The Quest for “Zero Fee” Money Remittance through Crypto-assets
Is it possible to transfer money from anywhere on Earth to the Philippines at zero cost? We’ll find out in this article.
The Myth of Disruption
“Disruption” — the buzzword for every crypto-enthusiast and probably one of the reasons for the parabolic increase of crypto users around the globe. For some folks, disruption is just a myth but the disruption is real in the International Money Remittance sector. Only a few know how it works — the chosen ones!
Everyone deserves every cent of what they worked for
Let’s talk about NUMBERS and FIGURES
There are around 2.3 Million Filipinos working overseas as of 2017. Most of them are from Arab Countries. In 2017 alone, yearly remittance hit 28.1Billion$ (1.4 Trillion Pesos Approx.) That contributes almost 10% of Philippine GDP.
As of writing, the cheapest fees for international money remittance to the Philippines is around 10$ per 1000$. Fees vary on the transfer method and time for the transfer to arrive. With the vision to help Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) enjoy the privilege of the new emerging payment solution (Cryptocurrency), I came up with this article that aims to cut the burden cost of every money transfer because everyone deserves every cent of what they worked for.
A must-have Arsenal
In order to make this a reality, we need the following accounts;
- Coins.PH Account — this will serve as your digital wallet
- Google Authenticator — this serves as 2nd layer security for your digital wallet.
- Bank Account (Union Bank or Metrobank)- this is where the withdrawal takes place.
How to create Coins.Ph Digital Wallet
- Fill up the forms. >Register Here<
- Verify your account identity (at least Level 2) to have a withdrawal privilege. (You need a valid ID in verification)
- Download Coins.ph App in Playstore (If you’re using an android phone)
- Log-in to your account.
Note: You must save your PIN number and password in somewhere safe, maybe a hand-written copy or in a flash drive.
After successful identity verification (which will take 1–3 business days), you’re all good. I include the tutorial link below for your convenience.
To secure your digital wallet, it is necessary to install second layer security, a Google Authenticator. It’s easy, just visit PlayStore and search “Google Authenticator” and install.
How to enable your 2FA (Two-Factor Authentication)
- In your Coins.ph Account, go to Settings > Enable 2FA
- Copy the 2FA Keys and save it.
- In your Google Authenticator app, you can either Scan a Barcode or Enter Provided Keys to enable the account.
Here’s the tutorial on how to set-up a Google Authenticator on Coins.Ph for your reference.
The Crucial Part of this tricks
After setting up your [1] Coins.Ph Account, [2] Google Authenticator, and [3] Bank Account we can now proceed to the next process — the methods of cash-in. But in this article, we focus on the unified way of converting your money to cryptocurrency (BTC or ETH) thru Peer-to-Peer Transaction (P2P).
The strategy is crowdsourcing the crypto-users within the vicinity to engage in Peer-to-Peer transaction to save fees. P2P transaction is possible provided the following statistical data below;
Crypto Users At a Glance
- Almost 22 million bitcoin wallets have been set up globally.
- An estimated five percent of Americans hold cryptocurrency.
- 2.9 to 5.8 million active bitcoin users according to a Cambridge University study.
- Leading exchange Coinbase has over 13 million users.
- Emerging markets users — who are often not considered in statistics — are
likely in the millions
Note: In the next article, we will include the other ways of cash-in methods.
Why Peer-to-Peer (P2P)?
There are several ways of converting your fiat into cryptocurrency. Bitcoin ATM is growing rapidly around the globe with an average of 6 ATM installation daily. Around 3000+ Bitcoin ATM machine today. But this is not the solution of our “quest to zero fees” since Bitcoin ATM bears high fees — 5% average fees.
Just be careful in dealing with a P2P transaction. You need to consider meeting in the safest public place
P2P let buyer and seller exempted from withdrawal and cash-in fees respectively. This is a win-win situation for both buyer and seller. Just make sure that the rates should be based on real-time cryptocurrency price. It can be tracked on the following websites;
A peer-to-peer transaction is just as simple as buying load for your phone. In this case, you don’t need your phone number. What you need is your Bitcoin Wallet (BTC) or Ethereum Wallet (ETH) that can be found in your Coins.ph Account.
How to find cryptocurrency sellers to engage in P2P transaction?
The answer is the internet and social media. You need to crowdsource your network and friends if they know anyone selling cryptocurrency in the real-time market price rate.
Just be careful in dealing with a P2P transaction. You need to consider meeting in the safest public place — either in the Shopping Mall or any establishment with the presence of security guard or police in the vicinity.
In buying cryptocurrency thru P2P transaction, I recommend the major crypto-asset, Ethereum (ETH) or Bitcoin (BTC)- for faster transaction, prefer Ethereum (ETH).
To get your Ethereum Wallet in Coins.ph, just click Wallet > ETH > Show My ETH Address (See the image below).
It takes at least 1 confirmation in the Etherscan Explorer to appear in your ETH wallet — marked as *receiving XX amount of ETH.
Coins.Ph Withdrawal Procedure
After receiving the Ethereum, you may now convert it to PHP (Peso) in order to withdraw. Just click Wallet > Convert > Type the amount of ETH you wish to convert > Click Convert. See image below for reference.
After conversion, you may now proceed to Withdrawal. Just Click Wallet > Cash Out > Bank > Choose your preferred Bank > Fill up the credentials> Confirm the transaction> Pay.
Here’s the link of Cash Out Tutorial for your reference; https://support.coins.ph/hc/en-us/articles/202948684
It takes 1 business day to process the transaction (Saturday and Sunday is excluded)
Note: This trick has been tested with my friend in UAE[undisclosed name for privacy]. I put this in article hoping to help individuals in making the first “zero fees” remittance trick.
Disclaimer: This article is for educational purpose only. Dealing with cryptocurrency bears a certain amount of risk — price volatility. Before doing any of the following trick aforementioned above, you need to DYOR (Do Your Own Research) first to ensure that you know what you are doing. I am not liable for any loss of money, property, or asset due to lack of knowledge in dealing with this new paradigm of payment solution. Viola!
