Transferring money overseas used to be a lot more complex and expensive than it had to be. Thankfully, the success of Bitcoin has shown people that there are other options available—options that won’t eat away your transfers with fees nor require a ton of paperwork.
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How to remit with Bitcoin
Now, let’s get to the meat of the subject—how do I remit money overseas with Bitcoin? It’s a lot more straightforward than you might think. For our purposes, we’ll be using Paxful since new users get a trusted Bitcoin wallet upon registration. Additionally, wallet-to-wallet transfers are completely free.
Step 1: Register and buy BTC
To start off, navigate to the Paxful home page and click Register—you’ll want to create an account for both the recipient and the sender. You can take additional steps to verify your account as well, which gives you access to a new set of perks.
Once registered, the sender can now buy their first BTC. After logging in, click on Buy on the toolbar and select BTC as the currency you want to buy. Input how much BTC you want to purchase and click on Find Offers. You have almost 400 payment methods available so it should be easy for you to find an offer that fits your needs.
Step 2: Retrieve and send the wallet address of the recipient
Next, the recipient should find their wallet address. It’s a random string of letters and numbers that looks something like this:
3F1tAaz5x1HUXrCNLbtMDqcw6o12Nn4xqX
Alternatively, you can use the QR code assigned to your wallet. You should note that you can use these QR codes publicly as well if you want to receive BTC from multiple sources.
In either case, you should let the sender know the wallet address once you’ve confirmed it. Take extra steps to make sure that you’ve inputted the wallet address correctly as bitcoin transfers can’t be refunded.
Step 3: Remit BTC to the recipient’s wallet
After receiving the wallet address or QR code of the recipient, the sender can now send the BTC. You can do this by navigating to your account dashboard where you have the option to click Send & Recieve.
Once you’re on the next page, click Send under the Bitcoin panel and a pop-up window will appear. Input how much BTC you want to send and input the recipient’s wallet address. Double-check to make sure that you’ve inputted everything correctly and, once confirmed, click Continue.
You can do this through the mobile app as well by navigating to the Wallet tab. From there you can tap Send where you will be able to input how much BTC you want to send to the recipient.
Step 4: Converting your BTC to cash
Once the recipient has received the BTC, it’s time to sell Bitcoin for cash at the best price. The near-400 payment methods will come in handy here since you can convert your Bitcoin through these as well.
On the home page, click Sell and choose BTC as the currency you want to sell. You can choose how you want to be paid and how much you want to sell. Once you’re done, click on Find Offers. On the succeeding page, find an offer that suits your needs—if you think there are too many, you can narrow down your options by using the filters on the sidebar.
If you think an offer is worth considering, you can click on Sell to view it in more detail. Once you’ve decided, input how much you want to sell and click on Sell now.
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Why Bitcoin?
In the past, overseas workers and students studying abroad were limited to having remittances processed through traditional financial institutions. It got the job done, but users had to deal with a lot of steps and were dependent on the schedule of the agency they chose.
Bitcoin (and all the other cryptocurrencies) negate all these problems since they fall under decentralized finance. The nature of decentralized currencies means that users have instant access to their money with little to no barriers to participation. For individuals remitting money overseas, this also means that they can avoid processing their transactions through traditional financial institutions, all while doing things instantly.
This is why remitting through Bitcoin can be seen as ideal for anyone looking for an easier and cheaper way to remit. With fewer people and agencies involved, it’s a more direct approach to sending money to your loved ones.
Expanding utility for Bitcoin
The reason why remittances through Bitcoin (BTC) are not as popular as they should be is the fact that Bitcoin has evolved drastically over the past decade. Where it was merely an investment tool, nowadays, its utility is much more appreciated thanks to some early adopters.
The introduction of the Lightning Network should also come in handy for many people. From a cup of coffee to a brand new home, Bitcoin users now find themselves in a market that is showing some growing appreciation for Bitcoin—companies like Microsoft even allow for their goods and services to be paid through BTC.
Finally, of course, we have remittances. You might find it surprising that it’s never occurred to a lot of people to use Bitcoin in this way. We’re here to tell you that a lot of clever people have already figured this out early on.