Why we need Bitcoins for international transactions

[cbeast]

HSBC officially stated that they do not want to see anything related close or far to bitcoin, and kicked out. We asked if it'd be possible to get back in and got politely told that it wouldn't happen anytime soon.

Are Bitcoins illegal in at least one of the countries you sent/received payments from on your HSBC account?
If not, is such discrimination on the part of HSBC legal? I'd sue them if something like this happened to me.

How is that discrimination? Bitcoin is not a race, creed, etc.

[1714018861]

1714018861

[paraipan]

HSBC officially stated that they do not want to see anything related close or far to bitcoin, and kicked out. We asked if it'd be possible to get back in and got politely told that it wouldn't happen anytime soon.

Are Bitcoins illegal in at least one of the countries you sent/received payments from on your HSBC account?
If not, is such discrimination on the part of HSBC legal? I'd sue them if something like this happened to me.

How is that discrimination? Bitcoin is not a race, creed, etc.

Yeah, is outright competition 

[BCB]

HSBC has MUCH BIGGER problems with highly regulated fiat since their Mexican and US affiliates have been laundering Billions of Dollars of Drug Money for years and many other affiliates have been doing illegal business with IRAN.  They are facing serious sanctions and potentially billion dollar fines.  The last thing they need right now is to deal an unregulated instrument like bitcoin.


From the Financial Timeshttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ace83b9a-e6fc-11e1-af33-00144feab49a.html#axzz23iH512MC
  

[Endgame]

I have sent international transfers into Gox through both your HSBC and Sumitomo bank accounts, and I have found that Sumotimo/Sumitomo's intermediate bank almost always takes a very large cut in processing and conversion fees - between 4% - 10%. I am sure I am not the only person this has happened to. By comparison, HSBC have always been extremely cheap (less than 1%).

MagicalTux can you please get your HSBC account reinstated, it would save a lot of bitcoiners a lot of money. I would much rather my money go towards supporting the bitcoin price than supporting Sumitomo's bottom line.

Hi,

The intermediate bank depends on your own bank, not the receiving bank. Also there should be no conversion fees, unless your bank messes up something. The only fee that should appear in a perfect world (ie. for example when sending from a major US bank) is our reception fee of ¥1000.

HSBC officially stated that they do not want to see anything related close or far to bitcoin, and kicked out. We asked if it'd be possible to get back in and got politely told that it wouldn't happen anytime soon.


Mark

Thanks for the response MagicalTux. That is interesting news about HSBC. If HSBC have indeed sworn off bitcoin, would you consider opening an extra bank account with another more bitcoin-friendly bank? Having only one bank account for accepting international wire transfers seems a bit precarious to me - what if sumitomo decided to take the same line as HSBC? Also, I think it would help in alleviating the large international wire transfer and conversion fees that many of us are experiencing. Just a suggestion.

[Stephen Gornick]

"Hey, in Japan they only have JPY, and my local intermediary in Japan can process this wire as a domestic transfer for only USD 10. Let's convert the amount to JPY, and take 3000 JPY fee for the whole process!"

That must be what happened here:

I asked my big bank to wire a hundred dollars to the bank MtGox suggested which is in Japan. Well, my bank cannot send dollars to Japan, only yen. And since I requested dollars, they had first transfer the money to JPMorgan, a bank that can transfer dollars.

 - http://blog.archive.org/2012/12/19/i-donated-bitcoins-to-the-internet-archive/

What "big bank" cannot send an International bank wire transfer in USDs?

[kangasbros]

Funny, I just recently read this article about HSBC:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/outrageous-hsbc-settlement-proves-the-drug-war-is-a-joke-20121213

So apparently, money laundering for HSBC is allowed because otherwise the financial system would collapse