This is a half-baked talking point. If you're saying a single person can't send two billion dollars in cash in the current system, then, great, nobody cares. That's not a problem people have. If you're suggesting international remittences aren't a solved problem at a small scale, I suggest you do some research.
Further Bitcoin's wild volatility means that no, you can't send "a few billion dollars" within a "few minutes" for a "few dollars". To send dollars, you first need to pay an exchange a 1% fee to buy BTC, wait a few days for it to clear, pay a BTC transaction fee, wait a few hours for the confirmations, pay the destination exchange a 1% fee, then wait for that to clear. All in you're talking a few dollars, a few days, a few percent and huge volatility risk.
Or, you fire up Interactive Brokers and pay mid-market rates for an exchange with a fee of $20 per million, confirmed instantly. Or TransferWise. Or Western Union (believe it or not they're pretty competitive).
Yes, it is half-baked but still carries a kernel of truth. Most people don't need to transfer two billion dollars, but they still have issues with smaller amounts. It is possible to use alternative means, but they will often be more expensive and less flexible.
It is true that you need to own BTC to send X dollars, but that is true with regards to any other means - you have to own bank dollars to wire dollars, to get them you have to convert from your local currency or to deposit your "real", cash dollar notes to your bank. And depend on where you are, this may be faster or slower process than converting cash to BTC. Perhaps you are an American and used to have USD available in the banks, consider then having to transfer CHF. There are lots of places where you can buy BTC with cash pretty much immediately. Transferring cash to bank dollars or converting local currency will often take longer and will be more of a hassle. And if you think 1% is bad, try converting currencies at the bank, your credit card or street change places.
Within Europe you have SEPA, its free/instant. Within Canada you have Interac eTransfer, it’s free/instant. Within the US you have Venmo and Square Cash.
Internationally you have TransferWise, it takes a day or two and costs 0.75% and carries no volatility risk. Or IB. Or WU. Or myriad other options, there’s sites to compare rates. Along the USD-INR corridor it’s totally possible to pay 0% with these services.
You’re dramatically understating the cost and risk of a BTC exchange. It’s 2% + $3 + volatility and it moves 10% in days. Or the risk an exchange just goes under with all your money like the guy who lost $400K trying to do Forex in Quadriga.
No idea how it works in CH but the majority of credit cards in the US charge no foreign transaction fees (mid-market rates) and why use a street change place when you can use an ATM in the foreign country for a low fixed dollar fee if any.
If you investigated your options you’d realize this problem is already solved and better.
Well, seems like the options you have are better for you. In the market I operate in credit cards fees are %2.5-3. Street change places are popular because they are the cheapest option. Using SEPA is expensive and is not instant (your bank will usually transmit the transaction about a day after you order it). And anyway, a day or two is far from instant.
I didn't understate the risk of BTC exchanges, I didn't discuss it at all. I also didn't and wouldn't claim that BTC is flawless or close to that. There are multiple downsides, risk and usability issues. I only reacted to your claim that it is only useful for illegal ends.
> Well, seems like the options you have are better for you. In the market I operate in credit cards fees are %2.5-3.
Where, out of curiosity? And is a TransferWise Borderless account an option for you, to sidestep this?
> Street change places are popular because they are the cheapest option. Using SEPA is expensive and is not instant (your bank will usually transmit the transaction about a day after you order it). And anyway, a day or two is far from instant.
TransferWise remains a risk free option less than 1%. SEPA payments cost the same as a domestic transfer, often free, or a few cents, and within the Euro zone there’s no currency to convert. Further they are instant from a network perspective but banks do all offer processing time guarantees. And while potentially far from instant at minimum one SEPA transaction is required to move money into or out of the Eurozone via an exchange so you’re just adding needless extra steps.
> I didn't understate the risk of BTC exchanges, I didn't discuss it at all. I also didn't and wouldn't claim that BTC is flawless or close to that. There are multiple downsides, risk and usability issues. I only reacted to your claim that it is only useful for illegal ends.
By omitting it you made it seem like a viable option, it’s not. The risk was left out of the “couple of dollars” quote like a resort fee at a hotel. There are better, cheaper, faster options. Crypto has no business in the conversation because they’re so clumsy and expensive.
Imo in a market where better options exist, showing up with a worse one by all metrics with no path or plan to improve it doesn’t demonstrate its viability or fitness for purpose. Which means by de facto that this isn’t an example of a legitimate use case. Why would you use a worse product?
For instance it’s like me showing up and saying for $1000 I’ll fly your money personally - with a nontrivial risk I’ll get bored and just keep your money. That doesn’t demonstrate my legitimacy as a money transmitter. Or trying to sell a typewriter as a computer. Or a horse next to a car dealership. Sure you could but why?
