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Comment by sanswork | Hacker News Reader

I do it pretty regularly as I move countries frequently and have bank accounts in 3 countries at the moment. I generally do international transfers 2-4 times a month. The last ~20 times I've transferred money overseas it has been in my receiving account the next morning and it usually costs ~0.3%.

Bitcoin isn't better for remittance. Actually moving the money has never been the expensive parts of remittance it is giving people a way to receive money on the other side and compliance. The current bitcoin remittance companies advertising lower fees are doing it entirely by ignoring compliance and that will work great until they have any volume and then they will be shut down.

I've heard people say "BTMs save money on not needing a store" but do you think if an automated machine was doable WU wouldn't have replaced most of their partner branches by now?

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I have to respectfully disagree. It is not the transaction fees itself, but the currency exchange rates that kill you at one end or the other. (I would agree with you regarding intra-Europe CEPA transfers however.)

I'm American and have lived overseas for several years and the currency exchange rates in combination with the 10-20 USD fees are a constant annoyance. And an annoyance for my startup which operates in USD but does business in several countries. It badly affects margin for smaller payments.

I'm a big Amazon Prime customer and I do a lot of purchase for family and friends for delivery in the US. I don't dare use my overseas credit card to pay for it, but if Amazon were to accept BTC I could pay from where I live. That would be very valuable to me personally.

I'm interested in bitcoin because it takes control away from traditional choke point exchange bank and also could serve as a 'world currency' of sorts. I also think that it would make possible a lot of cross-border sales that currently face real practical impediments.

With bitcoin you don't get rid of the currency exchange rates you add another one. Source -> Bitcoin -> Destination.

I think he is not complaining about the fact that currency need to be exchanged but at how big the spread is. I.e. they give him a quite poor exchange rate as a way of extracting a hidden fee.

It is not the transaction fees itself, but the currency exchange rates that kill you at one end or the other.

Wouldn't the incredibly volatile currency exchange rate of Bitcoin also cause problems? It is not immune to this as it is free floating against other currencies.

I'd love to see a world-currency which does away with existing credit card companies and transfer fees worldwide, but Bitcoin is not suitable, and I suspect if we see one emerge it will quickly be regulated and taxed by governments like all other means of storing wealth.

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