Bitcoin Remittances

Global remittances — money sent by workers in one country to family in another — represent one of the largest financial flows in the world. Over $800 billion is sent annually. For many families in developing economies, remittances are the primary source of income.

The traditional remittance industry extracts an enormous toll from these flows.

The global average fee for sending remittances is around 6-7%. A Salvadoran worker in the United States sending $500 home to family loses $30-35 to fees before it even arrives. A Nigerian worker sending $300 might lose $20. Multiplied across millions of transactions every month, these fees represent billions of dollars extracted from some of the world’s most economically vulnerable families.

Lightning changes this calculation entirely.

A Lightning payment from New York to El Salvador costs fractions of a cent in fees. It settles in seconds. It requires no bank account on either end — just a smartphone and a Lightning wallet. The worker sends $500. The family receives $499.99.

This isn’t a theoretical benefit. In El Salvador, since Bitcoin’s adoption as legal tender, Lightning-based remittance services like Strike have processed millions of dollars in transfers at near-zero fees. Families that previously lost 7-10% of every transfer are now receiving the full amount.

For the 1.4 billion unbanked adults globally, many of whom receive remittances from family abroad, Lightning isn’t a feature. It’s access to a financial system that wasn’t available to them before.

The numbers are simple. The implications are profound.

Tomorrow: a story — a Salvadoran family and the Lightning remittance.

— The Daily Bit