The banking behemoth has released statistical data proving that Bitcoin transfers are nearly 6000x cheaper than traditional methods that use fiat currencies at bank’s own terms and exchange rates. This report will lay to rest arguments that claim Bitcoin transactions are costlier.
The Bank of America’s report indicates that it costs $45 on average to perform an international money transfer, compared with a mere $0.46 for a similar transaction using Bitcoin network. The difference is due to the manner in which the transfer of value takes place. While Bitcoin relies on its own network of nodes, Bank of America has to route the payment through FedWire’s money transfer network, which is explained as follows.
“FedWire fees are estimated based on the size of the individual transactions and total volume of payments, and an additional ‘incentive fee’ discount can be applied for ‘transfers that exceed 60% of a customer’s historic benchmark volume’. US banks can pay as low as $0.32 in fees for transactions over $90,000 – but at least according to publicly available figures, customer fees do not benefit from this discount. By contrast, a Bitcoin transaction worth $90,000 would cost only 75 cents, according to Earn.com data which puts recommended fees at eight satoshis per byte.”
Issues faced by the Bank of America in adopting Bitcoin
Despite these revelations, there are several legal and regulatory hurdles that restrain Bank of American from adopting Bitcoin straightaway. Crypto Investors hope that regulation brings about a change in the traditional banking system in favor of using Bitcoin and other blockchain networks for transparent and efficient fund transfers.