"I just looked at TransferWise, and it seems like the rate is about 0.7-2.5% depending on the pair of currencies." Average remittance fees, worldwide, are ~7%.

"I just looked at TransferWise, and it seems like the rate is about 0.7-2.5% depending on the pair of currencies." Average remittance fees, worldwide, are ~7%. "Who is going to sell you Bitcoins for Venezuelan Bolivars? " No Bolivars involved. Venezuelan bitcoiners typically acquire BTC by selling services or products (sometimes internationally) while receiving payment in BTC. "Well that would be cool, but Bitcoin has it's own fees, and an unacceptably long delay for any IRL purchases" Fees are low: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14926127 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14926127 There is no delay, IRL merchants usually accept 0-conf tx. "we're all terrible at security," Hardware wallets have largely solved this. There has never been a single case of BTC stolen from a hw wallet.