One of the most obvious applications for Bitcoin is in international money transfers. Traditional money transfer networks like Western Union and MoneyGram are slow and expensive. A variety of companies have been building competitors based on Bitcoin.
Rebit (Philippines): Rebit.ph is a service of Satoshi Citadel Industries, a Philippines-based holding company for bitcoin-related ventures. Rebit aims to provide a comparable service, at a significantly lower rate, by leveraging a superior process that the bitcoin platform enables. Rebit accepts bitcoin from the sender and then delivers Philippine pesos to the recipient. The bitcoin network allows Rebit to send funds safely and quickly, without incurring hefty fees from banks, Western Union, MoneyGram, or other remittance providers.
Veem (US): Veem is a Payment Service Provider (PSP) which enables businesses and payment platforms to send and receive payments in local currency via a simple, frictionless method, using the blockchain as a new settlement rail.
Bitspark (Hong-Kong): The Hong-Kong based company offers an end to end blockchain powered remittance services.
CoinPip (Singapore): With Coinpip, the user can send money safely and quickly using blockchain technology to countries like China, Philippines, Indonesia & India. The user can log in and simply enter the recipient’s email-id, currency & amount. The company charges a flat fee of 2% only.
5.BitPesa (Africa): BitPesa for businesses provides a simple way to send and collect payments to and from Africa for small businesses. The employer can send money to their employees, distributors, or suppliers in Africa with one easy payment from nearly anywhere in the world. Payments are processed in a day, minimizing FX risk.
Of course, $70 million is still a tiny share of the global market for international money transfers. But people are betting that lower fees and faster transactions will allow companies like Rebit to expand their market share over time.
