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“1M Syrian customers, do you think they will ever forget Western Union?”

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Re: “1M Syrian customers, do you think they will ever forget Western Union?”

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Preventing money laundering should be an anti goal. It puts a huge burden on everyone to prevent a victimless crime just to make prosecutors' lives' easier.

Money laundering a victimless crime? Where do you think that money comes from?

Mostly, other victimless crimes. Drug imports, gambling, etc.

Re: “1M Syrian customers, do you think they will ever forget Western Union?”

#43

Interesting to see all the hate in the comments. I don't really know much about WU except for what I experienced when I volunteered at a refugee camp on lesvos. Western Union was a lifeline for many people. It was very common for people to get sent $ from friends and family for a ticket to the mainland or for some supplies. Asking for directions to the western union was one of the most common questions I received.

kind of curious, how did you find your volunteering experience in Lesvos ?

Rewarding in ways, but mostly just overwhelming and depressing. Seeing it IRL really puts things in perspective.

Re: “1M Syrian customers, do you think they will ever forget Western Union?”

#44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remittances are horrible for Bitcoin. Most remittances are fairly small, so the Bitcoin fees alone are more expensive than just paying Western Union or another remittance service. Not to mention bitcoin being extremely inconvenient for the types of people who tend to use remittance services.

Things like Bitcoin might be horrible for remittances right now, but there is a lot of development in this space. For example, Ethereum is working on sharding to make it exponentially more scalable. The goal is that when sharding and proof of stake are completely finished, it will be possible to play something like Starcraft on Ethereum (super cheap transactions and 0.5 second block times). This is probably something…

That still only addresses half of the problem. How are you going to send Bitcoins to someone in a country where they don't have Internet? Cash is king in those places--hence remittance services like Western Union. Bitcoin is cool but it isn't a panacea and there are a lot of out of touch comments about its uses. You need to understand your customer and why they use a particular product before you can actually say whether Bitcoin or something else will actually be any benefit.

Re: “1M Syrian customers, do you think they will ever forget Western Union?”

#45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Things like Bitcoin might be horrible for remittances right now, but there is a lot of development in this space. For example, Ethereum is working on sharding to make it exponentially more scalable. The goal is that when sharding and proof of stake are completely finished, it will be possible to play something like Starcraft on Ethereum (super cheap transactions and 0.5 second block times). This is probably something…

That still only addresses half of the problem. How are you going to send Bitcoins to someone in a country where they don't have Internet? Cash is king in those places--hence remittance services like Western Union. Bitcoin is cool but it isn't a panacea and there are a lot of out of touch comments about its uses. You need to understand your customer and why they use a particular product before you can actually say whe…

If they don't have internet, how does Western Union receive the message for the money transfer?

Re: “1M Syrian customers, do you think they will ever forget Western Union?”

#46
post #13

On a side note, Remittances are a huge boon. The largest source of foreign direct investment(FDI) (by far) in India are remittances[1]. Even today, after many years of inflation, the PPP of my salary(affording me a middle class status here) here is 10-20 times of what it was,and would still be, in India. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_India#Remittances

Where is "here"?

Re: “1M Syrian customers, do you think they will ever forget Western Union?”

#48
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That still only addresses half of the problem. How are you going to send Bitcoins to someone in a country where they don't have Internet? Cash is king in those places--hence remittance services like Western Union. Bitcoin is cool but it isn't a panacea and there are a lot of out of touch comments about its uses. You need to understand your customer and why they use a particular product before you can actually say whe…

If they don't have internet, how does Western Union receive the message for the money transfer?

My word choice of 'they' wasn't very clear but Western Union would have some access. However internet most likely isn't broadly available for those in poverty, so the recipient most likely doesn't have it. At least not reliably. Imagine having a currency you can't even use. Not very helpful. And then there's still the education part of learning how to use Bitcoin, securing your Bitcoins, and getting that currency accepted by others.

Re: “1M Syrian customers, do you think they will ever forget Western Union?”

#49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Money laundering a victimless crime? Where do you think that money comes from?

Mostly, other victimless crimes. Drug imports, gambling, etc.

"victimless crimes. Drug imports, gambling"

Is this satire?

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