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While in the US last year, I sent money to myself in Europe that way once, because it was significantly cheaper than using the legacy banking system.
I think it mostly comes down to whether you have easy access to a Bitcoin exchange from your bank account in the US and what amounts you are trying to transfer. It also depends on how urgently you need the ...
10
The system the Somalis (and many others) have been using to send money around the world for centuries is called hawala. Monetary futurist Jon Matonis calls Bitcoin a potential replacement for hawala.
Right now, I suspect that Somalis would be hard-pressed to use Bitcoin for personal remittances, owing to the lack of local exchangers and Bitcoin-accepting ...
7
EDIT This information is now out of date - voting to close this question
You could use Intersango
It's a well-trusted exchange that operates within the Eurozone (and in the UK). You see their current fee structure provides SEPA transfer:
Country Accepting deposits Processing withdrawals
GBP (domestic) Free Free
EUR (SEPA) ...
7
Hawala (sometimes referred to as hundi) involves a trust relationship between the two hawaldars. The hawalder who receives the funds (in Minneapolis, for example) is a trusted partner to the other hawalder who disburses the funds (in Somalia, for example).
With Bitcoin, this relationship between hawalders becomes unnecessary. These hawalders simply become ...
6
That's exactly the service https://www.bitinstant.com/ provide, it should be fairly simple and I think they and mtgox have the API necessary to do this by a bot.
5
To organize a wire from Europe to the US and back using bitcoin without fees, you can:
Open an account on KRAKEN.com do a IBAN/BIC wire to your kraken account (free!), takes 2-4 business days
Open an account on circle.com and register your US bank account
Buy bitcoins on kraken.com (very small fee, usually around 20 eurocents)
Transfer bitcoins from kaken....
4
Transferring bitcoins is usually free. You just need to wait around 1 hour for confirmations from the network.
Transferring USD is fairly easy if the exchanges support Bitinstant (currently it is only available at MtGox, TradeHill and CryptoXchange). Bitinstant transfers usually takes less than a minute and cost around 1%. If the exchange doesn't support ...
4
Most big US banks charge 40-50$ in fees for international transfers and take a cut of the exchange rate. You might be able to lower this if you use a company like Usforex or Xoom, which I believe take around a 1-1.5% cut of the interbank rate plus a < 5$ fee.
And Bitcoin? I just transferred 1000$ from the US to Europe, from my wellsfargo account, via ...
3
To make an international money transfer using bitcoins you need to figure out 2 things: 1. How to convert FIAT to BTC and 2. How to convert BTC to FIAT.
FIAT to BTC
Open an account on your local exchange. I find this resource useful: https://bitcoincharts.com/markets/list/ to find local exchanges.
You want to open an account on the local exchange because ...
3
If you can send an International wire transfer (USD) there will be fees charged by your own bank to convert from INR to USD, as well as a wire transfer fee. Then some fees charged by Mt. Gox exchange to receive the funds I believe, but a relatively small amount.
The conversion from INR to USD is probably the part that will be the most expensive as banks ...
3
This is why there are some juicy arbitrage opportunities between the exchanges when the prices are volatile -- few traders keep much cash idle in different exchanges so when the price rises as the result of a whale at Mt. Gox, exchange rates at the other exchanges might lag until either new funds are transferred or the sellers wake up and readjust their ...
3
In the U.S. there is the ACH bank network.
Coinbase is currently the only service allowing bitcoin purchases to be paid for with a transfer from a bank using the ACH network directly.
Mt. Gox and Camp BX use Dwolla which is an intermediary which allows funds to be drawn from a bank account through the ACH network.
I'm unaware of any exchanges whose ...
3
MtGox and TradeHill usually offer SEPA transfers, but right now they are temporarily closed. MtGox is in the middle of a court case and TradeHill is changing banks (which should be solved in a couple of weeks). Here are some other options:
Intersango, like Gary Rowe wrote.
CryptoExchange launched yesterday and they charge a fixed $15 for any transfer ...
2
I'm Software engineering major, Somali-American. I am working on online wallet which will be an alternative for sending money to Somalia. The website will be functional by the end of march 20 2015.
2
i am in Somalia, Mogadishu. Bitcoin can be a solution for Somalia as its simple money transfer service but but INTERNET connection availability is quite bad.. for me, i wanna start bitcoin service in Somalia! any idea would support?
2
Thanks to eWallets, one needs very little access to the internet to operate on the Bitcoin network. Provided you trust those, it should be as easy as operating PayPal.
The main problem though is getting Bitcoins in Somalia, how stable the Bitcoin value is, and how much the fees are.
There are no exchanges supporting anything but the major currencies, so ...
2
I requested a transfer on July 22 and still haven't received it yet. There was a bounty offered for people to prove that they've received a wire in USD from Mt.Gox from the moment in which they announced they had resumed withdrawals. Only one user claimed it and he requested his wire on July 3 (which was July 4 on Japan time which is Mt.Gox's time zone). ...
2
One Method
1.0) Using Coinbase, (coinbase dot com) is currently my preferred way. Create an account there and do your homework. They have made the process rather straight forward once you are verified.
1.1) The fastest way to get verified is to link your US based bank account to their service. I would suggest buying a small fraction of one BTC to get ...
2
In the euro zone MtGox is not cheaper for small payments like $100. Depositing and withdrawing euros both include a fee of ~1.20 euro (10 PLN) + 0.60% for the transfer.
I don't know what deposit/withdrawal fees are for US dollars, neither if there are exchanges that do not require this fee. I know Intersango does as well.
2
where is my bitcoin money, when downloading is failed.
Your money is in the Blockchain (loosely speaking). It is not affected by the state of your wallet. When your wallet finishes collecting its own copy of the public Blockchain (synchronisation), it will be able to show you the amount of money you control.
Some explanation:
A wallet does two things. ...
1
I have done this successfully in the past, just like you for USD to EUR.
You'll pay probably pay around 0.5% to move USD into Bitcoin, then another 0.5% to move them to Euro. In any case, you should probably be able to stay below $80 on $1000. ;)
You might need a bank account denominated in Euros though, and it will take a few days. (For me it was something ...
1
I contacted another bank and was reassured that any wire transfer from a Russian resident to any person or company could be made without supporting documents if it is under 5000 USD or equivalent.
As for the reason of the payment it could be filled with something like "transfer of personal funds"
Edit: However, the so called currency control, which is an ...
1
The factors that matter for any cash-out decision are:
Where are you located (country)? (you mention UK)
How much are you looking to trade?
What type of cash are you looking to receive? (you mention bank transfer or PayPal)
How soon do you need access to the proceeds?
Is privacy important?
Specifically for cash-out to PayPal, options include:
http://www....
1
mtgox support desk: "Situation as of 24-Nov-2013: We are currently processing withdrawals requested 5 weeks ago." so it seems that you may get your money at the middle of december.
1
It depends where you live, what currency you want to trade in and where your bank account is domiciled. I live in the U.K., and have bank accounts in various currencies and countries around the world. For me, localbitcoins in GBP has been the best solution.
Your situation may be different because withdraw/deposit times will depend on your financial ...
1
You hit the nail on the head my friend...You get less money/fiat per btc because they are all competing together for price so market efficiency is lower - usually withtin the scope of 20 percent lower. However for this loss in premium, you can be guaranteed to receive a deposit in two weeks or less in most cases.
However the volume on Gox is higher I ...
1
Yes, you can transfer cash to Mt.Gox using a service like BitInstant.
1
Take a look at beta bitinstant at https://new.bitinstant.com/ No longer option for cash to mtgox. Could be possible indicator.
1
LocalBitcoins.com lists traders with two different payment options for India:
Buy bitcoins online and by cash listings in India
There seems to be two traders selling bitcoins online in India with two different payment options:
SWIFT bank transfer ( https://localbitcoins.com/ad/15881/purchase-bitcoin-bank-international-bank-wire-swift-india )
Online ...
1
INRBTC allows you to buy/sell bitcoins in Indian Currency using the unique trading platform.
Place your order details and submit.
you will be asked to deposit 10% of your order value in Bitcoins, after the deposit is sent, the order will be confirmed.
As soon as your order is matched, a trade will be executed and you will be sent the trade details.
If ...
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