

[Trashbat]

The issue is finding somebody to buy the coins you receive otherwise you end up with overseas transfers and the benefits are lost.

I'm sure they wont send coins if they cant easily exchange them. It would defeat the point.

[lovely89]

The issue is finding somebody to buy the coins you receive otherwise you end up with overseas transfers and the benefits are lost.

Or better yet, a merchant(s) that accepts bitcoin. Then, bang! The network effect. As long as these countries don't become hostile to the concept.

[Ron~Popeil]

This is an issue that people could organize to address. The Bit Coin Foundation for instance should be doing outreach over seas to help and encourage merchants to accept bit coin and showing immigrants here how much their family benefits from keeping 40% more of what they send home.

[Mr Tea]

Great to see the benefits in African countries.

[hilariousandco]

The issue is finding somebody to buy the coins you receive otherwise you end up with overseas transfers and the benefits are lost.

Or better yet, a merchant(s) that accepts bitcoin. Then, bang! The network effect. As long as these countries don't become hostile to the concept.

I can't see why they'd become hostile. In fact I think the opposite is true and I think they'd really embrace Bitcoin. Bitcoin could really thrive in countries where it's hard to get a bank account or the wire services charge extortionate fees, and I'm sure merchants would gradually pop up if the demand for Bitcoin was there. It's only natural really.

[vn10vn]

The problem is that 99.9999% of the people who receive remittances with bitcoin are going to trade it immediately for their own country's currency.
And that's where the fees get to be almost as bad as all the other remittance services. So what's the point of remitting with bitcoin if the exchanges are charging the same amount in fees as moneygram, western union, xoom, etc.?

And buying bitcoins is not cheap either. Sellers on localbitcoins.com have very high rates. Buying online is expensive because there are fees for bank wire, or EgoPay, OKPay, etc.

So that's the problem. Sending bitcoin is cheap, buying product with bitcoin is cheap, recieving payment for product with bitcoin is cheap, trading bitcoin into another crypto is cheap. But trading national currency for bitcoin or bitcoin for your country's currency is NOT CHEAP.

[Balls]

The problem is that 99.9999% of the people who receive remittances with bitcoin are going to trade it immediately for their own country's currency.
And that's where the fees get to be almost as bad as all the other remittance services. So what's the point of remitting with bitcoin if the exchanges are charging the same amount in fees as moneygram, western union, xoom, etc.?

And buying bitcoins is not cheap either. Sellers on localbitcoins.com have very high rates. Buying online is expensive because there are fees for bank wire, or EgoPay, OKPay, etc.

So that's the problem. Sending bitcoin is cheap, buying with bitcoin is cheap, recieving payment with bitcoin is cheap, trading bitcoin into another crypto is cheap. But trading national currency for coin or coin for your country's currency is NOT CHEAP.

I'm sure it'll be cheaper than what the banks or wire services currently charge and that's all it needs to do.

[vn10vn]

The problem is that 99.9999% of the people who receive remittances with bitcoin are going to trade it immediately for their own country's currency.
And that's where the fees get to be almost as bad as all the other remittance services. So what's the point of remitting with bitcoin if the exchanges are charging the same amount in fees as moneygram, western union, xoom, etc.?

And buying bitcoins is not cheap either. Sellers on localbitcoins.com have very high rates. Buying online is expensive because there are fees for bank wire, or EgoPay, OKPay, etc.

So that's the problem. Sending bitcoin is cheap, buying with bitcoin is cheap, recieving payment with bitcoin is cheap, trading bitcoin into another crypto is cheap. But trading national currency for bitcoin or bitcoin for your country's currency is NOT CHEAP.

I'm sure it'll be cheaper than what the banks or wire services currently charge and that's all it needs to do.

No that's wrong. It's not cheaper than some remittance services. And even if was a little cheaper, and cheaper than the banks or wires, how long do you think that will last. Once using bitcoin gets popular for remittances and becomes the preferred remittance method, the fees will shoot up to the same amount as their former competitors, maybe higher. That's business.

[hilariousandco]

The problem is that 99.9999% of the people who receive remittances with bitcoin are going to trade it immediately for their own country's currency.
And that's where the fees get to be almost as bad as all the other remittance services. So what's the point of remitting with bitcoin if the exchanges are charging the same amount in fees as moneygram, western union, xoom, etc.?

And buying bitcoins is not cheap either. Sellers on localbitcoins.com have very high rates. Buying online is expensive because there are fees for bank wire, or EgoPay, OKPay, etc.

So that's the problem. Sending bitcoin is cheap, buying with bitcoin is cheap, recieving payment with bitcoin is cheap, trading bitcoin into another crypto is cheap. But trading national currency for bitcoin or bitcoin for your country's currency is NOT CHEAP.

I'm sure it'll be cheaper than what the banks or wire services currently charge and that's all it needs to do.

No that's wrong. It's not cheaper than some remittance services. And even if was a little cheaper, and cheaper than the banks or wires, how long do you think that will last. Once using bitcoin gets popular for remittances and becomes the preferred remittance method, the fees will shoot up to the same amount as their former competitors, maybe higher. That's business.

How can you say he's wrong? What are you basing this off? You don't know how much the fees are going to be to exchange bitcoin, but it'll obviously have to be lower less there'd be no point in using it. The whole selling point of Bitcoin is because of the low fees, without it people wont use it or go to places where the fees are considerably less.

[vn10vn]

How can you say he's wrong? What are you basing this off? You don't know how much the fees are going to be to exchange bitcoin, but it'll obviously have to be lower less there'd be no point in using it. The whole selling point of Bitcoin is because of the low fees, without it people wont use it or go to places where the fees are considerably less.

I was basing it on a comparison between Dabs' BTC/PHP exchange and Xoom.com:

Dabs' exchange charges a fee of 10% of Philippine Pesos on the sell, and also 10% of the Pesos on the buy.
(If you buy 4 bitcoins for 84,616 PHP (about $1,935 US), you pay an additional 846.16 PHP fee to the exchange (about $20 US fee).
(If you sell 4 bitcoins for 81,737 PHP (about $1,870 US), you pay an additional 817.37 PHP fee to the exchange (about $19 US fee).

With Xoom.com you can send up to $2,999 US to the Philippines (about 131,100 PHP) for a $4.99 US fee (about 220 PHP).

 

[alani123]

In many third world countries, it's hard for people to have access to monetery services or even the internet.

I was stunned to see how people use bitcoin for transactions in Uganda!

Relevant vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrRXP1tp6Kw

[lovely89]

The problem is that 99.9999% of the people who receive remittances with bitcoin are going to trade it immediately for their own country's currency.
And that's where the fees get to be almost as bad as all the other remittance services. So what's the point of remitting with bitcoin if the exchanges are charging the same amount in fees as moneygram, western union, xoom, etc.?

And buying bitcoins is not cheap either. Sellers on localbitcoins.com have very high rates. Buying online is expensive because there are fees for bank wire, or EgoPay, OKPay, etc.

So that's the problem. Sending bitcoin is cheap, buying with bitcoin is cheap, recieving payment with bitcoin is cheap, trading bitcoin into another crypto is cheap. But trading national currency for bitcoin or bitcoin for your country's currency is NOT CHEAP.

I'm sure it'll be cheaper than what the banks or wire services currently charge and that's all it needs to do.

No that's wrong. It's not cheaper than some remittance services. And even if was a little cheaper, and cheaper than the banks or wires, how long do you think that will last. Once using bitcoin gets popular for remittances and becomes the preferred remittance method, the fees will shoot up to the same amount as their former competitors, maybe higher. That's business.

It might have little benefit atm but think in terms of mass adoption, where merchants begin accepting it. It's just like cars, light bulbs or email when they first came out. It's only through adoption that  it becomes more efficient, for many different reasons.

[justusranvier]

The problem is that 99.9999% of the people who receive remittances with bitcoin are going to trade it immediately for their own country's currency.

This is only a problem if the investment demand for bitcoins in the recipient country is low.

Right now the effective cost of sending bitcoins from the US to Argentina is negative, because you can sell bitcoins for ARS at a premium.