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> Totally can, FairFX and TorFX (both UK-regulated money transmitters) will safely and securely make an MXN to GBP transfer for right around 2.5% and believe it

> Totally can, FairFX and TorFX (both UK-regulated money transmitters) will safely and securely make an MXN to GBP transfer for right around 2.5% and believe it or not Western Union is usually quite competitive. Next time check out cuex.com which compares options for you. I tried both of them and I can't (I am living in Mexico). I don't understand why you think BTC is a nightmare. For me, living in Mexico, and dealing with MXN and GBP (my brother is in Northen Ireland) it has worked wonders. You are assuming that Bitcoin exchanges in Mexico are unregulated, when they are VERY regulated. You are making negative assumptions for every Crypto step while making positive assumptions for every step in your scenario. I does not make sense.

arcticbull 8y ago
I'm not sure what you mean by it not working. I haven't tried but they're a regulated system, are you sure it's not on your end? Have you been reporting your capital gains and losses over the course of the transaction on both sides? If not the tax authority may have some serious questions for you. And why wouldn't I make negative assumptions of crypto [1], [2], [3], [4]. There's a scammer at every single level and being intentionally resistant to censorship, control and authority makes that impossible to stop. It's designed to support scams. Remember the man who lost $420,000USD while attempting to use Quadriga to exchange USD for CAD when moving to Canada using exactly the approach you're describing? [0] It's like asking me why I've got negative associations with the "Titanic II." Something about what happened to the first Titanic. Last, based on my research, it appears Mexican crypto exchanges aren't regulated yet, and that regulators are about to shut them all down [5]. "Because cryptocurrencies are such complicated technologies, the argument goes, average citizens can’t understand how they work and should not, therefore, be allowed to buy them." I'm 100% with your regulators. [0] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-09/software-engineer-loses-life-savings-in-quadriga-imbroglio https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-09/software-... [1] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-gerald-cotten-mixed-personal-and-corporate-funds-quadriga-monitors/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-gerald-cott... [2] https://www.chepicap.com/en/news/4366/roubini-on-tether-it-s-the-mother-of-all-crypto-scams-.html https://www.chepicap.com/en/news/4366/roubini-on-tether-it-s... [3] https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/22/17151430/bankruptcy-mt-gox-liabilities-bitcoin https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/22/17151430/bankruptcy-mt-go... [4] https://www.forbes.com/sites/cbovaird/2019/03/22/95-of-reported-bitcoin-trading-volume-is-fake-says-bitwise/#5c5f203f6717 https://www.forbes.com/sites/cbovaird/2019/03/22/95-of-repor... [5] https://coincenter.org/entry/new-regulation-would-effectively-ban-crypto-exchanges-in-mexico https://coincenter.org/entry/new-regulation-would-effectivel...
- xtracto 8y ago
  > I'm not sure what you mean by it not working. I haven't tried but they're a regulated system, are you sure it's not on your end? Have you been reporting your capital gains and losses over the course of the transaction on both sides? If not the tax authority may have some serious questions for you. It is actually very simple: A lot of these services do not provide services in Mexico. Really, the passive aggressive comment is not necessary. I assume that you live in the UK or the USA. Usually what happens is that people that live there live in a "technological bubble" where all of those first-world services are available. But most of them do not have service in most of other countries. I work in a B2B payment company and have had the opportunity to deal with these kind of issues. Believe me that cross-country payments is nowhere a solved problem. The blockchain technology definitely has something on it if used correctly.
  - arcticbull 8y ago
    Sorry, it wasn't intended to be passive-aggressive, I was curious what the issue was, since by reading their documentation it should work. The tax question was a separate issue with using crypto, not an implication it was related. You didn't really address any of my criticisms however including the pending shutdown of crypto exchanges in Mexico or how reporting requirements factor into your cost calculations. Either way, another legitimate option for you to consider is an Interactive Brokers account which has great forex options (interbank rates) and Mexico is a supported country. They charge a commission of 0.2 basis points (0.2/100 of a percent) with a minimum of $2USD per order. There really are a lot of legitimate options that don't require cryptocurrency. People have been trading currencies for hundreds of years. There's a great writeup on the way you can do it here: https://gfmasset.com/2018/09/better-than-transferwise-saving-thousands-on-international-transfers-with-an-interactive-brokers-account/ https://gfmasset.com/2018/09/better-than-transferwise-saving... For interest you can even do USD-CAD exchanges with zero spread via Norbert's Gambit (https://medium.com/young-wild-and-cheap/the-norberts-gambit-trick-to-exchange-usd-and-cad-for-dummies-d47d7e2a5d8f https://medium.com/young-wild-and-cheap/the-norberts-gambit-...)

arcticbull 8y ago

I'm not sure what you mean by it not working. I haven't tried but they're a regulated system, are you sure it's not on your end? Have you been reporting your capital gains and losses over the course of the transaction on both sides? If not the tax authority may have some serious questions for you. And why wouldn't I make negative assumptions of crypto [1], [2], [3], [4]. There's a scammer at every single level and being intentionally resistant to censorship, control and authority makes that impossible to stop. It's designed to support scams. Remember the man who lost $420,000USD while attempting to use Quadriga to exchange USD for CAD when moving to Canada using exactly the approach you're describing? [0] It's like asking me why I've got negative associations with the "Titanic II." Something about what happened to the first Titanic. Last, based on my research, it appears Mexican crypto exchanges aren't regulated yet, and that regulators are about to shut them all down [5]. "Because cryptocurrencies are such complicated technologies, the argument goes, average citizens can’t understand how they work and should not, therefore, be allowed to buy them." I'm 100% with your regulators. [0] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-09/software-engineer-loses-life-savings-in-quadriga-imbroglio https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-09/software-... [1] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-gerald-cotten-mixed-personal-and-corporate-funds-quadriga-monitors/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-gerald-cott... [2] https://www.chepicap.com/en/news/4366/roubini-on-tether-it-s-the-mother-of-all-crypto-scams-.html https://www.chepicap.com/en/news/4366/roubini-on-tether-it-s... [3] https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/22/17151430/bankruptcy-mt-gox-liabilities-bitcoin https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/22/17151430/bankruptcy-mt-go... [4] https://www.forbes.com/sites/cbovaird/2019/03/22/95-of-reported-bitcoin-trading-volume-is-fake-says-bitwise/#5c5f203f6717 https://www.forbes.com/sites/cbovaird/2019/03/22/95-of-repor... [5] https://coincenter.org/entry/new-regulation-would-effectively-ban-crypto-exchanges-in-mexico https://coincenter.org/entry/new-regulation-would-effectivel...

xtracto 8y ago
> I'm not sure what you mean by it not working. I haven't tried but they're a regulated system, are you sure it's not on your end? Have you been reporting your capital gains and losses over the course of the transaction on both sides? If not the tax authority may have some serious questions for you. It is actually very simple: A lot of these services do not provide services in Mexico. Really, the passive aggressive comment is not necessary. I assume that you live in the UK or the USA. Usually what happens is that people that live there live in a "technological bubble" where all of those first-world services are available. But most of them do not have service in most of other countries. I work in a B2B payment company and have had the opportunity to deal with these kind of issues. Believe me that cross-country payments is nowhere a solved problem. The blockchain technology definitely has something on it if used correctly.
- arcticbull 8y ago
  Sorry, it wasn't intended to be passive-aggressive, I was curious what the issue was, since by reading their documentation it should work. The tax question was a separate issue with using crypto, not an implication it was related. You didn't really address any of my criticisms however including the pending shutdown of crypto exchanges in Mexico or how reporting requirements factor into your cost calculations. Either way, another legitimate option for you to consider is an Interactive Brokers account which has great forex options (interbank rates) and Mexico is a supported country. They charge a commission of 0.2 basis points (0.2/100 of a percent) with a minimum of $2USD per order. There really are a lot of legitimate options that don't require cryptocurrency. People have been trading currencies for hundreds of years. There's a great writeup on the way you can do it here: https://gfmasset.com/2018/09/better-than-transferwise-saving-thousands-on-international-transfers-with-an-interactive-brokers-account/ https://gfmasset.com/2018/09/better-than-transferwise-saving... For interest you can even do USD-CAD exchanges with zero spread via Norbert's Gambit (https://medium.com/young-wild-and-cheap/the-norberts-gambit-trick-to-exchange-usd-and-cad-for-dummies-d47d7e2a5d8f https://medium.com/young-wild-and-cheap/the-norberts-gambit-...)