Topic: Bitcoin as a way of avoiding to change money when travelling abroad (Read 1784 times)

You do not really have to start settling accounts. Isn't that why we have P2P exchange sites like localbitcoin? However, like you said, this cannot work for all countries now until we start seeing adoptions from other countries.

This is like one of the best reasons bitcoin will even be adopted globally soon. I have tried this twice and it was like, yeah! I have been able to finally solve one piece of the puzzle I always battle with in the past regarding having to change my currency before travelling. However, this still depends on the country you are going to but over time, as bitcoin evolves the more, we will start having more adoptions.

You don't have to wait, this already exists with Wirex.

Wirex is a currency exchange and payment service. You fund your account with Bitcoin, create digital or plastic debit cards to serve the various global currencies you wish to spend with and then load each card with Bitcoin when you needed it. You've avoided currency exchange fees and the spread in the actual exchange of the currency (which is a cost in addition to the fees).

The only challenge is that Wirex doesn't operate in all global currencies and isn't available for all Countries.

This is one of the main concern of many bitcoin users we want to have the best convenient crytpto currency can offer, if time comes that different country will accept bitcoin as a mode of payment, travelling abroad will be very easy you don't have to worry whether you have dollars in your pocket you can do shopping and eating in restaurants using bitcoin you can keep it on online wallet so you don't have to worry that you may lost it also you don't need to disclose too much of your personal information because they would not require you.

I really love travelling and if one day Bitcoin becomes that accessible, it will probably cause less wasting time of exchanging our currency and by then more people will join here so that they can afford getting abroad using Bitcoins

With bitcoin you don’t have to bother about having to exchange your money at all those bureau de change offices all around that charge high fees for helping you exchange you money to another currency. Now with your wallet and internet connection you can have any currency you want.

Using bitcoin abroad means that you have to travel in a country where its use is common.
But in general I would say that you have more instability through the volatile nature of bitcoin than you have when you exchange it in a local fiat.
Bitcoin does not only go up. And when you are on vacation you can't just wait until it recovers because your trip is mostly limited in time.

Using bitcoin when travelling will save you the stress of having to convert your money to a foreign currency before finally travelling, now all you need to do, is just to travel with your wallet safely with you, you can start exchanging for cash when you arrive your destination.

I haven't tried using bitcoin during travels, but it will definitely be more convenient to use this digital currency. If this is the case, then there will be no need to convert money. Travelers will not be confused with the foreign money that they have. Being tricked by sneaky people taking advantage will also be lessened. There will be no unused coins and bills that that will go to  waste. It is a pretty imagery and possibility though the use of bitcoin is still not familiar to many places and few merchants are accepting bitcoin.

That would actually because I too am planning to visit at least some Asian countries after I could stable in this business that I'm actually saving up by using bitoind I have earned. Although this will take too long to be effective i still hope this would happen

Bitcoin saves you the whole stress of having to convert your money to another currency when you are making an international flight, now all you just need is a little cash in the foreign currency just in case of emergency and you have to use cash, else you’re good to go, you can easily convert bitcoins with the use of localbitcoins.com

I have never traveled abroad but I do not see why this strategy could not work, just make sure to bring with you other payment methods in the case you are not able to exchange your bitcoin for local currency fast enough.

You can always use bitcoin debit card. It's actually quite simple to use. Just check the fees before you actually do anything.

This will greatly facilitate the life of those who travel, but unfortunately not yet everywhere you can use bitcoins and this must be taken into account when traveling.

It would really be great if we would able to experience such adoption but i guess this thing would be hardly implemented because those exchange places wont easily let this thing happen for sure and might do a petition or they would able to compete with the rates with it but its hard to think off that this would be implemented easily.If it does then this would really be a big comfort for us to those who do travel actively.

That being said, it is still great to use bitcoin nowadays when one is travelling because some countries have a local web wallet of their own that can be used to exchange btc to fiat money that a specific country uses with ease. One good example for this is Philippines' coins.ph website and many more. We wont need to wait that long though for bitcoin to be accepted by a lot of stores in the world it might happen soon enough if bitcoin adaption still continues at this phase if not, then we have to wait for at least a decade or two.

Bitcoin is the universal coin which can be exchanged for any currency in the world, but we still need to use the exchanger. Now we don't even have the ability to spend bitcoins at any online store. It'll be a long time before the situation will change and we will get all the benefits of bitcoin.

Right now, I believe that we can still do that You can carry your bitcoin to everywhere that you like because most of the countries right now have places that will convert your bitcoin into fiat. And it is true that we will still need to wait for a long time for bitcoin to be used by most of the people on the world

do you really want to spend your bitcoin now? LOL
More seriously, I don't know anything dedicated to the traveler in the cryptocurrency world. this is an idea to be investigated further ...

I do agree with you to save it instead of spending)

It a really good idea, especially attractive for sellers, if we take in a count bitcoin's rapid growth)

Yes, people are having some problems with transaction fees and I think they are not much high. But if they are having some serious issues with transaction fees, then an immediate action should be taken not to lose the customers. I hope so all the countries soon implement digital currencies.

This may likely to happen in the future but as of the moment this is not possible in bitcoin as we can see transaction fees are very frustrating many merchants worldwide may not accept bitcoin because of very high fees even if this method of payment is existing right now still I will not use btc because of fee and confirmations take too long bitcoin should used a lightning speed of transactions before this could happen.   

I think bitcoin is the best currency to take along with you because it is very reliable and convenient to use. Bitcoin currency is famous and acceptable in several countries it made bitcoin more powerful than before. It is now using for the traveling because it is easy to carry with you and you can make a profit by keeping your bitcoin in your wallet it will make bitcoin more powerful than before and also good for the future of the bitcoin.

Still far from happening but yes, if it really is widely-used, then there's little reason to buy fiat in the country you are travelling to. Just load up your bitcoin wallet, get on a flight, enjoy.

Price and the rate would still be your main problem. I don't travel and hate little economic knowledge but as I've seen in videos, even a singular currency in the EU didn't really solve price differences. There may still be time when you might want to use the country's fiat rather than bitcoin.

I think there will be no difference between changing your local currency to foreign country's local currency and buying bitcoins to use as a payment method and probably you will spend more money from using it due to the transaction fees on transfering bitcoin . Being able to travel abroad using bitcoin would be good as it will also help introduce our beloved cryptocurrency to many people but we still have to look for a way where we wouldn't have to spend much .

This is a good idea to use bitcoin to travel abroad and yes its hard to find merchant that accept bitcoin as payment for now. Many will love to use bitcoin by most traveller. If this would happen bitcoin will attract more users.

I agree with you. But it is hard to find a store which accept bitcoin right now. Bitcoin is famous cause of its price, but there are not many people thinking about buying bitcoin. Because of that fact, the number of merchants accepting bitcoin is still very small, especially in developing countries. Well, maybe in the future, we will have more chance to use bitcoin in any place on the world

Why would it become decentralised currency? Just because it's going to be used in the world ? I don't think so. There are many ways by using which bitcoin still stays on the blockchain and it is converted to fiat currency algorithmically. There are many stuffs we don't know about bitcoin yet, but developers must have thought of something to make it reality one day. Blockchain is big thing, it can be upgraded and its open source. So developments are possible.

Yes this is possible and would just relax our lives. At least for those who are world traveller will benefit from such services very easily. The developments are already going on for internation crypto cards by using which you can transact in the local currency very easily. It's not necessary to have bitcoin card itself, but you can use any altcoin to use it. Hope to see such projects become reality so as to grab one of those cards. :-)

I think it's really good to use bitcoin as a money that accepted by people around the world. It's good for traveler and backpacker, they can easily change their money into the local fiat but many people still don't know about bitcoin. It's hard to make it into reality right now, maybe someday it can happen.

Finally, when all these are done, Bitcoin will lose the privacy and secrecy behind it. It won't be decentralized anymore. May be it will still appeal to people that way. May be not. I know what level of documentation people go through with exchanges asking for one document verification or the other just to transact business with them. And this is kind of frustrating.

You have the point it really more convenienced for travelling people but this is also possible if the establishment or lets say the money changer itself is also engage in bitcoin investment that they will receive bitcoin and other coins but  still requires a minimal or less service fees in all of their transactions but it minimize the hassle atleast.

bitcoin is for sure very good to take with you while traveling because it is easy to carry huge amount of bitcoin through your hardware wallet and you can use it wherever you want the price of the bitcoin is very high and it made bitcoin the world currency bitcoin is being use in a lot of countries as legal currency and they are accepting bitcoin as t traveling fees or you can buy ticket of the air traveling of any country easily because it is very famous and popular now.

Very fun when that happens, BTC became the currency that is valid in the world is really happy. As you have written above taxes and individuals who are looking for cruel money for me personally. I have never used BTC to buy goods abroad, but the results of mining BTC I use for road and shopping abroad until now.

I've never used a bitcoin debit/credit card.

That could be one effective way to do this if said cards are accepted internationally.

Withdrawal could be a less effective method. But like I said I haven't used btc cards enough to know.

This is possible, no need of converting the currency to the conventional currency of the country to which we're traveling. But this too has certain issues, because while withdrawing for usage we can get it paid to our local bank account. When the same is withdrawn using a card the charges will make it worse.

I have traveled only in Europe during this two years that I'm in bitcoin world. And as here Evro is acceptable in those few places where I was. But I think to the idea of exchange skipping during travel asks for bitcoin would be acceptable everywhere. Now it's just impossible.

Yep! In the real world, bitcoins will need to work harder for decades to become the digital global currency that is accepted everywhere. Indeed, many bitcoin lovers are anxiously waiting for this to be done so that they can buy their goods with bitcoins. It is a fact that some people are still afraid of using bitcoins in businesses.

It really depend on target target countries Whether recognize bitcoin as payment method.In comparison to others,Bitcoin can make it easier for those travelling abroad by enabling people to convert into local currency.but  currently bitcoin still has trouble with   small transactions because transaction fees still keep

too high.

Yes I agree with I think that it would be good for all those who own bitcoin out there and it would be very convenient for them when they travel. I've been through the struggle of having to have your fiat exchanged to the currency of the country you are going to, since our local currency is not accepted worldwide. Its a hassle trying to look for an exchange with minimal rates, comparing one from another. Also, having to mentally compute the prices is also painstaking. I like your idea but many implementations have to be done first before bitcoin may be a universal currency.

currently you can travel to countries like Japan and bring millions of dollars with you in and out of country without anyone even noticing and then when you get there you can easily spend bitcoin in thousands of shops and don't even worry about taxes because Japan has also removed taxes on any purchase that is done with bitcoin. so it will be even cheaper to buy with bitcoin.

Well if that is a case it won't be a problem for us Bitcoin users but it is a big "if" on it happening in our world. If worldwide all shops accept Bitcoin, I think all local currency exchange will be competitive on the rates Bitcoin is giving as they are a business that can adapt. Additionally Bitcoin's biggest rival is itself as even in the future it won't eliminate it being a volatile currency, being a tourist you might end up spending more rather than what you paid for if you use Fiat currency instead.

I think PayPal do exactly that, of course with fees. But Bitcoin too charges fees which is quite high at this moment. If we are talking about paying online. Then there are already various services available that charges less fees too. With current Bitcoin transaction fees, I  don't think that Bitcoin would be viable for small transactions. These transaction fees need to be reduced in order to increase Bitcoin's utility.

Of course this is a good idea, because bitcoin is an international currency. But in fact many countries did not recognize bitcoin as legal money  and in these countries it is still necessary to exchange it for the national currency.

I know some services where they impose a limit for the maximum balance for the forex cards that they issue to the domestic residents planning to travel abroad and even they ask for passport and VISA for issuing such cards. I think Bitcoin users have a clear advantage in this regard if they are visiting any country where there a good environment for the Bitcoin/crypto transactions. I haven't used any Bitcoin ATM before but I think it will prove very much useful in such case. I haven't heard of any legal restrictions on conversion or expenditure of Bitcoin yet so as of now I think Bitcoin is a good option for foreign travellers.

For travel, it is very good to use bitcoin, but not everywhere it is accepted and it is necessary to plan your trip so that later you can not find yourself in a difficult situation without the usual money.

Yes, it is possible to use bitcoin that way and this is the utopia we refer when we say 'Bitcoin is a global currency'. But still such happening is far from practical reality. Major reasons are bitcoin volatility and it being unregulated.
Due to above mentions, merchants usually hesitate in integrating bitcoin in their businesses.
However, every bitcoin enthusiast will love to see future when every shop has hoarding above saying 'Bitcoin accepted here.'

Yes, Bitcoin is far away from being used like this. Bitcoin is still not accepted at many physical stores as of now it's only a good currency for digital transactions, maybe in near future BTC might become so popular that it can be used as a credit card substitute in any store.

I think it's a better move than using these fiat processors, since Bitcoin is fully international and allows anonymity even if you're outside your country or place if comfort.

It is one of the great way to spend bitcoin, but not everyone is accepting bitcoin, although it is very convenient to travel using bitcoin, no need to bring so many cash and it is easy to spend without need to find money changer, in the future travelling with bitcoin will be a great experience

This is a good idea. Something that has been mentioned before.  Much easier than carrying cash and certainly easier than carrying gold.  As Bitcoin goes mainstream this will get easier and easier.

Like other said its a good idea but for now i don't see any local exchange that accept bitcoin there are atm's out there and there are many bitcoin debit cards that we can use in other country but in limited country that we can withdraw our money with $3 to $5 base in my own experience withdrawing my bitcoin into fiat in atm machines..
Hope that it can be happen in the future so that we can travel without worrying if ever that i am out of money and i only have bitcoin to exchange it into fiat..

This is a very good thing of course this will make it easier when we go out of town. but there are things that make it very difficult, because I think not all countries can accept the existence of bitcoin as well as fiat money there. In my country not yet many cities that can fully accept BTC only a few cities with visitors who are very many tourists who receive bitcoin. And even then I think there will be biyaya that can not be negotiated again, of course we have to follow what they want. if the biyayanya quite expensive this will harm us only. I think if I am going to go to another country I'd better save btc, then it would swap the fiat once it gets in that country.

BTC is far away of needed support to be able to do it in real live.

Almost every BTC->Fiat local exchange is having more than 3% margin on BTC price. Banks are usually capped at 3%.
It's the same with BTC ATM's.

And what about the current fees? For example if you want to exchange in local currency 200 euro, you will need to pay exchangeable fee + ~5 euro translation fee! This is currently a way more expensive than fiat banks!

Bitcoin has still not gathered enough support to make this strategy easy to implement but I think we are going to come to a point in which you are going to be able to do exactly that, you will be able to travel without cash and credit cards and use only bitcoin for your needs.

OP has a pretty good idea, here are a few caveats:

You can use most bank cards , esp those with the 3Dsecure feature, damn near internationally. If they accept a card, they will usually accept a 3dsecure branded card. You will pay a fee, however, for using it outside of its boundaries.

You can bring bitcoin, but in some countries, as a foreigner there I would want to use a bank, or a known service, to convert from bitcoin to local fiat. There are horror stories of guys getting scammed on the board during in person transactions; not speaking the language would also be a huge barrier to using trusted guys on localbitcoins (local bitcoin is freaking everywhere). Local cops might not look too fondly on a foreign person crossing the border and immediately starting to convert into local currency from a crypto, they dont have alot of trust everywhere just yet, and are still associated with criminal bullshit in the eyes of the public.

Same deal when you eventually leave. If you have local fiat, it would be a pain to convert that to bitcoin. You would end up converting it back to your native fiat, for when you get home, at a fee.

Best solution, and the most secure? A traveler's check. There is a reason why they are named as such

Your idea will depend much on whether the country your visiting has a local BITCOIN-FIAT exchange. You should be fine if you are visiting developed countries with bitcoin exchanges but most of the time traveling to exotic places without bitcoin exchanges is much more fun.

I have actually thought about it as well that rather than going from here to another country and having to go through all those bottlenecks, I will just decide to keep my money in btc and sell when I get there but there will equally be limitation so far btc has not been generally accepted and its because some Point of Entry officers always mandate that one have required amount of cash to be able to enter and aside that, one needs to understand how it works there at the moment or else. The first action in a foreign country will be committing an offence.

It doesn't need to be widely accepted. It is already present everywhere you go in the world. I mean you can just cash out it for local currency by using bitcoin debit card or other cards services provided by different altcoin inventors.
There is one more option that is: when you travel to specific country then you can download wallet supported by that country and then generate bitcoin address and send your bitcoin to that wallet. You can easily then convert it to the local currency and use that money as travel money.

If you are left with anything after coming back then you can send that to your local currency and get your money back. That's the beauty of bitcoin.

Bitcoin provided the best opportunity for travellers to be able to transfer money without much fee and bitcoin transfer is far more reliable than bank transfer to me. Banks or forex charges is too high for mass to travelling. Bitcoin nature as a decentralized currency make people from all walks of life to transact business without hindrance and discrimination. You can now use your money all over the world without much questioning and dispute.

this is really true the price and the importance of the bitcoin is increasing and the popularity of the bitcoin has become worldwide famous so a lot of people are accepting bitcoin for several ways and they are considering bitcoin as real currency it is increasing the importance of the bitcoin more and more so I think it will be more good to put bitcoin as the traveling payment and if they will pay the salary of the pilot with bitcoin then it will be super good.

Yes, the only doubt in using it is the transaction fee, yet it is mostly convenient especially if were into travel and already spend all the country cash ,we can use btc if that cointry liie Japan implemented it.

And now you can change bitcoins from any country in the world for local currency, but it is very inconvenient. Perhaps in the future, miners will realize that it is better to reduce the cost per transaction for stores. If it is to develop trade with bitcoin, the money that goes into the pocket of the exchangers will go to the miners and everyone will be happy.

Well, this to happen bitcoin have to be accepted worldwide, or atleast in the place you want to travel. And that might take several years still. But yes, it would be a good measure, to not to have to exchange everytime we travel.  And if that happens, dollar will have a competition, and corporates wouldn't  want that.

This sounds really good and promising, but we are years away from times when Bitcoin will be accepted by every merchant. Today you might find some places in big cities that accept Bitcoin, but most of the time you will have to exchange BTC for local currency. And when Bitcoin will reach mass adoption, governments will have all sorts of regulations regarding it - you'll have to tell how much Bitcoins you own when you cross the border, pay taxes and fees. It might be cheaper than current fiat system, but not absolutely free.

I think it is possible, but you won't save much money, I think. It really depends on the exchange rates, what country you will be traveling to, and where you are from.

If you are traveling from the US, UK, Europe, China, or Japan, then you actually don't need to find ways to save on FX rates. Since your currency is acceptable world wide. If however, you are from countries whose currency is not acceptable world wide or FX buys it really low, then your option is to convert your currency to USD then convert to the currency of the place you are traveling to, and that costs a lot. That maybe the time where bitcoins could help.

This is a good idea, but all the same, it will not be possible to settle accounts in every country with the help of bitcoins. Also it is necessary to take into account that in some countries it is generally prohibited.

I think this will be great, but as you have said it depends on the country. I think I will be fine because I am using a wallet from an exchanger, this exchanger has a conection with other countries banks so I can say that it will be great. I don't really tried owning a debit card with bitcoins but I think if I will be going in other countries, it is worth trying.

Depends the country and the rate of the company, you can also use a debit card loaded with btc.
You have in some cases good level of anonymity, fair fees, good valuation for each coins.
But personal suggestion, it's better save then spend btc

All statements you've said make sense but yes that is if bitcoin become as popular and accepted like mastercard or visa-- i know they're both completely different but i'm talking

about the popularity and acceptance because paypal is mostly good for online usage but both of them are popular on both sides. now back to the question i haven't used it as i

have never travelled outside my country lol but it'll be difficult to use it directly now because of the limited merchants

Well never really tried to travel abroad but this is really a good idea,
We could really use bitcoin to buy their currency without fees with their local FIAT exchanger.

If you travel abroad from time to time, you are probably used to change money: to do so, you have to find a change office and accept the rates they offer. Many of them also ask to pay a fixed-amount fee, they want more money than what they get from the fx rate.... If it is a touristic place, there may be a little competition from different change offices, at least, if they don't agree prices. But in general, as an individual, you have very little power, you can't hardly negotitate, only accept what they propose... On the other side, if you choose to withdraw money from an ATM with your credit card, you will be paying the FX rate your bank decides to apply to you, with potentially other fees...

However, if Bitcoin become an accepted currency in shops worlwide, we could avoid to change money to the local currency. We will still need to change from OUR currency to Bitcoin, but I feel that we have a much larger negotiting power on that:
- you can do it anytime from your home
- you may automatically buy Bitcoin with a given limit at interesting rates, intead of accepting the prices proposed by a few change offices in the area
- you may have already created a Bitcoin wallet and be used to it: you will automatically understand if a price in a shop is cheap or expensive because you are used to see prices in bitcoins, instead of having to translate into your currency...
- you may keep the remaining money in Bitcoins and still be able to use it when you are back home, etc...

Bitcoin would work as a parallel universal currency, a situation that already exists with USD in many countries, where it is used in parallel with the local currency.

But of course, prior to that, it will need to become widely accepted and have a more stable price

What do you think? Have you ever used bitcoin when travelling abroad?