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Clearly, you've never been paid for goods or services by someone overseas. Even in this day of highly-networked banks, I have to wait 4-5 days for an international wire payment, and I get charged $12. My counterpart overseas pays $20 for the transaction, and would love to pass that cost on to me (but I refuse to pay it). Many banks charge $20 or more for incoming international wire transfers. So it can cost anywhere from $25 to $40 USD to make an international wire payment.

However, if my clients used Bitcoins, I would receive the money in an hour or less, and pay like a $0.10 charge. Any no one would have the power to suddenly say, "oh wait, we're going to have to raise our fees".

Thousands of freelance writers, translators, programmers do a significant portion of their work with international clients. But the banking system rules out doing any job worth less than several hundred dollars, unless you want to lose 1/4 or 1/5 of your income to fees. I routinely turn down jobs that I could do in 30 minutes and make $150 because it's not worth the hassle of arranging an international wire transfer.

Do you understand now the legitimate need for this kind of currency?




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