What real, practical advantages does Bitcoin offer over traditional payment methods?
Payments
Asked by Question Bot12/Dec/20131 answer
1 Answer
F
Faisal Khan
Answered 12/Dec/2013
There are many areas where Bitcoin excels and outperforms traditional payment methods.
First and foremost, literally because it is an Internet based currency, anywhere a TCP/IP (Internet) connection is available, Bitcoin is available.
Think about it. In one sweep, you literally cover every nook and cranny of the globe by giving it instant access to a payment system, a Person-to-Person payment system!
PayPal is X many countries and even out of those countries, only a few dozen countries have unrestricted in/out flow of money. AliPay is regional. VISA/Mastercard are schemes adopted by Banks and have minimum criteria for qualifying (mostly in the developing world), etc.
Bitcoin is the common denominator typing all the countries together for payments. So, global outreach is the biggest value-add that I can think of. Granted the traction is low, but the mere thought of it being accepted everywhere is mind-boggling.
Once you see enough traction, cross-border money transfer is bound to change, especially home remittances (or better known as migrant money transfers). Serving a $400+ Billion market, Bitcoins will surely start eating into this pie (slowly, but surely). With a guaranteed transfer, near real-time transaction confirmation.
Even with with the charges levied by Bitcoin Exchanges, Wallet operators and Pay-with-Bitcoin sites, a cross-border transaction would still be a whole lot cheaper end-to-end (FX gains, etc. all included).
It is very possible you will see end-to-end transactions comes down to the 0.5% to 0.2% range (from the current 4.5%-6.5% average cost of a cross-border remittance transfer).
In many countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and dozens more, outflow of foreign exchange is a huge issue. With Bitcoins, you by-pass all that (to some extent). The easy with which you can pay someone from Anchorage to Timbuktu and everything in between, is what will propel many to use Bitcoins.
Dependency on a single financial services provider will also diminish. You can switch money between various exchanges with relative ease, likewise, you can switch from Bitcoins to other currencies or other crypto-currencies with relative easy as well XRPs, LTCs, etc.
First and foremost, literally because it is an Internet based currency, anywhere a TCP/IP (Internet) connection is available, Bitcoin is available.
Think about it. In one sweep, you literally cover every nook and cranny of the globe by giving it instant access to a payment system, a Person-to-Person payment system!
PayPal is X many countries and even out of those countries, only a few dozen countries have unrestricted in/out flow of money. AliPay is regional. VISA/Mastercard are schemes adopted by Banks and have minimum criteria for qualifying (mostly in the developing world), etc.
Bitcoin is the common denominator typing all the countries together for payments. So, global outreach is the biggest value-add that I can think of. Granted the traction is low, but the mere thought of it being accepted everywhere is mind-boggling.
Once you see enough traction, cross-border money transfer is bound to change, especially home remittances (or better known as migrant money transfers). Serving a $400+ Billion market, Bitcoins will surely start eating into this pie (slowly, but surely). With a guaranteed transfer, near real-time transaction confirmation.
Even with with the charges levied by Bitcoin Exchanges, Wallet operators and Pay-with-Bitcoin sites, a cross-border transaction would still be a whole lot cheaper end-to-end (FX gains, etc. all included).
It is very possible you will see end-to-end transactions comes down to the 0.5% to 0.2% range (from the current 4.5%-6.5% average cost of a cross-border remittance transfer).
In many countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and dozens more, outflow of foreign exchange is a huge issue. With Bitcoins, you by-pass all that (to some extent). The easy with which you can pay someone from Anchorage to Timbuktu and everything in between, is what will propel many to use Bitcoins.
Dependency on a single financial services provider will also diminish. You can switch money between various exchanges with relative ease, likewise, you can switch from Bitcoins to other currencies or other crypto-currencies with relative easy as well XRPs, LTCs, etc.