Fed Up With Fees? Crypto Use is Growing for Cross-Border Payments
upstart writes:
Fed up with fees? Crypto use is growing for cross-border payments - survey:
A new survey released today by non-profit Stellar Development Foundation and UK-based cryptocurrency payments platform Wirex has revealed a heightened awareness, and increasing use and acceptance, of cryptocurrencies for cross-border payments in four key developed and emerging countries -- United States, United Kingdom, Mexico and Singapore -- indicating that crypto is being used for sending money to, and from, emerging markets in the form of remittances, or money sent by people working overseas to their families back home.
The survey, which gauged nearly 10,000 consumers across Mexico, Singapore, UK and US, suggests that the force behind the shift toward crypto as a form of payment is a frustration with the current financial system for transacting money between developed and emerging countries. More than half of the people surveyed -- 53% -- said they felt they paid too much in fees for international remittances via traditional financial means, such as wiring fiat currencies, while 37% said they didn't know what they paid in fees.
Given these pain points, the Stellar/Wirex survey indicates that cryptocurrencies used in international remittances, especially by people in emerging markets, is growing to the point where 52% surveyed said they see crypto "as a valid alternative to sending money overseas using traditional means," while 45% surveyed said they've already used it for remittances. What's more, the survey revealed that more than 80% of consumers -- in all four countries surveyed -- said they're aware of cryptocurrency.
"For me, the most important finding is that crypto is reaching the mainstream audience, not only in terms of awareness but also with what you can do with this technology to make the movement of money and value faster, cheaper and more efficient," says Denelle Dixon, CEO and executive director for Stellar Development Foundation, in an interview with ZDNet.
So what do you think? Have you transferred money across borders and if so, have the fees been too high to you? Have you considered using some form of cryptocurrency as an alternative means of transferring money?
Read more of this story at SoylentNews.