One of his favorite sermons is “The Beauty of Bitcoin.” The reverend claims that bitcoin will result in a dramatic reduction in the cost of transmitting remittances to El Salvadorans.
Steve H.
According to the World Bank, in the first quarter, these companies charged between 0%-4% fees for a $200 remittance, depending on the transfer method.
Not surprisingly, El Salvador’s remittance costs are the lowest of any country in the Latin American-Caribbean region, with the average transaction fee for sending a remittance at 2.85%.
In what has been, in effect, a real-world pilot study of a bitcoin-based economy, El Salvador’s Bitcoin Beach, people don’t use bitcoin for a variety of reasons .
And that 5% is just Athena’s cut – it does not include the “network fee” to execute the transaction, or the travel costs and inconvenience associated with going to an ATM, as well as the security and safety costs associated with using the ATM to obtain those greenbacks that Salvadorans prefer.
But, remittances sent via bitcoin will require Salvadorans to cough up much more than 5% to obtain the dollars they want.
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