Move Over M-Pesa, Bitcoin's zSIM is The New Kid On the Block
It has always been a source of immense pride for me to have been part of the group of conference participants who were there at the initial launch of M-Pesa, back in 2006. Indeed, when I look at what M-Pesa has been able to do in the financial and technological sectors in Kenya, and then Africa, I feel a sense of pride to have been there at the dawn of a financial revolution. Introducing the zSIM. However with the arrival of the zSIM from bitSIM, it now seems that even M-Pesa must now give way to this new kid on the block. bitSIM has announced the release of a new thin card that can be....
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In one of our previous articles, we have discussed about mobile payments and how its adoption is years behind schedule. We also discussed the need for new mobile banking and payment technologies to address not just the developed market, but also the developing markets. If these mobile based services are capable of running on any mobile phone, it can make a huge difference to both the company and the customers alike. It looks like we are reaching there sooner than expected. Following the success of M-Pesa and BitPesa, there is a new kid on the block aiming to revolutionize Bitcoin storage....
Kenyans using popular money transfer service M-Pesa to get bank loans can longer do so. The bank involved suddenly cut the service following a legislation update. M-Pesa Loans ‘On Hold For Now’. Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) gave neither warnings nor comments on the move. The decision followed the enactment of the country’s new Banking (Amendment) Act 2016....
Safaricom, the mobile network operator behind M-Pesa has released an Application Programming Interface (API) for all developers who want to create solutions tied directly into their payment systems. M-Pesa is Kenya’s largest mobile money service and world’s most successful to date. About 43 percent of Kenya’s GDP flows through the service and close to 70% of Kenya’s adult population has an account for the service. Safaricom’s website reads: “The new M-PESA platform dubbed G2 (for M-PESA 2nd generation platform) offers versatile integration capabilities that our development partners can....
In a recent article appearing on SecurityWeek.com, the author David Holmes discussed virtual currency around the world in all its current forms. The article also discussed M-PESA, an SMS based system through which mobile subscribers in Kenya and a growing number of countries can send virtual money through a mobile operator's phone number. Either by circumstance or happenstance, I have been privileged to watch M-PESA grow from its soft launch at the Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi in late 2006 to what it has become right now. Though this can at times sound clichéd, M-PESA has revolutionized....
Bitcoin startup Kipochi struggled to maintain its bitcoin service in Kenya, after the country’s largest mobile operator Safaricom terminated the firm’s operation with Kopo Kopo, popular Kenya-based merchant payment service provider. Kipochi’s service enabled users of M-pesa, a mobile phone-based money transfer, financing and micro-financing service launched by Vodafone for Vodacom and Safaricom to trade and receive remittances in Bitcoin using the M-Pesa network. Instead of securing partnership directly with M-Pesa however, the Kipochi team launched their service through Kopo Kopo, which....