I've used Western Unions in Morocco and a village in rural Laos where the staff couldn't believe I was a slightly lost passing tourist and invited me for dinner with them. Both of them were easy: the most difficult bit about the Moroccan service was using my UK bank's online banking service to set the transfer up.
I didn't see any Bitcoin ATMs in either place, or Vietnam for that matter, and can't imagine the process of turning Bitcoin into spendable currency there would be easier, especially not for somebody without a local bank account.
The inconvenience of existing services boils down mainly to issues such as ensuring that fraud and terrorism and such are prevented. Society intentionally added those hurdles.
A new technology that has ignored the regulatory structure is not apples to apples. Someone could ignore regulations with current tech and be just as "convenient."
None of that is required unless you can only send in cash. If you're in a third world country and don't have a bank account or a debit card, I'd assume you would speak the local language.
I'm in country with a cash economy, am unable to use my debit card in the local ATMs and don't speak the local language. I login to online banking on my phone or in a cybercafe and send a bank transfer in my currency from my account to WU. Within a few minutes WU confirms receipt of the funds. I walk down the street to the large WU sign, show a MTCN number and my passport to the teller, and collect equivalent cash in local currency, less a bearable-in-the-circumstances transaction fee. (This actually happened by the way.)
Let's for the sake of argument, assume I already have a large fortune in Bitcoins, access on all the major exchanges and private keys memorised and written down in a secure box, all in my possession. Trouble is vendors want local currency not BTC, and I don't have the language skills to convince them that actually BTC is a much better store of value or locate the local BTC enthusiast's group (if there is such a thing) and negotiate an informal money transfer with them. In the end I probably give up and use Western Union...
Your argument here doesn't seem to be that Bitcoin/etc. are bad, but that alternatives exist.
The issue with those alternatives is that they cost a lot. In your case, this additional cost was worth it in an emergency but that's often not the case.
Think of the vast number of people who send money abroad to support their families.
No, my argument is that Bitcoin is not a viable option for the average unbanked person to receive funds they can actually spend in the 99.999999% of the world that does not have Bitcoin ATMs or local vendors that accept Bitcoin. For almost all real world use cases involving unbanked people, crypto is either strictly inferior to existing solutions or impossible.
Even if I could have found someone in a small Moroccan town that knew what a Bitcoin was and how to use it, the daft exchange rate they'd have offered me to convert it into cash would have easily exceeded the cost of Western Union for the same transaction. The villages people send money to support families are not full of hackers playing around with blockchains, and the few people in their country with the knowhow and resources to exchange Bitcoins for cash are not going to be cheaper or easier to deal with than WU.
Sure, I can cash out crypto via my bank account and bankcard pretty easily, but I can cash out cash even more easily...
Each Bitcoin transaction costs the electricity to power a home for three weeks, and that's just the mining. If it were ever subjected to rigorous AML, exchange control checks, etc., it would also accrue the overheads which apply to fiat.
Consequently, WU's idiotic "risk management machine learning" has now taken your money, and is refusing to return it to you or send it to your destination without days or weeks of documentation and pain.
I would be interested in any use case that isn’t insanely extreme.
How much cash do you really want to walk around with if you have lost your wallet which likely included some Of your identification.
Normally, you just have to show Western Union the verification number and your name. You don’t need to chat up the front desk.
> If I had a bank account with balance, why would I use western union?
How often would you not have a bank account, not know the local language, and not be near people you know who would help with money in some extreme case?
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The other two sibling comments repeated more points. Really all of us are wondering what use cases you’re thinking of.
I don’t think you realize how easy services like Western Union are. I didn’t either until I used it recently.
>If I had a bank account with balance, why would I use western union?
Because sending money to people in the third world who DON'T have a bank account is almost impossible via a normal transfer. My understanding is that the vast majority of the Somali population in the US, for instance, send money home to friends and family via WU. They have a bank account in the US, their friends/family back home do not.
>What if I lost my wallet with my debit card, why would I know the language?
If you lost your wallet and debit card, why would you have thousands of dollars of cash on hand in a country you don't speak the language? That sounds both unlikely and extremely dangerous.
>You are making a TON of assumptions and not considering A LOT of use cases.
I've actually considered most of them, and I've yet to hear a situation that makes any realistic sense outside of illegal activities.
> Because sending money to people in the third world who DON'T have a bank account is almost impossible via a normal transfer.
Vs
> If you’re in a third world country
This is a different scenario.
There’s many people that send money back home. What they use varies. I know people that transfer funds to someone and they give the cash to the person minus an amount. The method will depend on the location. I can’t speak for everyone and won’t try to.
>If you lost your wallet and debit card, why would you have thousands of dollars of cash on hand in a country you don't speak the language? That sounds both unlikely and extremely dangerous.
Depends. What country?
And in that country, how much is a room? Where am I staying? How much is a ticket? What do I need to get my stuff replaced? Do I have anything planned? Is it a business trip or leisure?
You probably can’t carry cash around safely all the time. If Bitcoin was ubiquitous and easier ways to use it and carry it were in place, that wouldn’t be the safest thing either.
Western Union just needs the verification code and proof of who you are to give you money. I don’t see the big barrier with it.
Everything was a barrier. Language, paperwork, carrying cash around safely, time and finally most importantly, fees.
No thanks.