Worldwide, 230 million people send $500 billion in remittances each year. The remittances are most often sent by migrant workers sending money to their families back home, and they’re usually made through companies like Western Union and RIA, both of which charge quite some fees that cut into the amount being sent to families in need. Bitcoin exchanges are a low-cost away around this issue. Bitcoin exchanges are allowing senders to pay for their transactions in local currency where it is then converted into bitcoins before being transmitted to the the destination country. Once there, the bitcoins are converted into the local currency of the beneficiary. The exchange is made rather simply, and it halves the costs of traditional money sending options.
This article was originally published on September 12, 2016
