The collapse of the FTX empire didn’t just set in motion a crypto market downturn. The unraveling of FTX’s misuse of customer funds also exposed the risks of using crypto wallets controlle
Eric Velasquez Frenkiel had a seemingly simple thought when visiting his family in the Philippines, impressed by the cashless economy that had formed. Instead of sending money to his family once a yea
The remittance inflows to sub-Saharan Africa over the past decade have been on an upward trajectory since 2020; last year, it increased by more than 6% to $45 billion. However, the steady rise of remi
Six months after raising $250 million, Papaya Global is making a key acquisition to expand its cloud-based HR and payroll platform globally on the heels of major surge in remote working. The Isra
Agency banking is big business in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa. It involves agents or merchants, who act as human ATMs, offering financial services such as transfers, savings and payouts to the unde
NALA, a Tanzanian cross-border payments company that recently pivoted from local to international money transfers, said Thursday it has raised $10 million in a new fundraising round. The seed round is
Is cryptocurrency an effective replacement for remittances? No, at least not yet.
Cross-border remittances — when people living and working abroad send money back home to friends and family — continues to be a huge part of how those living in developing countries, off t
Chipper Cash, an African cross-border payments company, has raised $150 million in a Series C extension round led by Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX. The investment comes ba
Crypto has already revolutionized remittances in unstable, conflict-ridden places. Afghanistan presents a textbook use case for cryptocurrencies in failed states.
According to the World Bank, it is more expensive to send money to sub-Saharan Africa than to any region in the world. It is also the most expensive region to send money from. In Q1 2020, people spent
According to a McKinsey report, the total number of mobile money services worldwide was 282 in 2017, with more than half of those operating in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2020, these numbers increased si
Sending money from the U.S. to Nigeria can be a painstaking process. For remittance platforms like Western Union, it will cost a transfer fee and take between one to five business days for money sent
Meet Sendmi, a fintech startup that is launching today in the Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt SF. Sendmi works pretty much like a 401k or a Flexible Spending Account. But instead of saving m
International money transfer startup TransferWise’s debit card is now available in Australia and New Zealand, with a Singapore launch expected by the end of this year as the company expands its pres
When it comes to financial services in emerging markets, remittances — people sending money to each other across international borders, often not to established bank accounts — continues t
Facebook is pulling away from its ambitions to provide peer-to-peer money transfers via Messenger in Europe. Today, the company announced that it would be discontinuing the service — which let i
If Bloomberg and the New York Times are to be believed, later this year Facebook will introduce a cryptocurrency which will allow WhatsApp users to send money instantly. Yes, that’s right: Faceb
Ant Financial, the financial services behemoth affiliated with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, has made its first big move into Europe. It’s acquired London-headquartered payments company Worl
TransferWise, the billion-dollar valued startup that reduces the cost of cross-border payments, has taken a big step to globalizing its service after it opened an Asia Pacific office in Singapore. Th
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