Remember the pizza story? On May 22, 2010, a guy named Laszlo Hanyecz bought two Papa John’s pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins. Back then, that was 25 dollars. No one could have imagined that, a few years later, this would become one of the most effective ways to send money to family and friends abroad.

Yes—exactly like that. Cryptocurrency as a way to transfer funds to another person is no longer fantasy; it’s a practical reality. And here’s why it works better than traditional banks.

Traditional bank transfers are a pain. If you send a thousand pounds from London to Los Angeles, the bank will charge a 10–15 pound commission. Plus, processing takes several business days. Fintech services like Wise helped a bit (commission of 1.5–4 pounds), but not everyone has access to them.

Why do banks take so much? Because your money goes through a bunch of intermediaries. The SWIFT network, intermediary banks, currency conversion—each one takes its cut. On average, a bank deducts 2–4% just for the transfer, plus fees from intermediary banks, plus a margin on the exchange rate. In the end, it’s expensive and slow.

And cryptocurrency? Completely different story. I saw a Reddit post where a guy sent money via his ETH address, received a payment in USDC, and the commission was just 0.008869 dollars. Processing time—two seconds. Two. Seconds. It’s simply incomparable to Western Union or a bank transfer.

Another case: a guy needed to send money home for repairs. Western Union required 10–12 dollars for every 200 sent. Plus, exchange-rate fluctuations added another 1–2% commission. With an MTO or online banking, they waited 2–3 days and paid 3–5% of the amount. PayPal took about 10%. Wow. He used Stellar (XLM)—practically zero fees and instant. Even accounting for the in-and-out steps, it still ended up much cheaper.

How does it work? Simple. You need a crypto wallet—either an exchange account or a separate wallet can be used. The main thing is to choose a trusted platform with good security. Buy cryptocurrency (bitcoin, ether, stablecoins like USDT or USDC—the latter are better because they don’t swing in price). Get the recipient’s wallet address, check it carefully (a mistake will be irreversible!), send it. That’s it.

What to pay attention to:

Double-check the addresses. Seriously, this is the most important. One mistake—and the money is gone forever.

Use stablecoins if you don’t want to risk volatility. USDT or USDC hold their value at 1 dollar.

Factor in gas fees. They differ across different blockchains. Solana will cost pennies (about 0.00025 dollars per transaction), while Bitcoin is more expensive.

Enable two-factor authentication on your exchange and wallet.

Update your wallet software to avoid vulnerabilities.

Cryptocurrency solves problems that banks couldn’t solve for decades. In Venezuela, people receive transfers in BTC and USDT to protect themselves from hyperinflation. In El Salvador, bitcoin has officially been accepted as a means of payment since 2021—this helped people gain access to financial services.

For people who don’t have documents and can’t open an account at a traditional bank, cryptocurrency is the way out. Decentralized exchanges don’t require KYC.

Migrants in the UAE or Singapore send money to India, the Philippines, Nigeria. Fiat channels take 2–5 business days and up to 10% commission. The blockchain is seconds and pennies.

During conflicts, when banking systems break down (as in Ukraine or Afghanistan), cryptocurrency helps people get emergency funds instantly.

Vitalik Buterin donated 50 trillion SHIB tokens (1.2 billion dollars at the time) to India’s relief fund during COVID-19. Fast, without intermediaries, directly helping those in need.

Cryptocurrency volatility? Use stablecoins. Delays due to network congestion? Pay more for priority. The wrong address? Check three times, use QR codes.

One important thing—taxes. In the United States, the IRS considers crypto to be property, so if the price has increased since you bought it, there will be capital gains tax. In the United Kingdom, HMRC taxes it if the profit is above the annual allowance. In Japan, it’s a progressive rate. Singapore doesn’t tax capital gains. The UAE doesn’t have any tax on personal income. Everywhere is different, so check your jurisdiction.

Keep records of all transactions—it will help during a tax audit.

That’s how cryptocurrency to transfer money to another person is a real, working solution. Faster, cheaper, and more accessible. And every year it gets easier.