Posted on 06/10/2014 12:42:23 PM PDT by PoloSec
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
Dwolla. Sir Richard will find that he will be capped on the amounts of money he is able to move once banks see their profits dwindling.
The pct of the transfer is where the problem is. There is no way it costs anymore to transfer 100k 100m 100b. It is the same transfer. Charging percentages just like credit cards is a rip off.
What about the cost of liability if something goes wrong?
I predict failure. In the LONG term nobody will want to see 1% of their money vaporize for a simple transfer.
I wonder how VISA & Mastercard are going to react to this? They are used to taking a 10 - 15% bite.
Tell that to the out of network ATMs, those fees are a lot more than 1%.
Tell that to the out of network ATMs, those fees are a lot more than 1%.
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You do understand that they’re talking about money TRANSFERS, not pulling cash out of your personal account.
Pulling cash out of your personal account via an ATM not part of your bank is in the end a money transfer as your bank “reimburses” the other bank for the cash. But they stack up fees on both sides on that, and it gets taken out of your account. And people stand for that. If they’re willing to lose 8 to 10% because they’re at the “wrong” ATM they’ll lose 1% for a transfer.
He's probably already given the NSA a hotline to monitor all transactions.
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