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Comment by bradleyjg | Hacker News Reader

There are a lot of people living near me that want to send money back to relatives in the country where they were born on a regular basis. One of the advantages that are often touted as a legitimate use of bitcoin is to lower transaction costs.

In light of that claim, I wonder how difficult it would be for: one of my neighbors in Queens, NY to take $1000 cash, turn it into bitcoin, send it to a brother in Cebu City, Pachuca, or Dhaka; for the brother to turn those bitcoins into Philippine or Mexican pesos or Bangladeshi takas; how long it would take; and finally how much it would end up costing versus the mid-market exchange rate between dollars and the other currency.

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The idea is that if a cryptocurrency completely succeed in its goals, there would be no need to convert the BTC to begin with. They would just use it to buy food, pay rent, and so on.

Obviously cryptos are not very close to this goal, but you can imagine that it could be very convenient in this example if that was not the case.

The author of the piece argues differently. Mainly that bitcoin doesn't need to be used for everyday things, but for things that might be censored.

Right, all governments need to do to prevent the "world currency" idea is say "no."

I think the main issue that would have to be addressed is the "turn cash into bitcoin" step.

While I havent personally done an in person bitcoin exchange, I'd imagine that there aren't too many people doing it this way, and probably not in quantities of $1000+. I would love to hear about the experiences of people who have done this.

The other option would be to setup a bank account, which might be a bit of a challenge if the person is not a citizen, or perhaps not even in the country legally, and then there's the issue of the money now having a permanent digital paper trail (not bad per-se, but probably something your typical migrant worker sending money home might try to avoid (but seriously pay your taxes))

I think "turn cash into bitcoin" is the easiest step.

- Bitcoin ATM: You insert cash and get bitcoin on your wallet. There are over 1000 ATMs in US alone. [1]

- People: There are lot of craigslist-like sites for P2P bitcoin exchange. [2]

- Gift card: Again there are lot of communities for exchanging gift card for bitcoin. [3]

- Bank account/Debit/Credit card: You can buy bitcoin from sites like coinbase which are US-based and are actually FDIC insured. [4]

1. https://coinatmradar.com/

2. https://localbitcoins.com/

3. https://paxful.com/buy-bitcoin/amazon-gift-card

4. https://www.coinbase.com

1 and 4 are not real solutions because they compromise your identity. 2 and 3 are correct.

Turning cash into bitcoin can be as easy as buying gift cards.

I sold bitcoins in person around 2012-2013. I had way more demand than bitcoins I was willing to sell.

I had way more demand than bitcoins I was willing to sell.

Doesn't that imply it isn't easy? Or at least wasn't back then?

I also had some friends who did this around 2012-2013. It was pretty easy, and they were making 25-30% margins on the bitcoins that they sold. Sounds great!

They ended up getting scammed a few times, and they realized that it was a fairly efficient market after all. So they got out.

For buyers it wasn't easy back then. Now, in Spain, you can turn cash into bitcoins very easily. There are bitcoin ATMs in a lot of cities where you can buy/sell bitcoins anonymously with a 1000 euros limit.

With a bank account or debit card it's even easier.

What about the transaction cost to/from bitcoin? It seems like such a hassle compared to something like Transferwise which already gives decent transaction costs.

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