SpectroCoin allows unbanked to convert bitcoin into cash

SpectroCoin is extending its services to unbanked users across Europe and Asia by allowing them to convert bitcoin into cash.

The company’s newest service will be available in 25 countries including Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Portugal and Spain, along with Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine.

Speaking to CoinDesk, Mantas Mockevičius, the company’s chief compliance officer, explained that SpectroCoin feels its latest offering solves an immediate market need in many of the company’s target areas.

“In some countries, they don’t need it much, but in Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Armenia and lots and lots of countries, it’s a very useful service because there are lots of unbanked people there, and banking infrastructure is not so developed as, say, in Europe,” he said. “So a person can get funds very easy. He can actually use bitcoin as a remittance.”

SpectroCoin charges a flat 4.5 per cent fee for bitcoin-to-cash conversions, with a minimum fee of €3.7 (roughly 0.0123 BTC). While SpectroCoin’s bitcoin-to-cash withdrawals are not cheap when compared to bitcoin transactions, the company feels that they will likely find an audience with consumers in parts of the world where moving money still costs a premium.

Users can convert their bitcoins to euros on SpectroCoin, before entering the amount of their own currency they want to withdraw, as well as their place of residence.

SpectroCoin then displays the end total the user will receive, minus the fee. The user can then withdraw the cash at one of the company’s partnering banks, financial institutions or post offices by taking a paper slip posted to them by SpectroCoin’s partners to exchange for cash. Because of this process it could take up to five days to receive funds, the company said, a time-frame that they will keep trying to improve.

 

 

 

 

Related reading

Leave a comment