Small Islands, big problems: Can Bitcoin fix this? Cointelegraph Cape Verde video
Cointelegraph recently traveled to Cape Verde, West Africa, to explore whether Bitcoin (BTC) could be a tool for progress.
In the latest on-the-ground video documentary from Cointelegraph, global reporter Joe Hall investigates the remittances market, cash economies, and the challenges and opportunities faced by small island nations worldwide.
Cape Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island nation in the central Atlantic Ocean. Cape Verde comprises 10 main islands and several smaller islets, sitting 570 kilometers (350 miles) west of Senegal, West Africa.
Hall discovers that more Cape Verdeans live abroad than on the country’s islands. Due to its small land mass, it struggles to cultivate and export goods abroad. The islanders of Cape Verde, especially Sal, rely on tourism to stimulate the economy, and relatives living abroad send money home.
The combination of a tourism and remittance-based economy presents multiple issues. Due to the presence of tourists year-round, Sal uses three currencies: the local Escudo, the U.S. dollar, and the Euro, although Hall discovered it’s also possible to pay in British pounds. Mastercard and Visa charge upward of 4% for transaction fees in stores, which merchants often pass on to customers.
Western Union and MoneyGram charge customers as much as 15% for remittances to send money across borders. The high remittance costs act like a tax on the higher incomes of Cape Verdean workers living abroad.
The Cape Verde cash economy is also hamstrung by high ATM and bank access fees, as well as strict opening and closing hours. Cape Verdean banks close at 5:00 pm local time on the islands, and during bank holidays, ATMs often run out of cash for withdrawal, presenting further economic
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