When it comes to cryptocurrencies and making transactions with them, people often bash how long they can take to be confirmed when compared to a fiat bank transfer. Yet, that issue is now becoming a thing of the past. It takes roughly 10 minutes for a Bitcoin transaction to be confirmed and these transactions cost a fraction of the price your bank would charge you. For instance, sending $100 to your friend in Europe would take around 5 working days and would cost you approximately 5% of the transaction value if you use a high-street bank. To put that into perspective, someone just sent 30,000 BTC ($193 million) to a different wallet for a mere 0.0001 BTC in just 19 minutes.
Blockchain Speeding up Transactions
Blockchain technology has been deployed by leading banks around the globe to speed up cross-border transactions and reduce transaction costs. The Bank of America has turned to blockchain for a number of purposes and it has secured the most amount of blockchain patents to date. Stellar is a well-known blockchain company that focuses on speeding up transaction times. It has formed partnerships with a number of leading banks and tech companies, most notably IBM.
Low Transaction Fees Are Attractive
As more luxury items appear for sale in cryptocurrencies, the notion of low transaction fees becomes more appealing. For example, buying a property using Bitcoin would save you a large chunk in bank fees and give you more spare change to decorate your new home – maybe even buy that dream Mustang you have your eye on. You can now buy properties all over the globe using cryptocurrencies, and the American market is becoming extremely popular with Chinese crypto investors. Blockchain’s ability to provide fast and low-cost transactions is helping consumers take back power from financial institutions.
Crypto Transactions to the Rescue
Cryptos are also coming to the rescue of impoverished citizens who live in countries with failing fiat currencies. In Venezuela, DASH has become the payment method of choice for millions of citizens thanks to its ultra-low transaction fees and speedy transaction times. Hyperinflation has been detailed as one of the main issues with transaction times in Venezuela. If a transaction takes more than a handful of hours, the vendor will lose money on a sale, which makes speed critical in this market.
Block #541229 may contain one of the largest Bitcoin transactions ever made, but it also highlights the incredible savings people can make when sending money between accounts. Cryptocurrencies are revolutionizing the world we live in and how we interact with it. Banks are slowly adjusting and adopting the technology in order to make lives easier, simpler, and cheaper for everyone.
