A social currency exchange website launched in Hungary

After taxi drivers and hotel owners, money-changers can also start dreading social business. Following the pattern of Uber and Airbnb, the recently launched Midrate.com aims to introduce commission-free currency exchange. Origo.hu believes that the name – midrate – suggests what they have to offer.

You can enter their website with your Facebook profile and give the type of currency you’d like to buy or sell with only a few clicks. You can think outside the euro-forint relation because you could even buy Icelandic krona for Croatian kuna – if your demand meets with a similar supply.

Regarding the trade in Budapest, it’s probably mostly about euro exchange, because not too many people have joined Midrate so far. One client wanted to buy kuna, but the transaction lasted for one week, so if you’re in urgent need of foreign currency, you might want to get rare ones from different sources.

Origo tried to contact the Hungarian operators of the website, but they haven’t received answers yet. However, they managed to find out that the website and service was created by Midrate S.L., a company based in Pamplona, Spain.

The business was started in the summer of 2014. It arrived in Hungary last summer, but its popularising campaign only started in the beginning of this year. They have a Hungarian website and Facebook page, but that’s about it when it comes to information about the Hungarian operators and the parent company.

One thing is for sure: the service is completely free of charge, and the big innovation lies in the creation of a joint platform for those who want to buy and sell currency. The website calculates the desired sum based on the current midrate, and then lists the offers, out of which you can choose the one you like the most to start the actual business (you see the FB profile picture of your potential business partners).

So the sale happens between the two people, the company does not interfere with the transfer, it only mediates. Since these are cash cases, there’s no limitation of the offers, because the form determines the values of the business and, realistically, most people don’t walk around with millions of euros in their pockets.

According to the operational policy, the company does not ask for any type of fee, but they don’t exclude that this could change in the future. This means that if the service was to flourish, and crowds were to use it, they would ask for some commission for the use of the website or the downloading of the mobile application.

This fee will probably be less than the exchange rate gap used by money-changers so that joining Midrate would still be worth it. Origo promises to update the article as soon as they get answers from the company.

Photo: www.facebook.com/Midrate

ce: bm

Source: http://www.origo.hu/