3 ms·
>The only use-case for it now is for the criminal underworld You must not have a need to send money to recipients in other countries. I tried every option I c
by strict9 4y ago
>The only use-case for it now is for the criminal underworld
You must not have a need to send money to recipients in other countries.
I tried every option I could find until giving up in frustration and sending crypto instead.
Not denying the negative aspects but it's a privileged position to assert criminality is the only use case.
- wpietri 4y agoI'd be interested to hear about your specific use case that made crypto better. What were the alternatives? What were the total costs for what you did versus the alternatives? But I imagine your specifics are quite rare. We've had a long time for crypto get significant market share for retail money transfer and it hasn't happened yet.
- noodlesUK 4y agoI’m curious, what countries are you trying to send money between? I’ve only ever really transacted with big countries’ currencies (EUR, USD, GBP, etc.), and I’ve found that the ordinary banking systems (especially with fintech like Wise) serve me quite well for this use case. I’d love to hear more about the flipside of that.
- dopidopHN 4y agoYeah. I work in crypto custody and I use Wise to send money in France.
- JohnFen 4y agoThere are nations where transferring money into and out of them with the standard systems is extremely expensive and/or can open you up to political persecution. There are other nations where it's just not realistically possible for the ordinary person.
- FabHK 4y agoDo you think that fact is due to a technical limitation of fiat? Amenable to a technical solution? Or, is it rather maybe because of rules and regulations (that are roundly ignored by crypto)?
- strict9 4y agoSending from US to Ukraine. I tried Wise (and WU) but the UI presented generic errors when attempting payment that didn't indicate what the problem was or how to correct it. The chat assistant was equally vague as to what the problem was. It could've been my fault, I don't frequently send internationally. But the experience sending crypto was far and away easier and is now my default choice.
- ElevenLathe 4y agoI live in the US but have family in Poland and Xoom used to work quickly, flawlessly and cheaply (for USD->PLN transfers), but the last few transfers have just never gone through. Had to send it via PayPal which is slower, more expensive, and has worse exchange rates.
- EL_Loco 4y agoWhat countries, you ask?? Try being an immigrant from a poor South American/African country and then try the traditional methods wiring money to your rural family who stayed behind. I despise the crypto hype, but sending money via cryptocurrencies is A LOT easier for the poorest people, since cellphones are so widespread now. I know plenty, plenty of poor people in my country who don't have bank accounts but have smartphones. If crypto payments were more widely accepted, a lot of them wouldn't come close to touching a bank.
- WeylandYutani 4y agoYeah with cryptocurrency they would rely on unregulated tech douchebag scum. And they'd still have to exchange those internet coins to real currency.
- Turing_Machine 4y agoNot the OP, but I've heard that legitimate businesses in Nigeria find it very difficult to carry out international transactions because pretty much every bank flags any transfer to Nigeria as potential fraud.
- JohnFen 4y agoYes, this is the only actually legitimate use for it I can think of.