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Category Archives: Money transfer destinations: India, Philippines, Mexico, China

Does Bitcoin/Crypto/Blockchain make sense for international money transfers?

Bitcoin money transfer: competing with fast elephant

“I think we will know when bitcoin has reached prime time when it is transferring more value each day than Western Union or Money Gram…”

Roger Ver, November 2013

Since the publication of “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” in 2008, international money transfers, although constituting a smaller portion of cross-border payments, have emerged as one of the most promising use cases for crypto.

The initial assumption was that remittance users were experiencing exorbitant fees and subpar services from traditional players like Western Union. The prospect of an almost cost-free and instantaneous blockchain-based solution appeared to be a much-needed relief. Additionally, it presented an opportunity for affluent individuals in Western countries to showcase their efforts toward promoting financial inclusion in developing nations.

Subsequently, many startups received funding to test this hypothesis with consumers and partner with money transfer operators (MTOs). Additionally, one country recognized this as a national priority and encouraged its citizens to explore cryptocurrency-based remittances.

Despite this, the adoption of cryptocurrencies for remittances is lower today than a decade ago. Using crypto for international money transfers remains a pilot or pay-per-play. More importantly, nobody can articulate an in-depth case of using private, public, or government crypto instead of or on top of Swift + local real-time rails.

In contrast, non-crypto fintechs such as Wise and Remitly have emerged among the global leaders. What factors have contributed to the disappointing start for crypto, and will this innovative technology have a more significant impact in the future?

Innovation Adoption: 3 Cases

Consumers and businesses possess trillions of disposable income that they eagerly spend on various products and services, regardless of whether they are beneficial. For instance, consumers collectively spend around a trillion dollars annually on alcohol, junk food, or tobacco. Introducing truly innovative technology is an even easier proposition. Financial services and insurance companies allocate a trillion dollars annually to technology spending alone. Apple generates $200 billion just from iPhone sales. While generative AI is still in the pilot stage, Nvidia’s annual sales of AI chips have already reached $50 billion. To achieve similar success, blockchain technology only needs to address one of the three following use cases:

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International Money Transfer Services: Lean and Hungry

International Money Transfer Services

Do remittance startups have a fundamentally different cost structure vs. incumbents? What are the primary customer acquisition channels for money transmitters? What can explain massively higher relative valuations of remittance startups vs. established providers? If you are interested in such questions, this article is for YOU.

We will cover the following topics:

  • Market Size
  • Pricing
  • Providers
  • Digital Trends
  • Users
  • Business Models
  • Acquisition Channels
  • Valuations
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MoneyGram: Whack-a-Mole of Money Transfers

behemoth-moneygram

“…to date MoneyGram has refused to open a meaningful dialogue with us, leaving us no choice but to make this proposal public…”

Euronet CEO’s letter to employees, December 13, 2007

In the past, MoneyGram and Western Union were often mentioned as the “monopolies” of cross-border money transfer. However, MoneyGram’s valuation was not only significantly smaller than Western Union’s but also had a multiple that was below that of any competitor.

MoneyGram’s valuation had been erratic since its IPO in 2004, even reaching near-zero levels in 2019 and 2020, until it was finally acquired by a private equity firm, Madison Dearborn Partners, in 2023:

Throughout its history, MoneyGram has stood out as the most irrational player in remittances, defying the stereotype about incumbent financial services companies being too conservative. The only explanation for such behavior could be the curse of an eternal “silver medal.”

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Transfer Money Internationally: Review and Tips

When asking about “the best” way to transfer money, we realize that it is a very subjective question. The reason for that is simple: we are as consumers are quite unique in our behavior when it comes to handling money. Mexicans don’t behave like Indians and Chinese are very different from Filipinos. But even within each ethnicity, there are multiple distinct behavior patterns. One manager of an Indian restaurant has accounts with multiple digital providers and compares prices before each transfer while his colleague next door prefers to send cash via a Western Union agent.

Let’s start with a “big picture” – there are 250+ million consumers worldwide who regularly send money home and that number keeps growing fueled by ever expanded migration:

Source: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/01/iom-global-migration-report-international-migrants-2020/
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Send Money to Mexico: Cheap and Fast, Review and Tips

— Posted by SaveOnSend to Money transfer from USA to Mexico   |   2 Comments

Mexico money transfer from USA: #1 global corridor

Are you Mexican-Chicano sending money from USA to Mexico? Want to get the most pesos for your dollars? Not sure how to send money online and which provider is the best, cheapest or fastest? YOU came to the right place! We will cover all most important topics:

  1. Sending money to Mexico: key trends
  2. Pesos to dollar exchange rates and timing
  3. Top providers for sending money to Mexico
  4. The best way to send money to Mexico for you

Please note this post is specific to Mexico. If you are looking for general knowledge of how to best send money, please review this other SaveOnSend blog post first. And if you only have 30 seconds, just find the best provider with well-known comparison sites: CompareRemit, Monito, or RemitRate.

Before we get started… Great news if you are a consumer sending money from the US to Mexico: it is currently one of the most competitive corridors from the US, attracting more providers and larger investments than many other destinations. You could make a relatively safe assumption that when transferring money to Mexico with any top provider you will get a reasonable price and service. Overall, the cost of sending money has been decreasing globally, dropping 30% in the last 10 years alone:

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Money Transfer: 5 Hacks to Nudge Consumers

Money Transfer LifeHacks

“The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end.”

Leon Trotsky, Their Morals and Ours

So you built a mobile app for international money transfer, got seed funding, engaged a few hundred early adopters, and are now ready to go after those outdated-bureaucratic-price-gouging incumbents. How hard could it be? But a year goes by and your cumulative revenue has barely scratched $100K. The dream of new office digs and sharing a success story with schoolmates is getting delayed while investors are starting to be more inquisitive about the timing of “hockey stick”… and it is all because those strange migrants keep clinging to their existing providers.

Well, don’t fret, we have gathered 5 “best practices” for nudging those close-minded consumers to embrace your service. Most of the cool FinTech kids are doing this and even some incumbents and banks sample them at times, so it must be perfectly legal and not too immoral… at any rate, it is for consumers’ own good, right?

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TRANSFAST, Worldwide Money Transfer Company Background & Industry View

“Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.”

Warren Buffett

Transfast presents a particularly interesting case among providers of international person-to-person remittances. While we often read about startups or bitcoin taking on the industry’s largest players, Western Union and MoneyGram, Transfast was unique in being till 2019 acquisition by Mastercard an independent, private equity-backed company that is in-between those extremes. Transfast straddled mostly offline with some online business worlds across the globe while being nimble enough to maintain an entrepreneurial / startup culture. Between 2008 and 2016, Transfast grew ten times, expanding from a narrow focus of sending money between the U.S. and Latin American corridors to a truly global provider. Their story and insights on the industry are quite unique and informative.

This blog is specific to Transfast – if you are looking for more general knowledge on the best ways to transfer money, check other SaveOnSend blog posts.

We will cover questions like:

  • Should I use Transfast to transfer money from the U.S. to India, the Philippines, Mexico, or China?
  • How do Transfast’s fees and exchange rates compare with other money transfer companies?
  • How is Transfast different vs. other online remittance providers?

We will structure this post as follows:

  1. Transfast’s history in money transfer
  2. Transfast’s pricing: fees + FX markup (exchange rate)
  3. Whether or not you should use Transfast for money transfer
  4. Transfast CEO’s views on the money transfer industry and current trends
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Money Transfer to India: Review and Tips

Are you NRI or POI transferring money from USA to India? Want to get the most rupees for your dollars? Not sure which provider is the best, cheapest or fastest? YOU came to the right place! We will cover all most important topics:

  1. Current state and key trends for sending money from USA to India
  2. Rupee to dollar exchange rates and timing
  3. Top money transfer providers
  4. Finding fastest and cheapest vs. better and best money transmitters

Please note this post is specific to India. If you are looking for general knowledge of how to best transfer money, please review this other SaveOnSend blog post first.

Before we get started… Great news if you are a consumer transferring money from the USA to India: it is currently the most competitive corridor from the USA, attracting much more competition and larger investments than any other destination. You are in luck with a variety of choices and lavish promotions which for many other destinations simply don’t exist. So you could make a relatively safe assumption that when transferring money to India with any top provider you would get a reasonable price and service.

But we are recommending trying providers with the cheapest price – this way, you are not just helping more your family but also supporting India’s growth. By always using the least expensive method of sending money home, each 1% in savings generates an additional $100MM annually for your families and India’s economy.

falling money
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Money Transfer to Philippines: Review and Tips

— Posted by SaveOnSend to Money transfer from USA to Philippines, Western Union, Xoom   |   55 Comments

Are you sending money from USA to Philippines? Want to get the most pesos for your dollars or receive most dollars in Philippines? Not sure which provider is the best, cheapest or fastest? Should your funds be received in pesos or dollars? YOU came to the right place! We will cover all most important topics:

  1. Money Transfer to the Philippines: current state and key trends
  2. Pesos to dollar exchange rates and timing
  3. Top money transfer providers
  4. Receiving money transfer in pesos or dollars
  5. Sending larger money transfer amounts
  6. Choosing the best receiving method
  7. Finding the best way to send money

Please note this post is specific to the Philippines. If you are looking for general knowledge of how to best send money, please review this other SaveOnSend blog post first.

Before we get started… Great news if you are a consumer sending money from the USA to the Philippines: it is currently one of the most competitive corridors from the USA, attracting more providers and larger investments than many other destinations. You are in luck with a variety of choices and lavish promotions which don’t exist for some other destinations. So you could make a relatively safe assumption that when transferring money to the Philippines with any top provider, you will get a reasonable price and service. Overall, the cost of sending money has been declining worldwide, with providers’ margins dropping 30% just in the last decade:

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