48 Hours to Transfer Money via Bitcoin

A few weeks ago we wrote about how blockchain technology and cryptocurrency can potentially help with the remittance problem here in the Philippines. While that’s definitely still possible with other cryptocurrencies, it won’t happen with Bitcoin. Fundamentally, Bitcoin is flawed to be considered “currency”.

As most of you know, I use Coins.ph as my Bitcoin wallet. Unfortunately, this wallet only supports Bitcoin and I wanted to invest more in other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum. To do this I needed to transfer some Bitcoin to a new wallet (Abra) that supports other cryptocurrencies. I transferred a considerable amount from my Bitcoin wallet to the new Abra wallet and this is where the nightmare began.

I had no idea how long and how expensive it would take to transfer money using Bitcoin between wallets.

First let’s start with the time it took. I waited for 48 hours before the money reflected in my new wallet. Yes you read that right. 2 whole days of not knowing or being assured with what happened with my cash. Bitcoin is so congested that it takes forever to move money around.

Next is the transaction fees. With Bitcoin they charged me over Php1,500 to transfer to another wallet. That’s more expensive than a lot of other remittance and digital wallet transfer services.

Lastly is the horrible user experience and interface. There was no easy and intuitive way to find out how long it will take before the money gets transferred.

I did a quick video about this entire experience which you can watch below.

Everything considered, it’s next to impossible to consider Bitcoin as “currency”. I agree with a lot of the pundits that it should be classified more of a “volatile digital asset” that definitely has a lot of upside but with considerable risk.

Other cryptocurrencies will most likely solve the remittance and money transfer problem. New companies and services like Salarium and Salpay are strong contenders especially for the PH setting.

Anyway, that’s it for this short rant! There’s definitely still a lot to learn about Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain technology. This is going to be a fun ride.