Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Richard Branson Is About to Destroy the Final Edge Bitcoin Has

Bitcoin fanboys have long cheered the fact that Bitcoin global transfer capabilities at cheap prices make using Bitcoin, as a method of global money transfer, superior to any other transfer system, on the basis of cost.

Enter Richard Branson.

Sir Richard Branson is providing funding for London-based money transfer start-up TransferWise, reports FT.

It has raised $25m to expand its marketing efforts, with Sir Richard contributing a significant but undisclosed share of the funds. He was joined by existing shareholders including Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal, venture capitalists Index Ventures and Kima Ventures, the investment group co-founded by the owner of Le Monde newspaper.

TransferWise charges a minimum fee of 0.5 to 1 per cent, or £1, whichever is higher. It moves money between bank accounts in 17 currencies and takes an average of a day.

For example, to move £300 from the UK to Lithuania would cost £3, while the same transaction would cost an average of £18.10 using other operators, according to the World Bank’s remittance calculator.

-RW

10 comments:

  1. Why do you use such hyperbolic click-bait titles? This system doesn't out-do bitcoin at all. How does it handle people who don't have bank accounts? How does it handle micropayments? How does it handle banks refusing transfers for all the stupid Patriot-Act type reasons they do? And the fees are still super higher compared to bitcoin. Making a 300 pound transfer to someone in another country with bitcoin would costs less than a few cents if you wanted a quick confirmation, and nothing at all if you didn't mind waiting a little bit.

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  2. While I applaud innovation in the stodgy banking sector, even this cheaper transfer system requires a bank account and all that goes with it. Bitcoin is person to person transfer for pennies - no regulated middlemen required. Whether this is a positive or negative feature is up to the people considering using it.

    Oh, and BTW - Why no headlines about Bitcoin's recent rally? Or is only a declining Btc/US dollar ratio news fodder?

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  3. How would this be better than a service like Xe (xe.com)?

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  4. Bitcoin is free.

    It's pretty hard to beat free.

    Some people include a VOLUNTARY transaction fee with their payment submission so that they can be sure the transaction gets priority processing, but if they have a day to wait, they can send a payment submission without any fee attached and it will get processed just the same.



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  5. What's wrong with competition? It yields more economical choices for us. I like.

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  6. It is now clear. Wenzell is a shill for the banking system. TransferWise has nothing on Bitcoin.

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  7. wow.

    ever hear of a check? it let's people move money. you ought to look into it.

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    1. Ever send a checque to a foreign country?Lots of fun trying to cash it.Ever seen the fees on an internaition bank checque? Not cheap. Plus the chance of getting lost in the mail - happens a lot in some countries. And the postage.

      I'll stick with the ease of sending money for free from home.

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  8. Branson also dropped big bucks on Bitcoin payment processor BitPay:
    http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/blog/atlantech/2014/05/branson-invests-in-bitcoin-startup.html

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  9. Just speculation, but maybe TransferWire will be utilizing Bitcoin protocol to do super cheap money transfers. If that's the case, then your headline is completely misleading.

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