What is the best crypto to cross borders?
Digital nomads are now criss-crossing the world in search of their next place to explore. All telecommuters need these days is an internet connection and the world is their oyster. So what about crypto enthusiasts? Can you travel the world with cryptocurrency?
When the dust from the collective Covid experience settles, we will all adapt to a new world order. Many of us worked at home during the depths of the pandemic. This made company directors realize that we don’t all need to commute into a city centre. And they didn’t have to pay the big bucks for a trendy downtown office. Phew. It’s working in your pyjamas!
Another thing we have solved is that we don’t have to be at home to work. We can take our laptops and go to a cafe. Or the beach. Or live in a van for months on end. We could go to a Greek island for six months and work there. Or living in a Tongan village. Or in a high-rise in New York.
Welcome to the life of a digital nomad! There are even countries trying to attract this new workforce with digital nomad visas, so nomads earn money abroad but spend it locally.
There are job boards specifically for digital nomads. And finally, there are home-swapping sites for digital nomads who want to spend an extended vacation in each other’s homes while working remotely so they have a place to return to after an adventure.
Digital nomads and the crypto dream
It’s almost as if we are suddenly limitless. And this is the fantasy of the crypto endgame. A seamless world, where we can use crypto as a universal currency.
Although this is the dream, the reality is a bit more jarring.
We are at the beginning of traveling the world using crypto. It can be quite clumsy in practical terms. But the journey of 1,000 miles starts with the first step.
It is the ethos behind crypto that keeps the dream alive. Clayton Roche is Head of Community and Communications at UMA. “One thing I really like about crypto is that I’m its custodian. This means that no matter what country I visit, and no matter what crazy things my home country may do with its banks, I’m sure I have access to my own funds. This is the revolution in my opinion. Banks and centralized exchanges are a useful conduit for funds, but ultimately I try not to expose more assets than necessary to traditional financial institutions.”
Also, using crypto is fun, no matter where you are in the world. Roche says: “I often give tips or other payments in crypto when I have made a connection with a person. For example, after a private walking tour in Barcelona, I tipped the guide in $UMA tokens. This is a great way to get people on board crypto!”
Digital nomads: How to set yourself up
Taariq Lewis is the founder of Volume. He says that if he were a digital nomad, he would travel to Japan and use a Visa-linked crypto card for all purchases. “My crypto of choice would be Bitcoin because of its price stability. This is the future of money because as a digital nomad I want my digital assets to be with me and without limitation.”
He says the best way to travel through multiple countries using Crypto is with a Crypto Visa card offered by any credible cryptocurrency exchange. “Moving savings to Crypto is as easy as opening a RobinHood account or a cryptocurrency exchange account funded by a bank account. With a Visa card, it goes anywhere you want to be.”
Lewis’ tip for paying with crypto on the go is to use Paloma’s automation services. “If your crypto balances fall below a certain level, you can automatically top up your wallet so you never have to worry about refueling your exchange account.”
Go to crypto-friendly countries
Claudiu Minea is co-founder and CEO of SeedOn. “If I were a digital nomad myself, I would go and explore Dubai. This is because Dubai’s jurisdiction is incredibly encouraging and supportive of crypto startups due to its significant potential to decentralize the current payment system as we know it today.
Simon Furlong is co-founder of Geode. “I would probably go to the countries that are most friendly to cryptocurrencies. At the moment this could be countries such as Singapore, Portugal or Switzerland. I think this is the future of money. Crypto offers tremendous flexibility while traveling, as internet access is essentially ubiquitous in today’s world, and blockchain networks never shut down. There is no need to deal with traditional cross-border payment systems or depend on transactions that can take days to go through. With the increased convenience, privacy and security offered, digital nomads benefit greatly from adopting crypto. So I think it’s natural to assume that it will continue to improve and grow into the future.”
Furlong’s hot tip is to use crypto as a way to pay for travel even where possible. For example, Travala.com accepts crypto as a payment method for booking hotels and flights.
Preferred crypto for digital nomads
Minea says the most preferred cryptocurrencies that a digital nomad should consider are the most popular and stable, and not volatile, diversifying across BTC, ETH, USDT, USDC and BNB. Although this selection has shown some volatility in price performance, “in the long run, they have proven to be some of the most reliable and trustworthy cryptocurrencies.”
In the future, Minea definitely expects a mass-adopted cryptocurrency payment system worldwide. But it is risky. “El Salvador was the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. Bitcoin’s prices fell due to the bearish trend, causing El Salvador’s reserves to plummet, putting the country in a potential debt of $1 billion.
Mass adoption by citizens did not occur as expected. “What will happen in the future with El Salvador will either be a success story for Bitcoin encapsulation in the country’s economy. Or, it will be a tough lesson that we can all learn from.”
Digital nomads and crypto: the risks
Elisha John Koh is Chief Operating Officer for Web3Auth. “Some exchanges like Crypto.com also have designated credit cards for users to use crypto directly, much like traditional banks. However, users have to risk being banned from their accounts or having withdrawals frozen, as these centralized platforms control these wallets. This happened with Celsius and Voyager when they became insolvent.”
Losing or forgetting a seed set is the biggest problem you will have when traveling with crypto. “No one will be able to help and the crypto is gone forever. Around $545 million worth of digital assets have been lost this way, which is really crazy if you think about it.”
With Web3Auth, “users also don’t have to worry about forgetting their seed phrases, as they can now use their twitter or google logins for multi-factor authentication to access their wallet or reset forgotten seed phrases.”
Koh says that while things are returning to normal post-pandemic, it has shown the power of remote working and that physical offices are not really as important as we once thought.
“Crypto transcends geographic boundaries, and borders continue to open. As travel becomes easier, crypto will inevitably be adopted as the technology continues to evolve. However, for adoption to occur at scale, access to and using crypto is made more secure and seamless.”
Digital nomads: Crypto-friendly backwaters
Roche says there are a few countries where you can only convert crypto to local cash. “I saw USDT for trading on a currency exchange in Kyrgyzstan, for example, while in other countries you can only find peer-to-peer. A lot of crypto nomads I’ve met just ask each other, or post in online groups, to try to find someone others who will take the other side of their trade.”
Roche says to always have a backup when it comes to sources of money. “It’s easy to set up backups, but it can be amazing how a random event can happen. For example, I had a bank switch brands. This was while I was spending six months in Thailand and suddenly my debit card didn’t work. I suggest connecting with the local crypto community wherever you go. People will be able to tell you which gateways to use. Or they can connect you with someone who wants to do business with you.”
Roche also says to be aware that depending on how you live and manage your money, you can send up red flags to your bank. “Banks have their algorithms to find bad actors, and if you fall far enough outside their ‘normal person living in a home’ mold, they can possibly close your account. This happened to me when I sent a lot of money to the Philippines via my bank, despite the fact that I lived there. They closed my account.”
Digital Nomads: The is the Future
Mia Grodsky is director at YAP Global. She is a fan of using stablecoins on the road. “Something like FRAX, DAI or RAI has a long history of not losing its link, making it a suitable choice. There is a surprising amount of local mainstream businesses that now accept Bitcoin as payment, so storing your assets in stable and converting to Bitcoin when you need it will mitigate volatility.”
Grodsky says this is absolutely the future of money. “Right now, most travelers want to bring cash from their home country and convert it at an airport kiosk on arrival. There are large conversion fees and the risk of losing your money when you convert it. This can also make you a target if you’re not careful about saving it. We are starting to see banks develop digital currencies and since most people only have bank accounts in their home country, this could potentially open the door to global payments wherever you travel in the world.”
Simon Furlong: Advice when traveling with Crypto
-The first step would be to move your savings to an exchange, such as Coinbase or FTX.
-From there you can buy crypto, for example a stablecoin like USDC. It would not make sense to buy volatile assets like DOGE in this scenario.
– Transfer it to the wallet of your choice.
-Avoid leaving the money on the stock exchange. Instead, withdraw it to a hardware or web wallet. In this way, you do not depend on access being available for a specific exchange to send and receive.
-Remember that depending on the countries you will be traveling to, not all exchanges may be available. For this reason, an active VPN subscription can be a useful thing to have. For example, residents of many different countries can use Binance as their preferred exchange to buy, but it is not available from the US. If one of these people traveled in the US, and found themselves in need of additional crypto, they would not be able to access their account on Binance until they returned home. A VPN will allow them to access their account as normal and buy extra money while traveling anywhere in the world.
– Avoid traveling with backup copies of your wallet’s seed phrase. There is really no reason to do this. If your passphrase should ever fall into the wrong hands, there’s nothing all the two-factor authentication or passwords you’ve set up can do for you. Your money can be stolen with just that phrase and nothing else, so make sure it’s safe at home in a safe place that only you know.
-There are some countries where crypto may be against the law, such as in China or Vietnam.
To conclude
A world where we can be anywhere and use the same cryptocurrency all the way is tantalizingly close. Let’s all look forward to the day when we can pay with crypto all over the world, from a Vietnamese rickshaw to a Swiss ski lesson. Bring it!
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