Former Kipochi CTO Explains Controversial M-Pesa Deal
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....
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Global bitcoin wallet service Kipochi has launched a product that allows people in Africa to send and receive bitcoins, plus convert them to and from the Kenyan currency M-Pesa. This will allow Kenyans to transfer money in an easier, faster and more cost effective way than is currently offered by banks and money transfer companies, such as Western Union and MoneyGram. Kipochi works on all mobile phones as it has SMS, USSD and HTML5 frontends, so there is no requirement for users to have the most up-to-date handsets. "We believe Bitcoin can truly help people in the developing world and....
If you are a member of Africa’s expanding diaspora, then Bitcoin could potentially hold the key to a better life for your friends and relatives in the motherland. Many nations on the African continent are dependent on money transfers from abroad known as remittances. In fact, it comprises a significant portion of the GDP of many African countries where 326 million people lack access to basic banking services. Among the Bitcoin related companies spearheading the movement are Kipochi, BitPesa and M-Pesa. In Swahili, Kipochi means wallet or purse - a fitting name for a Bitcoin wallet that....
Pelle Braendgaard is the co-founder of Kipochi, a UK-based, globally focused bitcoin wallet service started in March 2013. Kipochi notably integrated with Kenya-based mobile payments provider M-Pesa in July 2013, allowing its users to send and receive bitcoins before converting them to local currency. Braendgaard recently spoke at Inside Bitcoins NYC as part of the a keynote panel called "Bitcoin, Remittances and the Developing World". The panel included Epiphyte CEO Edan Yago and Let's Talk Bitcoin! co-host Stephanie Murphy, among others. After the session, CoinDesk spoke to Braendgaard....
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....