> This is patently false. My bank, Fidelity, lets me send domestic wires (which are virtually instantaneous) for free. (Fedwires actually cost most customers virtually nothing.) International wires aren't that much more expensive, with the majority of the cost for small transactions being antifraud. In that respect, every cryptocurrency is orders of magnitude more expensive than the status quo.

Perhaps your bank is different, but googling "international wire cost" brings up links like these:

  - https://smartasset.com/checking-account/average-wire-transfer-fee
  - https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/banking/wire-transfers-what-banks-charge/

I do see that you are correct about Fidelity. However, what's clear is that Fidelity is an outlier. I don't know why or how they are able to offer that, but it certainly isn't the norm. And sending a remittance payment in Bitcoin is cheaper than any of the others listed.

Is "wires" the technical term, as I can't find this at my bank.

I read your comment history... something about TRS-80s. So probably older than 40 and American. I am truly amazed that someone could live that long with economic means to post here and not know what a bank wire is!

Just google it though. It's the most common way to send moderate sums of money in the world. And yes, pretty much any retail bank or credit union will offer wiring, probably for a fee.