Digital Currency Group is an investment firm founded in March 2015, by prolific Angel Investor Barry Silbert.The company has invested in 72 different companies, more than two-thirds of which operate in the bitcoin space.In the last four months alone, the company acquired the biggest bitcoin news site, CoinDesk, and along with it, the biggest bitcoin conference, Consensus.The company already had investments in Bitpay, the industries leading payment service provider, as well as coinbase and Kraken, two of the largest platforms for trading bitcoin.“I wanted to work with firms who have a long-term perspective, and were willing to explore with us and invest not only money, but real organizational and intellectual capital into building businesses and partnerships that will enable us to unleash value in new, unprecedented ways,” states Silbert.- Barry Silbert, Digital Currency Insights Founder and CEO In October last year, DCG raised an undisclosed amount of capital in a round that included MasterCard.

Silbert recently announced that DCG has been onboarding a new group of investors, including Western Union.Formerly the Telegraph Company, Western Union had an industrialized monopoly over the telegraph industry in the late 19th century, and is famous for refusing to purchase Alexander Graham Bell’s phone patent in 1876, for US$100,000.Western Union appear determined not to repeat their mistakes.The company’s vision is to be a global leader in cross-currency, cross-border money movement & payment services, continuing to meet consumer and business needs as they develop.At the Inside Bitcoin Conference in New York last year, Silbert compared Western Union to Kodak in the mid 90s.“Kodak saw digital cameras coming along, I believe it was the CEO made the comment that no one would be able to afford a multi-thousand dollar digital camera, so we’re not worried and ultimately Kodak went out of business and went bankrupt.” The global remittance giant was in discussions with Ripple Labs early last year, regarding a blockchain pilot project, although details still remain scarce.

By using a cheap payment network, proponents claim that companies will be able to cut down the cost of remittances.As of December 31,2015, Western Union services were offered through a combined network of over 500,000 agent locations, in 200 countries and territories, and over 100,000 ATMs and kiosks.The company completed 262 million consumer transactions, moving US$82 billion.Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Ripple Labs, Monica Long, stated that, “Financial institutions and networks use Ripple as a technology that powers real-time settlement in any currency to lower the cost of liquidity and compliance.Ripple was created to enable an Internet of Value in which the world can move value as easily as information moves today.” In addition to onboarding new investors, Silbert also announced new board members and advisors joining DCG in their campaign to incubate and nurture new businesses.Glenn Hutchins has joined the Board of Directors.Among his many current roles, Hutchins is currently Chairman of North Island and a Co-Founder of Silver Lake, which he started in 1999.; Director of both AT&T and Nasdaq, Inc.; a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York;  and Vice chairman of both the Brookings Institution and the Economic Club of New York.

“Digital Currency Group (DCG) has positioned itself as a key participant in the Bitcoin universe, a space which has the promise to be one of the most innovative sectors of today's technology ecosystem.Bitcoin technology has the potential, among many other impacts, to transform the global payments system and DCG aims to be a central force in the transformation,” said Hutchins.ethereum short termGavin Andresen will be serving as a Senior Advisor.bitcoin ibAndresen is currently with the MIT Digital Currency Initiative, and one of the bitcoin protocol developers.bitcoin transaction basicsHe was the lead developer for several years after the anonymous creator of bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, stepped back.bitcoin ira cost

Sending money internationally, or remittance, costs money.According to The World Bank, this costs an average of 7.99% of the amount sent.In 2014, these cross-border transactions are expected to reach $582 billion, and up to $608 billion in 2015.bitcoin assassination marketIt goes without saying that reducing the transaction costs by a few percentage points can save migrants billions of dollars collectively.litecoin block valueMigrant workers and immigrants typically send money back to their families in their home country, but using traditional payment methods like Western Union or wire transfers is often expensive.uso dei bitcoinThese companies make money by charging: Even so, transparency is also a problem.das bitcoin buch

According to ACORN Canada, out of 229 remittance users surveyed in Ontario, "27% of users had no idea whether exchange fees were included in the prices advertised by remittance providers."[1] With the emergence of Bitcoin remittance providers in the past few years, they have started to disrupt the very industry that takes advantage of low-income individuals by charging high fees.bitcoin forum speculationBut how does Bitcoin remittance work?Let’s work with an example, with a sender who wants to transfer money from the US to India.Step 1: Sender purchases Bitcoin with USD via one of the many exchanges available such as Coinbase (or LocalBitcoins).Step 2: Sender sends Bitcoin to a Bitcoin remittance company.Step 3: Bitcoin remittance company sends rupees to the receiver.The entire back-end process for Bitcoin remittance is simpler than traditional remittances, where these 'legacy' companies involve clearing houses and banks.

But since Bitcoin’s value is known to fluctuate wildly, wouldn’t this affect the transmitted value?While the Bitcoin’s value is indeed volatile, a sender will likely not be affected by this if the conversion from USD to BTC and BTC to INR (as in the example) happens in the same hour.[2] To see whether a Bitcoin remittance provider is truly cheaper than traditional methods, let’s compare the costs of a few services.Rebit.ph allows migrant workers and immigrants—their target market—to send money to the Philippines from countries such as Australia, Germany, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, the UK, and the US.According to Luis Buenaventura, the co-founder and Head of Product at Rebit.ph, only about 10% of all Filipino adults have bank accounts.Because of this, Rebit.ph pays out about 75% of migrant workers’ remittances through pawnshops, a feature not commonly found in other remittance services.Comparison as of Apr 5, 2015: Based in Kenya, Bitpesa is a Bitcoin-based remittance service that allows international money transfers to East Africa: namely countries like Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda.

The company takes advantage of the popularity of mobile wallets in the countries, enabling them to convert Bitcoin to the supported local currency at low costs.Comparison as of Apr 5, 2015 for transferring to Kenya: Comparison as of Apr 5, 2015 for transferring to Tanzania: While Bitpesa charges 3% on the BTC to KES / TZS exchange rate, Western Union still falls short by charging an even higher fee on the exchange rate, along with an additional transfer fee.You can read more about their fee structure and dissatisfaction of clients on this WU online payment review.This Singapore-based Bitcoin remittance company enables international money transfers to Singapore, Indonesia, and Hong Kong.They charge a 2% fee on the initial transfer amount, while the exchange rate used is the prevailing market rate without any fee imposed.Comparison as of Apr 5, 2015 for transferring to Singapore: Comparison as of Apr 5, 2015 for transferring to Indonesia: Comparison as of Apr 5, 2015 for transferring to Hong Kong: Even though CoinPip takes a 2% cut on the initial transfer, the final converted amount for the recipient is still higher than Western Union.

The latter appears to charge a much higher percentage on the exchange rate.Sending money using a Bitcoin-based platform is comparatively cheaper, as transmission fees in Bitcoin transactions are often very low.We can see from the comparisons above that these Bitcoin remittance providers consistently charge lower fees than the regular mainstay, Western Union, while still managing to transfer the required currency in minutes up to a few hours.Western Union, on the other hand, can take several days depending on your payment method.With 'legacy' remittance companies like Western Union, MoneyGram, and other traditional banks continuing to charge high fees while hiding other fees via poorer exchange rates, it’s hard to visualize a future where they’re still relevant.Startups that disrupt this predatory profiteering from migrant workers and immigrant workers are here now for social and economic justice—and with the recent trend, they're likely to stay.The challenge here, therefore, is educating consumers on how using Bitcoin-based remittances can save them both money and time.