Ok So I Just Sent £1000 of BTC to a Friend in Northern Namibia.. Now What?

[bitcoinbot]

OK, So I just sent £1000 of Bitcoin to a friend who is in Northern Namibia (just above South Africa).

He received the funds via an app on his phone - Mycelium..

The problem is we have no idea what to do now. Ideally he needs to transfer the btc to his local currency (NAD) or spend the bitcoin locally but noone there accepts bitcoin. How can we convert this money to something he can actually spend?

Thanks in advance.

[criptix]

OK, So I just sent £1000 of Bitcoin to a friend who is in Northern Namibia (just above South Africa).

He received the funds via an app on his phone - Mycelium..

The problem is we have no idea what to do now. Ideally he needs to transfer the btc to his local currency (NAD) or spend the bitcoin locally but noone there accepts bitcoin. How can we convert this money to something he can actually spend?

Thanks in advance.

 

My hope for humanity is dying little by little everyday...

what you can do is getting a credit card that you can load with btc or sell btc online/offline for fiat in SA

[tmp2]

he can sell bitcoins for paypal @ localbitcoins.com
or any other websites out there. then he can withdraw the money from paypal to his bank account or what ever...
but i am sure there are some locals that would love to buy those bitcoins from him..he just needs to post on his local forums and search for them.

[bitcoinbot]

OK, So I just sent £1000 of Bitcoin to a friend who is in Northern Namibia (just above South Africa).

He received the funds via an app on his phone - Mycelium..

The problem is we have no idea what to do now. Ideally he needs to transfer the btc to his local currency (NAD) or spend the bitcoin locally but noone there accepts bitcoin. How can we convert this money to something he can actually spend?

Thanks in advance.

 

My hope for humanity is dying little by little everyday...

what you can do is getting a credit card that you can load with btc or sell btc online/offline for fiat in SA

And he will be able to get one of these credit cards will he.
He doesn't have a proper address,  just a Po box.
Also, he doesn't, Have a Pc, just a phone so can't scan documents unless he goes to an Internet Cafe.
I doubt he even has a passport.

[bitcoinbot]

he can sell bitcoins for paypal @ localbitcoins.com
or any other websites out there. then he can withdraw the money from paypal to his bank account or what ever...
but i am sure there are some locals that would love to buy those bitcoins from him..he just needs to post on his local forums and search for them.

I don't think many people there have heard of bitcoin,  it's like they are 20 years behind.

I thought bitcoin was supposed to be great for countries like this?

[pedrog]

He might be able to pay his phone with this service: https://www.bitrefill.com/

He should be able to use this exchange: https://bitx.co/

Also check this: https://hellobit.com/

[anshar]

How about:

He sends back to you
You convert to local currency (USD?)
You bank wire it over to him

[newflesh]

Found a couple of South African exchanges:

https://bitx.co/za
https://ice3x.com/


He could always try localbitcoins, might be able to find some cash buyers   https://localbitcoins.com/country/ZA

[mitus-2]

OK, So I just sent £1000 of Bitcoin to a friend who is in Northern Namibia (just above South Africa).

He received the funds via an app on his phone - Mycelium..

The problem is we have no idea what to do now. Ideally he needs to transfer the btc to his local currency (NAD) or spend the bitcoin locally but noone there accepts bitcoin. How can we convert this money to something he can actually spend?

Thanks in advance.

tell him to go here: https://localbitcoins.com/country/NA register and find someone that wants to buy his BTC for USD. should be pretty easy

[bryant.coleman]

tell him to go here: https://localbitcoins.com/country/NA register and find someone that wants to buy his BTC for USD. should be pretty easy

Plenty of reputed sellers in the Namibian section of LBC. Another option is to travel to Cape Town (a few hours away) and to exchange the BTC for SAR. Also, if I am not wrong there are a shops which accept BTC in Cape Town.   

[vm_mpn]

I think we are missing the point here... OP's imaginary story has hit the nail on the head - truth is Bitcoin is not ready for remittance around the world, not without support of WesterUnion or MoneyGram like services able to exchange it to local currencies. Bitcoin is too new and not very good at most things it's designed for. With time this will change but for now we just have to take a punch instead of sending Namibian man to a Machete exchange (sorry, local bitcoins).

[pooya87]

if he can not sell his bitcoin to fiat directly, i think the best way for him is to do a double conversion of bitcoin to paypal and then to fiat. just find a trusted person who does paypal exchange.

[Fiiasco]

He should be able to use localbitcoins: https://localbitcoins.com/country/NA

Or https://www.coincorner.com/ if he can accept credit card payments paid in USD.

[redsn0w]

OK, So I just sent £1000 of Bitcoin to a friend who is in Northern Namibia (just above South Africa).

He received the funds via an app on his phone - Mycelium..

The problem is we have no idea what to do now. Ideally he needs to transfer the btc to his local currency (NAD) or spend the bitcoin locally but noone there accepts bitcoin. How can we convert this money to something he can actually spend?

Thanks in advance.

Maybe before sent him these 1'000 dollars you should inform you about the bitcoin situation in Namibia. If he can't exchange bitcoin for USD and then for NAD, he should send back the 1k dollars in bitcoin and you should send these money (to him) through WU or moneygram. Bitcoin is not ready for all the world, some people have never used a credit card or owned a bank account...

[fvs114]

You can try with bit Bitstamp, there is no fee for existing users for next 5 weeks, i assume for new users too. www.bitstamp.net
Bank account, some personal information and scanned documents (ID or passport and proof of residence) is needed to open an account.   

[CrackedLogic]

I think we are missing the point here... OP's imaginary story has hit the nail on the head - truth is Bitcoin is not ready for remittance around the world, not without support of WesterUnion or MoneyGram like services able to exchange it to local currencies. Bitcoin is too new and not very good at most things it's designed for. With time this will change but for now we just have to take a punch instead of sending Namibian man to a Machete exchange (sorry, local bitcoins).

It's either he actually sent the £1000 or he's trying to spark a discussion with the quoted post above.
Bitcoin isn't for the world to use as of yet, it's impossible to have everyone use it as of their remote locations or their status in the economy. With the limited amount, I doubt it will be used by a country as their main type of currency. To tie in with the OP, Bitcoin is still in its early stages. That should be expected, not everyone will be able to convert. If he's dealing with £1000 surely he should have a bank account, he should at least be able to find an exchange online or a person who's willing to trade.

[weex]

What about Kipochi. Their site seems promising. https://www.kipochi.com/namibia/bitcoin

[Amph]

so he can't convert to his local zone?

just use localbitcoin then, i can also advise paypal if you can do it here with a trusted member, i see no problem with charge back

[bitcoinbot]

As some of you guessed I didn't really send £1000 worth of bitcoin to Namibia but what I wanted to do was discuss and highlight the difficulties of using the currency in places where it would be most beneficial.
I am married into a Namibian family. My wife likes to send funds to her parents in Namibia every couple of months. She has been doing this for the last 9 years.

Currently they use one of her bankcards and she has given them her PIN. She uses a UK bank account specifically for the purpose.
So, when she decides she wants to send money she transfers money from regular account to the account her parents have a card for and just does a regular bank transfer. This works fine however she probably shouldn't have given her card and PIN to someone else.

Most people are not in a position to do this.

Prior to doing it this way or if their are some issues with the account she would use Western Union.

I showed her how simple is is to send btc if you have Mycelium installed on your phone. But we were discussing what you would do with it.

At this point LocalBitcoins is proberbly out of the question, The nearest big town is a two hour drive away. Travel to Cape Town involves a flight.
PayPal.. I don't know. I had a bad experience with it related to bitcoin previously.

I guess bitcoin just isn't ready for these communities yet.

[redsn0w]

As some of you guessed I didn't really send £1000 worth of bitcoin to Namibia but what I wanted to do was discuss and highlight the difficulties of using the currency in places where it would be most beneficial.
I am married into a Namibian family. My wife likes to send funds to her parents in Namibia every couple of months. She has been doing this for the last 9 years.

Currently they use one of her bankcards and she has given them her PIN. She uses a UK bank account specifically for the purpose.
So, when she decides she wants to send money she transfers money from regular account to the account her parents have a card for and just does a regular bank transfer. This works fine however she probably shouldn't have given her card and PIN to someone else.

Most people are not in a position to do this.

Prior to doing it this way or if their are some issues with the account she would use Western Union.

I showed her how simple is is to send btc if you have Mycelium installed on your phone. But we were discussing what you would do with it.

At this point LocalBitcoins is proberbly out of the question, The nearest big town is a two hour drive away. Travel to Cape Town involves a flight.
PayPal.. I don't know. I had a bad experience with it related to bitcoin previously.

I guess bitcoin just isn't ready for these communities yet.

As we said bitcoin is not ready for all the world population, some people don't have the knowledge to use it. Other people don't have a bank account so they cannot easily convert bitcoin to fiat money (they have to use localbitcoins).

In your situation I suggest you to inform more about the bitcoin "ecosystem" in Namibia.