| I have a feeling that international remittance is not as simple acquiring FOREX reserves. Often times you see international transfers from an Australian bank to a US bank taking 4 hops in between over peering banks. The process is complex. Because unlike domestic transfer where the central bank helps keep a ledger between banks, there is no "global ledger" internationally. So banks have to resort to "correspondant banking" which is why you see so many hops in international transfers. Bitcoin provides such global ledger. I don't think FOREX is the issue here. Instead of going through correspondent banking (many hops), 2 banks can simply send bitcoin to each other and immediately net off. Could you clarify if my understanding is incorrect? EDIT:
Here is a document on how VISA handles international payments http://www.bis.org/publ/cpss53p16.pdf 2.3.3 Clearing and settlement procedures
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Settlement is not carried out through Base II; Visa merely provides the data to allow settlement to be
carried out. For settlement in US dollars, Chase Manhattan Bank, New York, acts as the settlement
bank. For multicurrency settlement, Chase Manhattan Bank, London, acts as the settlement bank. All
members may hold their own settlement account with any other financial institution, such that all
requests for funds or payments are ultimately settled through the correspondent services of domestic
clearing and settlement systems.
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