Author

Topic: Bitcoin Replaces Wire Transfer? (Read 1012 times)

legendary
Activity: 1162
Merit: 1007
December 27, 2013, 02:17:52 PM
#8
A company like BitPay could provide a bitcoin-to-wire transfer service.  You enter the banking details of the account you want credited, pay in bitcoin, and BitPay immediately converts to fiat, deducts a fee, and transmits the wire. 

I mentioned this to BitPay in regards to some shoes I wanted to buy from Vass in Budapest, Hungary (they only accept wire transfer, no Visa/Paypal).  A BitPay representative emailed back (rightly so) saying that they could see my point, but they needed to focus on their present business model. 
sr. member
Activity: 434
Merit: 250
December 27, 2013, 02:05:57 PM
#7
I hope so but some people don't like changes and BTC prices are too unstable for it to take over. What if your transfer drops 10% in value before it reaches its destination?

Banks can control losses and gains if they use Mt Gox. If a person wants to do a bitcoin wire for sending $100USD to another branch of the same bank, then the bank does the bitcoin transaction internally and has great control over the losses and can guarantee the that $100 will be given on the other end. Plus they make up for any anomalies by charging a fee. The Block chain message service could also be used to direct bitcoin transactions to accounts of other banks, wells fargo --> bank of america for example.
Banks won't do Bitcoin-transactions instantly for the same reason that they don't do regular wires instantly. There is no technical reason why wires take as long as they do. Banks are for a large part conservative institutions that won't evolve unless forced to. And since fractional reserve requirements mean that banks can loan out more if they have more deposits, they have every incentive to delay outgoing wire transfers.

Correct. Which is why we have Western Union and MoneyGram and for online purchases PayPal. Bitcoin can provide transfer services in place of all of these.

As far as bitcoin being a variable amount, the same could be said for buying foreign currency at your bank. The bank posts an exchange rate that can change. The same could be said for money transfer services using bitcoin.

For example, if you wanted to send 100 dollars or 100 German marks or 100 yen or any currency you would simply calculate that amount of bitcoins and send that to whomever was on the other end who needed cash. That person would cash out using coinbase.com or some other bitcoin cashing service. No bank or government ever needs to know what happened.
legendary
Activity: 1204
Merit: 1002
December 27, 2013, 01:46:16 PM
#6
Banks won't do Bitcoin-transactions instantly for the same reason that they don't do regular wires instantly. There is no technical reason why wires take as long as they do.
Wire transfers only take hours if you have a good relationship with the institutions involved.

Mt. Gox wire transfers take forever because of Mt. Gox.
newbie
Activity: 42
Merit: 0
December 27, 2013, 07:38:34 AM
#5
And how do you fit worldwide transaction into bitcoin. The bandwidth is very very low ( 7 transactions per second?)
You need some sort of account on a third party to guarantee liquidity, but wait, isn't it a bank?
hero member
Activity: 728
Merit: 500
December 27, 2013, 07:36:59 AM
#4
I hope so but some people don't like changes and BTC prices are too unstable for it to take over. What if your transfer drops 10% in value before it reaches its destination?

Banks can control losses and gains if they use Mt Gox. If a person wants to do a bitcoin wire for sending $100USD to another branch of the same bank, then the bank does the bitcoin transaction internally and has great control over the losses and can guarantee the that $100 will be given on the other end. Plus they make up for any anomalies by charging a fee. The Block chain message service could also be used to direct bitcoin transactions to accounts of other banks, wells fargo --> bank of america for example.
Banks won't do Bitcoin-transactions instantly for the same reason that they don't do regular wires instantly. There is no technical reason why wires take as long as they do. Banks are for a large part conservative institutions that won't evolve unless forced to. And since fractional reserve requirements mean that banks can loan out more if they have more deposits, they have every incentive to delay outgoing wire transfers.
full member
Activity: 122
Merit: 100
December 27, 2013, 07:33:03 AM
#3
I hope so but some people don't like changes and BTC prices are too unstable for it to take over. What if your transfer drops 10% in value before it reaches its destination?

Banks can control losses and gains if they use Mt Gox. If a person wants to do a bitcoin wire for sending $100USD to another branch of the same bank, then the bank does the bitcoin transaction internally and has great control over the losses and can guarantee the that $100 will be given on the other end. Plus they make up for any anomalies by charging a fee. The Block chain message service could also be used to direct bitcoin transactions to accounts of other banks, wells fargo --> bank of america for example.
hero member
Activity: 658
Merit: 500
Small Red and Bad
December 27, 2013, 07:24:35 AM
#2
I hope so but some people don't like changes and BTC prices are too unstable for it to take over. What if your transfer drops 10% in value before it reaches its destination?
full member
Activity: 122
Merit: 100
December 27, 2013, 07:15:52 AM
#1
The thing about bitcoin is that it's easier to truely "wire" currency, compared to old fashioned bank wire (which will go extinct soon).
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