El Salvador’s new Bitcoin wallets could cost Western Union $400M a year

Re:El Salvador’s new Bitcoin wallets could cost Western Unio... by bko on Thursday September 09, 2021 @11:30AM (#28470768)

Using paypal to send internationally for $50-100 has a $3 fee + 3% + fee associated with exchange rates (PayPal’s exchange rate for personal payments includes a 2.5% to 4.5% margin subtracted from the interbank rate and depending on the receiving currency.) Also there is a few day lag between when you can retrieve the money

So it's pretty expensive.

On top of that, the person has to have a bank account that can be connected with PayPal. The benefit of WesternUnion (and why its a lot more expensive) is that you can just show up somewhere, show them an ID and get cash that was transferred to you. Crypto is closer to that, where you can download an app, go to an ATM and exchange for fiat in a short timeframe

https://transumo.com/paypal-international-fees/#USA

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Re:El Salvador’s new Bitcoin wallets could cost Western Unio... by pkd on Thursday September 09, 2021 @01:29PM (#28472262)

Transferwise (and others like it) have no such issues. When I make a cross border transfer, the funds are immediately available (if I elect to debit my account immediately). This varies by jurisdiction but it proves that cryptocurrencies are not required to have instantaneous transfers.

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