[2014-5-19] Using Bitcoins to Send Money Back Home (USA to Uganda, Real Story)

[lyth0s]

A common problem with sending cash in the mail to a foreign country is that the mail will simply disappear in the process by foreign postal workers. They will sometimes simply steal the money right out of the envelopes....
...here is a real-life story below of a family that decided to send money to their family in Uganda using Bitcoins.

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

[1715398939]

1715398939

[viboracecata]

Good usage, as the price fluctuation is not so big as before, you can get your actual money back after sell them for fiat

[lyth0s]

Good usage, as the price fluctuation is not so big as before, you can get your actual money back after sell them for fiat

Yep! And currently (like right his minute) bitcoin has finally broke the $450 mark and is floating around $462 a coin. Next rise incoming? I hope so!

[bryant.coleman]

Good usage, as the price fluctuation is not so big as before, you can get your actual money back after sell them for fiat

If I am not mistaken, the Bitcoins were immediately converted to hard cash. So where does the Bitcoin-to-fiat exchange rate fluctuations come in to the picture?

[lyth0s]

Good usage, as the price fluctuation is not so big as before, you can get your actual money back after sell them for fiat

If I am not mistaken, the Bitcoins were immediately converted to hard cash. So where does the Bitcoin-to-fiat exchange rate fluctuations come in to the picture?

Well if you're talking about the bitcoin price fluctuating by large amounts, then you're right that shouldn't change too much with the instant conversion of bitcoin to fiat. However, each local dealer in Uganda could use their own exchange rate for the bitcoin into the Shilling.

For example $30 USD should become 76,000 Shilling (example only). $30 USD bought 0.067BTC, which the local dealer in Uganda may have only give 74,000 Shilling for. Another dealer down the street may have given a different rate due to their own perception of what the exchange rate should be and thus there there is still a price fluctuation.

[Lethn]

The video the gave is a fantastic example of what people will be able to do with Bitcoin the more they adopt it, really looking forward to seeing what will happen when poorer countries like Uganda start widely using Bitcoin.

[hilariousandco]

Good usage, as the price fluctuation is not so big as before, you can get your actual money back after sell them for fiat

If I am not mistaken, the Bitcoins were immediately converted to hard cash. So where does the Bitcoin-to-fiat exchange rate fluctuations come in to the picture?

Well that all depends on how fast you can exchange it to fiat. Finding a place where somebody will exchange the coins might not be so easy and may involve a bit of travelling. One day a coin could be worth £300 and the next a whole lot less, so that could be an issue.

And as I mentioned in another thread on this topic the remittance market is a huge industry where Bitcoin can thrive. I love to see videos like this as it really shows you how Bitcoin can be beneficial to people and the many advantages it has over banks and money transfer services like Western Union etc. I only hope places where you can easily exchange bitcoins for cash become as plentiful and accessible as the wire transfer shops.

[notthematrix]

Good usage, as the price fluctuation is not so big as before, you can get your actual money back after sell them for fiat

If I am not mistaken, the Bitcoins were immediately converted to hard cash. So where does the Bitcoin-to-fiat exchange rate fluctuations come in to the picture?

Well that all depends on how fast you can exchange it to fiat. Finding a place where somebody will exchange the coins might not be so easy and may involve a bit of travelling. One day a coin could be worth £300 and the next a whole lot less, so that could be an issue.

And as I mentioned in another thread on this topic the remittance market is a huge industry where Bitcoin can thrive. I love to see videos like this as it really shows you how Bitcoin can be beneficial to people and the many advantages it has over banks and money transfer services like Western Union etc. I only hope places where you can easily exchange bitcoins for cash become as plentiful and accessible as the wire transfer shops.

ever been to africa?
in africa evrybody talks to evrybody , because this is your only protection.
if you exchage a small amount of btc from home  you will always find someone , who needs thoose BTC.
for example if you are a shop or individual and want to buy something from the US or europe , creditcard or banks dont work so bitcoin is perfect here! , DHL works well in uganda is more expensive but save for buying a TV.

 

[hilariousandco]

Good usage, as the price fluctuation is not so big as before, you can get your actual money back after sell them for fiat

If I am not mistaken, the Bitcoins were immediately converted to hard cash. So where does the Bitcoin-to-fiat exchange rate fluctuations come in to the picture?

Well that all depends on how fast you can exchange it to fiat. Finding a place where somebody will exchange the coins might not be so easy and may involve a bit of travelling. One day a coin could be worth £300 and the next a whole lot less, so that could be an issue.

And as I mentioned in another thread on this topic the remittance market is a huge industry where Bitcoin can thrive. I love to see videos like this as it really shows you how Bitcoin can be beneficial to people and the many advantages it has over banks and money transfer services like Western Union etc. I only hope places where you can easily exchange bitcoins for cash become as plentiful and accessible as the wire transfer shops.

ever been to africa?
in africa evrybody talks to evrybody , because this is your only protection.
if you exchage a small amount of btc from home  you will always find someone , who needs thoose BTC.
for example if you are a shop or individual and want to buy something from the US or europe , creditcard or banks dont work so bitcoin is perfect here! , DHL works well in uganda is more expensive but save for buying a TV.

 

Yes, I've been to Africa, but it's a pretty big continent so I don't think you can make such generalised statements. Not everybody lives in a major city with quick access to people who will easily exchange funds. Some would have to travel days - maybe more - to find such a place, but I hope locations will grow quickly over time.

[Bit_Happy]

I like this part of the article:

This is where Bitcoin stands out. Bitcoin transfers have a flat fee of 0.0001 Bitcoins, or about 4 cents per transaction. A person could send a billion dollars from the United States to Uganda and the total amount of fees would be only 4 cents! If you tried to send a billion dollars from the USA through Western Union to Uganda, the fees would total 115 million dollars! Now we all know that no single individual is going to send that much money from the USA back to their family (who has that kind of money?), however if you imagine all the people in the USA that send to their families back home every month, you can only imagine how much money these money transmitter companies make.

If enough people see that one paragraph, Bitcoin will have a huge boost in global usage.

[b!z]

I like this part of the article:

This is where Bitcoin stands out. Bitcoin transfers have a flat fee of 0.0001 Bitcoins, or about 4 cents per transaction. A person could send a billion dollars from the United States to Uganda and the total amount of fees would be only 4 cents! If you tried to send a billion dollars from the USA through Western Union to Uganda, the fees would total 115 million dollars! Now we all know that no single individual is going to send that much money from the USA back to their family (who has that kind of money?), however if you imagine all the people in the USA that send to their families back home every month, you can only imagine how much money these money transmitter companies make.

If enough people see that one paragraph, Bitcoin will have a huge boost in global usage.

How many exchangers have you encountered that don't charge fees?

[bryant.coleman]

How many exchangers have you encountered that don't charge fees?

At least there is competition in the Bitcoin exchange sector. So we are assured that the fee remains relatively small. On the other hand, Western Union is having a virtual monopoly over the remittance payments. That is why they are charging extremely high fees.