Dollars in Uruguay?

[HenryNisental]

Y said PAYPAL, and it was long time ago

 

[Weyland]

Don't you lose money off each dollar when you buy Bitcoin? If so, it removes any benefit of the blue rate and you may even end up losing against the official rate.

You pay a .25% commission if you buy on an exchange like Coinbase in the US and then you sell it for pesos right away. So you aren't going to lose much. There is a risk that within 45 minutes or so that the bitcoin takes to send from your "wallet" to the buyers wallet it could go down. Even though it's volatile it usually doesn't move much within the hour. After the fees I usually get the buy rate for the blue.

 

[Caribbean Cool]

I just don't understand how this money transfer business can be so complicated......

1.You have a bank account or debit card (or credit card) in the u.s.
2.you open a Western Union account on line (use vpn outside u.s.)
3.You open the WU website and fill in the blanks(it is one of the best designed websites I have ever used) You send the money to YOURSELF. You specify where in Argentina you are going to pick up the money, which will be received in pesos. The craziest thing is that these days WU is remitting money at really good rates....not usurious rates. This to me is a miracle And the total price for sending whatever amount is about $17. Another miracle.
4.If you are happy with Argentine pesos then elect to receive your money in Argentina. If you want dollars then chose a location in Uruguay.
5.Take the remittance and first thing buy an ice cream cone as a reward for being so smart.

About risk....there is no risk in bitcoin...until there is. So why use it? Dumb choice when there are riskless options. And Paypal....what for? You send the Paypal money to your bank account or debit card accessible account (free) and then have WU debit that account.....for $17.

You do not need any Argentine nor Uruguay bank accounts nor any residence cards of any kind.

I have not seen better conversion rates in the past two weeks than those offered by Western Union. The rates are at a premium to the posted X-rates and about the blue rate.

I am going out for an ice cream cone.

 

[Weyland]

About risk....there is no risk in bitcoin...until there is. So why use it? Dumb choice when there are riskless options. And Paypal....what for? You send the Paypal money to your bank account or debit card accessible account (free) and then have WU debit that account.....for $17.

The risk is very limited because you are holding onto it for less than one hour. Today the blue was at 66 - 69. I received 70 pesos to 1.

You may consider it dumb, but I consider it convenient and low risk. Even if it tanked 5% in one hour which is extremely rare, and you transferred $300, you aren't even losing the equivalent of the WU fee.

It's one of many options. If you feel more comfortable with WU go for it.

 

[AFVA]

Why would bitcoin be a help to those who are simply looking for ways to pay normal living expenses such as rent or groceries? I just googled and one (1) single bitcoin costs for $9,200 USD at today's rate. Not everyone has everyday dealings with that kind of money or understand (or trust) that kind of technology. That doesn't really answer the OP's question.

One is asking about oranges, and getting answers in apples.

 

[Weyland]

I'm making the assumption that the OP wants dollars so they can exchange them for pesos at the blue rate in Argentina. If they simply want dollars to pay someone in dollars in Argentina, then no it doesn't help the OP.

You don't need to buy a single bitcoin. You can buy any amount you want. You can buy $100 worth of a bitcoin if you'd like, which be something like .011 bitcoin at the current rate.

Why is this helpful for buying groceries in Argentina?

I take $100 from my US bank account and transfer it to my bitcoin exchange in the US. I buy .011 worth of bitcoin with that $100.

Then I take that .011 bitcoin and send it to my bitcoin exchange account in Argentina. It may take 30 minutes to arrive.

Now I have .011 bitcoin in an Argentine bitcoin account to which my argentine bank account is connected. I sell the bitcoin immediately and I receive pesos. The pesos are then sent to my bank account.

I now have converted $100USD into Argentina pesos at slightly above the blue rate.

The bitcoin is just an intermediary to obtain pesos.

Not trying to convince anyone this is the best way. It works for me, and wanted to share an option that some may not be aware of. If you don't understand it or are not uncomfortable with it then obviously it's best not to do it.

 

[AFVA]

Thanks for your explanation and clearing that up. I didn't realize that one could by fractions of a bitcoin.

 

[d.gray]

As far as I remember from the last cepo, Bitcoin always had a value around the Blue rate. There are now a number of exchanges you can use to transfer money via Bitcoin and cash out in Argentina at a very good rate (which will certainly save a trip to Uruguay to get dollars, which I used to do).

Currently I'm just using Western Union as that has a great rate right now. But I'm considering using Bitcoin in the future.

There is a site called Ripio, which is an exchange in Argentina. That's the one I've signed up with, but there are others.

You can buy $100, $200 USD or whatever of Bitcoin using an exchange outside the country using your foreign account, like Coinbase. Then send it to your Ripio wallet and cash out directly to your Argentine bank account or MercadoPago at the Blue rate.

It involves setting up an account on Ripio and another exchange outside the country, so it's not hassle-free. But once it's set up, it seems like a fast way to change money at somewhere around the Blue rate (for those who don't have physical dollars in the country).

And if you don't want to risk the volatility of Bitcoin, you could buy a stablecoin like DAI (which you can also sell on Ripio) which is always about $1 dollar.

 

[semigoodlookin]

Do exchanges from PayPal in USD to Bitcoin work?

 

[steveinbsas]

I just don't understand how this money transfer business can be so complicated......

1.You have a bank account or debit card (or credit card) in the u.s.
2.you open a Western Union account on line (use vpn outside u.s.)
3.You open the WU website and fill in the blanks(it is one of the best designed websites I have ever used) You send the money to YOURSELF. You specify where in Argentina you are going to pick up the money, which will be received in pesos. The craziest thing is that these days WU is remitting money at really good rates....not usurious rates. This to me is a miracle And the total price for sending whatever amount is about $17. Another miracle.
4.If you are happy with Argentine pesos then elect to receive your money in Argentina. If you want dollars then chose a location in Uruguay.
5.Take the remittance and first thing buy an ice cream cone as a reward for being so smart.

You do not need any Argentine nor Uruguay bank accounts nor any residence cards of any kind.

I have not seen better conversion rates in the past two weeks than those offered by Western Union. The rates are at a premium to the posted X-rates and about the blue rate.

I am going out for an ice cream cone.

I hope you enjoyed your ice cream late last night.

Perhaps by now you've read some of the posts in another thread regarding sending dollars to Argentina using Western Union and what steps must be followed in order to get the "miracle" rate..

As far as I can ascertain, anyone who uses the Western Union website to send dollars from the US to their self to be picked up in Argentina will not receive the "miracle" exchange rate. The transaction must be initiated on line, but someone in the US actually has to pay for the transfer in cash.

If you know of a way to "open the WU website and fill in the blanks to send the money to YOURSELF" at the close to (if not higher than) the present dolar blu rate in Argentina, please share it here. DeadOA claimed to have done this, but has yet to explain how he did so or show a screenshot with the details of the transfer.