The cheapest Western Union fees are 5%, and it takes several days.
BS. Currently, WU is much faster, cheaper, safer and more convenient than bitcoins.
Sending bitcoins from address to address is easy, but getting bitcoins and converting them back to fiat is pain in the ass (at least in USA).
Have you tried using WU? I've had many problems with WU transfers, often because of complicated security protocols. For example, in Colombia I once had to have a transfer resent in a friends name because the bank had a requirement that only Colombian citizens can receive transfers. If you honestly think WU is better than bitcoin, read this story:
http://www.thebeijinger.com/forum/2008/05/11/Western-Union-fees I have had similar experiences- the fees are high and they skim even more off with exchange rates considerably worse than bank exchange rates. They also require a slough of documentation which all has associated costs.
Imagine bitcoin infrastructure is more developed, say two years from now. I could have had the transfer sent in BTC, simply got on to localbitcoins.com or a comparable service, and exchanged the BTC with a 1% or less transaction fee. The main cost is in the exchanges, but this is true of any forex transaction. Right now I am transferring money from the US to Germany via BTC. This costs me 1% deposit on one side, and 1% withdrawal on the other. For 5000 dollars this is 100 dollar fee- a wire transfer would be cheaper, but since I don't have a bank account in Germany (the bulk of people receiving remittances also do not have bank accounts) it is cheaper for me to sell the bitcoins via local bitcoins, where
I can charge a 1% premium which translates the fee to effectively 0. This means my only cost is the time of finding a buyer on localbitcoins. Since I am not in a hurry and have moral reasons for not wanting to support corrupt governments and their currencies, this is great for me. The efficiency will increase in direct relation to the number of people using bitcoin.
Surely, not as efficient as a wire transfer, but there is also no risk that a government in a financial crisis will seize or freeze my funds. Also, a wire transfer takes 3-5 days for funds to become available, sometimes even longer, and with larger amounts the time value of that money which goes to the bank, plus the fees, become a considerable sum. Also, many people receiving remittances don't have bank accounts or the ability to get one, being in rural areas and needing to care for their animals just to survive. Many of them don't have the id cards necessary to deal with banks. But with a smartphone with a BTC wallet, they can receive transfers from anywhere in the world almost instantly. They could then trade their BTC a little at a time for local fiat to meet expenses, thereby protecting themselves from the inflation rampant in many countries. When bitcoin catches on, they will also be able to trade directly with BTC, insha'Allah, eliminating the main obstacle in the network- the exchange on the ground in the recipient countries.
There were people who said a man could never set foot on the moon. There are still people who say that humans never have walked on the moon. Keep up the critical thought, it will keep us rising.
