The airport atm was 8%, which is truly crazy. The 2% for an ATM withdrawal is theft and 3% for foreign currency is that too. But banks be laughing all the way to the bank.

I'm sure that p2p with friends is better than any business though. Just need to make more friends all the time, which is anyway a great goal to have.

I do very much wonder about the rates at ATMs, those are absolutely insane and I suspect it's primarily scam/extortion victims using them.

But 4% isn't insanely high for a tourist if you imagine that my old bank would charge me 3% for a foreign currency transaction, or at least 2% for an ATM withdrawal. There are some businesses that will give me a 5% discount on using cash over card, so it could be worth it for me to buy cash at a 4% fee over a prepaid debit card at 0%.

Travel

Using a brick and mortar OTC brokerage in Montréal, Quebec

I wonder why the exchange rates are so insane with all the physical things (including the ATM I ran into on Tocumen terminal 2.)

Perhaps no one is using it? Was there anyone else there?