Is the Time Finally Ripe for Bitcoin Remittances in Africa?
When the words Bitcoin and Africa appear in a sentence, the word remittance usually follows. When Bitcoin first hit the mainstream in 2013, its low-cost money transfer feature was hailed as the solution to the overly expensive remittance costs charged by the large money transfer operators (MTOs), Western Union and MoneyGram. This is especially true when....
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Nigeria is once again Sub Sahara Africa’s biggest recipient of remittances into the region where the money transfers went up by 6.2 percent to $45 billion, a new World Bank report has shown.
The Impact of Nigerian Policies on Remittances
According to the November 17, 2021 press release, this increase in the value of funds sent is in fact a rebound from the total remittances that were sent by Nigerians in the corresponding period last year. The statement partly attributes this increase to measures that were introduced by the country’s monetary authorities in the....
Bitsika Africa, a crypto startup operating out of Ghana and Nigeria, said Monday that it processed almost $40 million in remittances in 2020, up from just under $1 million the previous year. Founder and chief executive officer Atsu Davoh said that deposits accounted for $18.87 million of the total volume, with payouts making up $17.89 million. Internal peer-to-peer transfers made up $3.19 million of total volume, he added. Davoh did not reveal how much of the total volume constituted bitcoin (BTC)-denominated remittances. The CEO had not responded to questions sent to him at Press time.....
Tap Send, the creator of a remittances app of the same name, revealed it has raised $65 million in a Series B funding round. The fintech firm plans to use the funds to build a cheaper and faster cross-border money transfer platform. Remittances to Overlooked Countries The fintech startup behind the remittances app, Tap Send, recently said it has raised $65 million in a Series B funding round. According to the startup, the funds raised will be used to bolster remittances to the most overlooked countries in Africa and Asia. As stated in a Techcrunch report, Tap Send’s latest capital....
Another disruptive technology powered by the Blockchain is set to completely eliminate the outrageously high cost of remittances to Africa. Coin Telegraph Spoke to Kumar Gaurav, Cashaa’s co-founder & CEO, about how the application can solve Africa’s exorbitant cash transfer transaction costs. On average it costs 10-12% to wire cash to Africa, where there is an estimated 80% of the population without access to banking. This is compounded by the lack of a transparent exchange rate. Needless to say many African households depend on remittances from the diaspora. In fact, in some countries....
International remittance is ostensibly one of the most compelling use cases for bitcoin and digital currencies. Recorded remittances to Africa grew four-fold between 1990 and 2010 and have increased steadily since. The World Bank projects $39bn in remittances to sub-Saharan Africa this year. Yet with the continent's fast-growing middle class and tech-savvy youth population, the high cost of remitting to sub-Saharan Africa, particularly from within Africa, has brought the subject of financial inclusion under new light. Africa has some serious market potential for bitcoin companies;....