Using BTC for holiday cash

[Bernard Lerring]

I was just thinking how brilliant this could be if foreign bureau de change start accepting BTC.

In the past I've messed about with Travellers Cheques and have relied on Visa only to find that Mastercard was more accepted (hello USA!).

Won't it be great to send two or three BTC to a newly created "holiday wallet" on smartphone or just write down an Electrum seed, arrive at your holiday destination with no local money. Walk into a bureau de change and three confirmations later you've got a fistful of local cash.

Can anyone see any drawbacks?

[BitchicksHusband]

Can anyone see any drawbacks?

Converting it to cash?

[Tron]

To me this is one of the first and most obvious uses for Bitcoin.

Imagine a brand like CoinExch where you see the sign, and visit the shop/store/branch/ATMs and convert bitcoins into the local currency.   When you leave, you convert the local currency back into bitcoin.   

The shops/stores/branches/ATMs all make a small percentage on the exchange.  The brand (franchise) that provides the CoinExch signs/banners/instructions makes a small percentage on every exchange, and also operates the website and App with information on the location of all the branches.  It would be similar to finding the nearest Starbucks, or the nearest coffee shop.

All other ATMs, exchanges, etc. that already exist just support the model.  Eventually, they can increase their traffic by licensing the brand and becoming part of the CoinExch network.

Bitcoin becomes a universal currency.   You can safely "carry" as much as you'd like by remembering your brainwallet(s), or carrying your BIP38 encrypted wallet.

It is safer to "carry", and trivially easy to exchange to the local currency at any CoinExch branded location.

The same infrastructure can be used to 'wire' money for emergencies, send money to students overseas, remit money for any reason in any country.

The branches are the small mom/pop shops, and stores that already exist around the world.  They already have the local currency for their own operations, so all they need is the sign and the CoinExch device for doing the calculations and they become a branch with additional foot traffic consisting mostly of wealthy travelers.

CoinCPA already has the infrastructure and API in place for multi-currency conversion.  The tech part is trivial, the real effort is in the marketing / branding.

No physical infrastructure is needed.  It would simply be local shops in the various countries that operate the branches.  The incentive for the shops would be the a percentage of every transaction and the additional foot traffic who now have the local currency to spend.  With funding, my team could make this happen -- PM me.   Or, if someone takes this idea and runs with it, I wish you all the success in the world.