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Are the exchange rates of each country a factor in the worth of a Bitcoin? Is the use of Bitcoin similar to traveling to another country and having a exchange rate between paper monies?
Basically, are bitcoins affected by the exchange rates of each country or the web exchange?
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Bitcoin follows very closely to USD and RMB, because US and China are the biggest players in the bitcoin market now. You can see the trade charts here: http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/volumepie/
Hence US and China exchange rates will affect the worth of Bitcoin.
In regards to travelling, the merchant accepting Bitcoin will list prices in their local currency. If you pay with Bitcoin, they will use the exchange rate found on one of the exchange networks (e.g. mtgox)
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In this situation I can only give my own experience.
The exchange rates most certainly affect my decision on which exchange I would use to wire money to to make a purchase.
Is the USD weak against GBP? I would wire to an exchange which only works in USD and converts all money at market rate.
Is the EUR weak against the GBP but USD is strong on the GBP?? I would wire to an exchange which converts to EUR at market.
So yes it does cause some peripheral effects, if everyone is doing the same as me it will cause an effect in the value against specific fiat currency.
Im in the UK for reference.
I hope this at least partially answers your question.
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Theoretically if the Bitcoin market was 100% efficient the exchange rate of fiats should be the same in Bitcoin pricing. That is definitely not always the case, and if someone has a global bank accounts they may be able to take advantage of these arbitrage opportunities.
In the last 2 years this gab has tightened which is expected. Here is a current example
Looking at the Canadian dollar. (Ignoring MTGOX)
Virtex = 875 CAN to buy 1 bitcoin BtcStamp = 861 USD buy 1 Bitcon
CAN To USD conversion 90.5 CAN to USD
All prices as of the time of this post. (Ignoring commission and conversion charges)
So if you bought 10 Bitcoin in Canada = $8750 CAN invested Sell in the USA 10 Bitcoin = $8610 USD Convert to CAN dollars at 0.91 = $9461 CAN dollars
So you would have a $710 profit (Approx 8%) bringing the funds back to Canada less commission. DO this enough and the spread should theoretically tighten to not be profitable.
