$257M in BTC Transferred for $43, How Much Would a Bank Wire Cost?

After yesterday’s significant and possibly Over-The-Counter transaction of 66,233.75 BTC (~$257 million) we decided to get more into numbers.

The cost of this transaction spotted by Whale Alert is only 0.01112565 BTC, which is ~$43.26. Now we give you numbers and you decide if cryptocurrencies are worth to endorse.

We made a research and found that banks are currently charging from 0.5 percents to 5 percents per international transaction for over $100 000 and what’s more, if the transfer is international there might be some hidden fees and inbound transaction fees for receiver, but we will not count any hidden or additional fees which may apply depending on transfer specifics to make everything more clear and simple.

By the way, Bank of America only shares the domestic and international transfers fee publicly (which is up to $45), but the magic happens in the sections 4 (our desired rate of return), 5 (fee may be waived depending on your account type or relationship)  and 6 (taxes and other third-party fees may apply).

Furthermore, just check how many fees you pay while using its services. Also, you can avoid monthly maintenance fees but then the conditions appear.



To be more specific, what “hidden fees” we talk might be visible in this table created by Timedoctor, find his full research here:

Hidden currency conversion fees when transferring $100,000 from Australia to the US, or from the US to Australia (assuming that the Australian bank is doing the currency conversion)

Cost to transfer $257 million via Bank

So, let’s start from bigger fee – 5 percents.

If bank would charge 5 percent commission per $257 000 000 international transactions then the bank wire fee would be $12 850 000. Doesn’t look realistic, right? Let’s do 0.5 percent.

If the bank would charge 0.5 percent commission per $257 000 000 international transactions then the bank wire fee would be $1 285 000. That’s more like it. But still. Speechless.

29 883 times more expensive

So even the lowest stated fee of 0.5 percent is still 29 883 times more expensive than a regular cryptocurrency transaction on the blockchain.

I actually don’t know what to say.

If you have competence for more exact calculations I really ask you to share it in the comment section below just to keep our crypto community as informative as possible.

Bonus

Just an additional calculation for international transfer via e-money service companies.

Sources:

• https://www.bankofamerica.com/foreign-exchange/wire-transfer.go

• https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/paypal-fees

• https://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/my-money/2014/07/17/5-cost-factors-to-consider-when-transferring-money-around-the-world

• https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/banking/wire-transfers-what-banks-charge/
• https://www.ofx.com/en-us/faqs/how-much-does-it-cost-to-send-money-internationally/
• https://www.bankofamerica.com/content/documents/deposits/service/pdf/Domestic-international-wire-transfers-info-sheet.pdf
• https://www.bankofamerica.com/deposits/account-rates-fees-faqs/
• https://www.bankofamerica.com/deposits/resources/personal-schedule-fees.go?request_locale=en_US
• https://www.timedoctor.com/blog/transferring-large-amounts-of-money-around-the-world-how-to-avoid-massive-hidden-fees/

Disclaimer: The research was created based on findings on the internet. Please do check our sources. The research is not oriented to slander the banking system. It is the informative presentation of facts we managed to find. We are not responsible for any mis-facts related to this article.

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