Cryptocurrencies are growing as a way to send money around the world. According to a new report by Clovr, there was a surge in cryptocurrency remittances around the world. Clovr is a cryptocurrency research company. In order to gather these results, the company surveyed 707 that send remittances to their countries.
Cryptocurrency Remittances Grow
The cryptocurrency research company Clovr found that the number of individuals using virtual currencies for remittances has substantially increased. The survey included individuals from 20 countries that received the most remittances from the United States during 2017. Some of these countries were: Mexico, China, India, Philippines, Vietnam, Guatemala, Nigeria, El Salvador, Dominican Republic and many others.
According to Clovr, over half of the people surveyed have used online services, including PayPal and traditional money transfer companies, including Western Union and Money Gram. Although these are all companies that are known and respected around the world, the fees for sending money abroad are very high. Indeed, these companies can receive sometimes 13 to 20 percent of the transaction.
15.8 percent of the respondents said that they use cryptocurrencies to send money abroad. The number is higher among men compared to women. Surprisingly, 85.7 percent answered that they prefer to send money using virtual currencies rather than other systems.
Using virtual currencies users do not need to pay such high fees that some platforms take. Furthermore, the transactions take very short periods of time to be processed.
The report reads as follows:
“Given its deregulated status, cryptocurrency offers plenty of advantages where domestic and international money transfers are concerned. By avoiding the high transaction fees and conversion rates typically associated with transferring funds abroad, you can take a few extra steps, potentially getting significant savings.”
Furthermore, the survey asked participants whether they are familiar with virtual currencies or not. 83.7 of those surveyed answered that they are between slightly and extremely familiar with cryptocurrencies. Just 16.3 percent answered that they are not familiar at all with them.
The situation looks different when we have a look at blockchain familiarity. 39.2% of the respondents said that they were not familiar at all with blockchain technology. For both, virtual currencies and blockchain technology, women are usually less familiar with the matter than men. Indeed, women are two times more unfamiliar with these technologies than men.
Almost 50 percent of the respondents said that they are worried about cryptocurrency services being hacked or the security of the transactions. This shows that although blockchain technology is a safe way to transact funds, there are some issues with exchanges and crypto platforms that must be addressed.
