Topic: Cheapest way to send php to the Philippines via bitcoin? (normie-friendly) (Read 653 times)

Yes, I agree that it is much better and easier to transfer money or bitcoin using coins.ph. Many people are already using coins.ph and it is really accessible, it is already tested by many. Coins.ph is an application downloadable online at google playstore, you can immediately download the application and use it. But then you must be verified using your identification card before having withdrawal transactions. If you want to pay bills using the coins.ph you are allowed to do it and with a cash back. You can also buy load using this application and get 10% cashback. This can also send money to banks and other onlime wallets.

Lately ko lang ito natry. Kung no choice at need mo talaga maglabas ng fiat money from coins.ph or need mo talaga magpadala ng pera sa pamilya. Convertion is necessary talaga though convertion fee cannot be prevented. Kung btc to php (convertion fee) tapos coins.ph send to paymaya (php to php na yun) at walang transfer fee. Then paymaya cashout ( may fee depende kung magkano nasa 25pesos lang ata ang 2000php). Mas makakamura pa.

Well, yun ay base lang sa real experience ko. Nung nagtry aq nito, lagi ko n gngawa pg cash in at pg cash out from paymaya to coins.ph or vice versa.

It is still up to you kung saan ka mas comportable mag cash out. Feeling ko kasi doon aq nakatipid sa ginawa ko.

This is what I do sometimes lalo na pag nafefeel ko na gagalaw ang market or magkakaron ng event sa bitcoin which might affect congestion sa network na mag cacause ng higher fees. Minsan XRP ang ginagamit pero mas madalas ethereum, I find it cheaper kase most of the time than bitcoin. Once in a blue talaga ako mag convert ng bitcoin, ang sakit sa mata ng fee and conversion rates haha.

Inaadvise ko rin to lalo na pag mataas talaga ang fees for the past days, make the transaction worth of the fee hindi yung magcoconvert ka lang kasi bibili ka ng kape ( pero worth naman ang kape diba? lol)

Again, mostly para makamura ka sa XRP --> PHP transactions, you'd have to initially have the XRP. Kumbaga XRP na dapat talaga ang hinohold mo hindi BTC. Kasi pag BTC --> XRP --> PHP, edi talagang kakainin ka sa conversion fees kahit kung makatipid ka sa transaction fees.

Also, mas worth it ang ganito pag lower amounts. Mid 5 digits to low 6 peso digits worth of transactions though? Kakainin ka talaga ng conversion fees, na tipong worth it kahit bayaran mo $5 worth bitcoin transaction fee.

I made a comparison between Coins.ph and Abra conversion fees some time ago: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/bitcoin-buy-prices-coinsph-vs-abra-5174388

Same experience here. Simula noong nagstart magaccept ng XRP ang Coins.ph ito na ang madalas na ginagamit namin magkakaibigan kapag magsesend ng transaction dahil nga mas mabilis ito at mas mababa ang transaction fee. Ang alam ko kasi nakadepende talaga ang mga fees kung anong exchange ang gamit mo, kahit ito ay decentralized o centralized exchange. Pero minsan nakadepende sa isang coin kung gaano kalaki ang transaction fees.

Tama. May mga tao na may ayaw sa XRP dahil ito ay centralized pero para saakin maituturing ko parin itong isang cryptocurrency.

Hi guys Just want to comment about abra, tottoo na walang conversion fee. pero ang totoo ay mas mataas  pa siya ng conversion sa coins.ph. kasi yung amount ng BTC sa home screen ng abra is different when you make a final payment.try niyo mag place order,check niyo ang final payment and e compare niyo yung home screen abra and coins.ph. sana maka tulong

Based on my experience using XRP bilang pang convert para mas makamura, ilang beses ko na ginagawa ang ganitong method ever since coins.ph accepts XRP and TBH it is really much convenient kasi mabilis din yung transactions ng XRP compared sa pagsend ng BTC to BTC.* Also, BTC to BTC then BTC to PHP might cost you 5-10% of your money sent (though I have not yet tried because I wouldn't risk any money para lang sa proof). And lastly, diba nakadepende naman yung fees sa kung anong exchange yung pagsesendan ng isang user?


Nah, hindi siya scam. May confusion lang kung crypto ba ito or hindi.* Sadyang yes centralized siya pero kung gagamtin mo lang naman sya for smaller tx fees, why not diba?

* - see ref here: https://bitpinas.com/cryptocurrency/avoiding-bitcoin-transfer-fees-xrp/)

What's your basis on calling XRP as a scam coin, a coin with over $1 billion 24 hours trading volume looks like legit to me.

https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/xrp/markets/

Have you considered checking my post above, I think you'll be able to save money for that.

Because XRP is a scam and holding it will cost you way more than you "save" in cheaper tx fees.

People mostly hold bitcoin by default for obvious reasons. Yes, cheaper transaction fees ang XRP, pero, kakailanganin pa munang iconvert ng isang tao ung BTC nya to XRP to be able to send XRP, so dagdag fees nanaman un. It'd be a lot cheaper to send BTC straight-off instead since sobrang liit naman ng fees ng BTC currently.

I think there is no other option than coins.ph dito sa bansa natin. Ito din pinakaconvinient na gamitin ang cryptos nakaindicate na agad ang php, btc, bch, eth at xrp. Pefo wala tayong magagawa about sa fees. From the start, fees are already terrible.

The fee is very minimal, you can refer to this old thread.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5108813.40 Alternative for BTC cash in and cash out [USD bank account]

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As you can see, the fee was only $16.5 for a $156.21 transfer, so if you going to transfer a bigger amount, you will save a lot compared to the rate you will get from coins.ph.

Uhm tingin ko hindi normal tong way ko para makareceive ng crypto through coins.ph. Di ko ginagamit yung Bitcoin for transfers kasi sobrang taas nga naman ng kain ni Coins sa fees nito.

Why not try receiving XRP instead?
Napansin ko lang kasi na sobrang mura to almost walang transaction fees ang Coins pag Ripple ang ginamit, and it can be also easily converted sa PHP. Ilang beses ko na ginagawa tong ganitong way and I think eto yung pinakabest way kung gusto natin makatipid sa every transactions natin.


I think fees would be high sa Bittrex to banks, and kasi banks do also requires huge fees lalong lalo na kapag international exchange rates ang pinaguusapan and AFAIK huge amounts lang tatanggapin neto and not good nor friendly for transactions na mabababa lang ang amount.

I'd recommend coins.ph rather than abra. To the person you're going to ask to create coins.ph account will be referred by you by giving them your link. Coins.ph have different remittance center that you can send compare to abra so coins.ph is much better with abra except the bitcoin transaction fee to another wallet. Prices may change so it's much better if you convert it yourself to php before sending it out to other coins.ph account.

You can trade your btc to USD in Bittrex and you can send send that USD to a bank account in the Philippines, provided the receiver has a dollar account.

This is quite complicated, but if you are sending a big amount, you ca save with the conversion as an exchange uses a standard exchange rate.
I am not sure with the fee though from bittrex to a dollar bank account in the Philippines but I'm sure it's not that high.. I made a transaction before from bittrex to my BPI dollar account.

Thank you, this is helpful. Plenty of Tambunting Pawnshop in Manila so that's pretty good if they offer better conversion rates than coins.ph. Also good to have those tutorials and contacts in case.

@ralle14 is referring to money remittance center (Abra refers to them as "Teller"). Right now, Tambunting Pawnshop is the only remittance center that's partnered with Abra.

You can send these tutorials to your friend if you decide to go for Abra

• Withdraw thru Philippine banks
• Banks that supports Abra withdrawal
• Locate Abra Tellers

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If you want to explore more option, here's another: https://www.bitbit.cash/
I haven't used it but from what I know, it has mobile app and web version too similar to coinsph. For some reason, I cannot access the website but I got this image

Alright then, I'll give Abra a go. So they can cash out only via those two methods; what do you mean by "remit"?

It's possible but I think it's much easier with coins.ph because of the accessibility you could use their service in both the browser or the app while with Abra you're only limited to their app. I agree abra is a good competitor against coins but imo they're still lacking at some parts when compared to coins like the limited withdrawal methods (only bank and remit) but overall their service is still quite good as they're less strict with KYC they could start receiving bitcoins after registration and cash out. Your friend could probably figure it out on their own as abra have faqs and articles about converting to php, cashing out, etc.

That's good to know about Abra but yet but MK4 said it has a "slightly worse UI and less withdrawal methods" - would you say that is not the case?
With coins.ph I can just tell people to make an account there and send me the btc wallet they create there; they figure out themselves how to convert or use what I send. Would the same be possible with Abra? Imagine your average IQ illiterate peanuts vendor in Makati ave.

I don't understand your reasoning here. You were just saying in your OP that you want "normies" to create a Coins.ph account even though they aren't aware of the app mostly yet you don't want them to try Abra which is the same and the closes competitor of Coins.ph, they are basically the same service and both of them if introduce to new people that are not into cryptocurrencies will just take the same time to learn the app/service itself. If you are looking for alternatives here for sending Bitcoin then this is the best thing you have as this is the only alternative for Coins.ph here in the Philippines. But if you still insists on not introducing Abra to your Filipino "normies" I guess your only choice left is a non-BTC transaction to send them money to like what I previously suggested.


And FYI you can send BTC to Philippine Peso in Abra because it has a Peso Wallet in-app. Here is also the full list of fiat currencies they have in-app for their international users.

I know, read what I had post again.

I'm trying to help with that suggestion so that you can send directly from coins to their bank account(s).

What I need to do is specified in the OP. I want IT illiterate people to receive php from me while I send btc. Coins.ph so far seems the only method which is unfortunate due to the exorbitant fees and conversion rate.

Philippines is a country driven by remittances and overseas incoming funds, would be good to see some healthy competition in the industry.

Wrong.
To send php to someone in the phils just by sending btc you don't need to make a coins.ph account. They do.

Well, if you want to convert your bitcoin to php with cheap fee only, you can use gcash app. You just convert your bitcoin to php then transact it to
the gcash app. They don't have any fees that will lessen in your transact money.

In that case, why don't you just make a coins.ph account, of course, you need to comply with the KYC procedure, can't help but that's the proper way.
Send your bitcoins to your coins.ph account and ask the bank account of the person you know here in PH and send them using coins.ph.
That's the only way you can choose if the person you're going to send has zero knowledge in crypto.

Or, just be patient to teach them to understand bitcoins and tell them to create verified coins.ph account then sends your bitcoin (into their PHP wallet).
But of course, like what you had said, the conversion rate in coins.ph is very high compared to other exchange/wallets here in PH so it's the negative side that you need to take.

Lastly, forget of sending bitcoins, and just use western union for cross-border transfer.

If this is the case lalo na at nsa selected areas like ang bitcoin ATM at iilan pa lang naman sa Pilipinas. Then no other alternative way kung hindi ang direct nalang ng cashout from coins.ph to the remitances and name it to the receiver nalang directly so there is less convertion fees and transfer fees.

Or best nga na fiat money nalang ang isend kung mas npapamahal ka sa fees. Anyway coins.ph to bank din ang mas prefer ko.

There's only one bitcoin atm in the whole country and that's the sunette tower atm which has got a very bad reputation and poor support service unfortunately.

Not gonna try Abra as the people I send money to wouldn't know how to cash out.
My situation is simple. Even though I am familiar with bitcoin, the people I send money to aren't at all. Most Filipinos fall in that category.
The Abra guys could work on their user interface and making things easier for those people and they'd sure get a bigger slice of business.

I just installed Abra since im also looking for a Coins.ph alternative i've even try PDAX exchange so far in my experience ABRA it pretty similar to coins when it comes to everything deposit cashout etc.



Good thing na mayroong mobile application itong ABRA sobrang laking factor kumpara sa PDAX exchange na walang mobile application. Also kumpara naman sa coins.ph massecured itong ABRA masmaadming option pagdating sa security at may seed pa.

Sending bitcoin coins ph to coins ph consist of no cost as far as i know pero kung ako yung tatanggap ng pera mo better na fiat money ito para fixed na ang value at hinde malugi kapag hinde ko agad na encash yung pinadala mo. Coins ph is good naman medyo malaki lang yung fees minsan pero ok lang naman, if you still want other options or other wallet then Abra is the best alternative for now.

Try Abra.com, in terms of conversion fees abra has good rate compared to coinsph, abra also has a feature "Send to Abra user" transaction fee is free you only have to pay for blockchain fees, you can tell the receiver to create account on abra then he can withdraw it on their own bank account for free or partner abra teller tambunting. 

If you mean to say other apps that can easily converts Btc to Php, Abra app has that feature too.
If you mean exchanges, there are already a few but not as popular unfortunately - List of live crypto exchanges in PH

I don't know what is "best" for you since that's subjective. Check the link above and choose which one you prefer.

Another option is using Bitcoin ATM - https://coinatmradar.com/city/292/bitcoin-atm-manila/

Thanks guys, I get the simplest crypto-to-php option is still coins.ph. Really a shame the fees and conversion rate are so steep, strange there isn't any competitor now that the country is becoming more crypto friendly.

By the way, forgive the off topic, what are the best avenue for conversion in PHP once in Manila as of now?

Believe it or not crypto isn't really popular in the Philippines so I really doubt that most of the Filipinos you will be introducing the Coins.ph wallet app will see it as a convenient way of receiving payment. It may be convenient on your side but them taking some time to learn the app as well as verifying their accounts first (which is really time-consuming) through KYC requirements just to withdraw it in cash is something that they won't really like. What's popular in the Philippines though are remittance centers like Western Union where I know a lot of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) use to send money back here in the Philippines. I did visit their website right now to see why their services are popular to OFWs and come to my surprise that they do have the option for bank transfers with 0$ fees.


I used their price estimator page to give you an idea of how much fees you will have as well as their conversion rates for USD to PHP.



Comparing both options on how the person will be receiving the 2000$ in Philippine Peso (₱) you can see that Western Union's Bank Account to Bank Account transfer option is a much better choice for both parties aside from it being more convenient on both sides and also having 0 fees you'll also have a better exchange rate for your money. I have some friends who have OFW parents and they say that Western Union is something they commonly use when sending money from abroad. Seeing the current average network fees in Bitcoin right now I can see that 3.99$ for their Bank to Western Union Remittance Center option is considerably cheaper the only downside for both options are the cash transfer isn't instant (4-5 business days), if you have the option to use fiat money instead of BTC I think using a remittance center should be in your considerations.

The best case is asking for a bank account or even GCash. You can convert your crypto that way and pay them.

Anyway, if the person has no bank account to transfer anything (I think this is the best way for now because of the ZERO fees when transacting even from different banks) the best approach is coins.ph. It's straight to the point. You could transfer money in there just like what mk4 said.

In terms of conversion rates, using coins.pro for converting your BTC to PHP is a good plan compared to the native conversion in coins.ph. Fees in the conversion in coins.ph is a pain in the wallet. You could lessen your conversion fees when you use the coins.pro exchange, but it takes a while, though. You need the extra time.

Unfortunately, unless the person you're transacting with is willing to learn the ropes a bit and transact peer-to-peer, you're out of luck. Coins.ph is simply the easiest option due to the far better UI/UX and due to the variety of withdrawal options.

Next to Coins.ph would probably be Abra(https://abra.com/), also an exchange, but with slightly worse UI and less withdrawal methods, but the fees tend to be lower. But if you're just planning on transacting once, just go with Coins.ph. If you're planning on transacting again in the future, probably Abra as the fees tend to pile up.

I've created a short thread in the past comparing Coins.ph and Abra's fees: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/bitcoin-buy-prices-coinsph-vs-abra-5174388

If I have to pay someone who is in the philippines and is a total normie not into crypto, I normally tell them to make a coins.ph account, tell me the bitcoin address associated to their account, and send them bitcoin which they now can directly convert into php.
Convenient, but very pricey in terms of fees and conversion rate.

Any other alternative you guys are aware of?