SBI Remit, the money transfer division of Japanese financial services company SBI Group is partnering with BitPesa to turn the bitcoin blockchain into an enterprise rail that permits its half a million users to send money cheaply and quickly to Africa.
Previously money transfers from Japan to Africa depended on a complex web of banks and middlemen moving yen into U.S. dollars or euros, and then into the relevant African currency of the recipient – with over 40 currencies presently in use across the continent. Using
Through BitPesa’s framework, which uses the bitcoin blockchain in conjunction with other services to create new high-speed trading pairs, SBI Remit will be able to offer relatively fast transfers at much reduced rates than previously obtainable.
BitPesa’s Revolutionary African Remittance Technology
Where prior money transfer protocols required wait times of anything from 24 hours to seven days, BitPesa’s bitcoin rail framework enables remittances to be settled in as little as one hour. According to SBI Remit director Nobuo Ando, BitPesa’s possession of multiple international licenses will substantially aid African commerce and trade with Japan by adding an important layer of accountability and transparency.
Commenting on the existing situation of remittances to Africa, he said:
Many companies are doing trade with African countries and they are suffering from the high cost and the slow speed and not very precise administration. So this is the market that we would like to go in, together with Bitpesa.
By utilising BitPesa’s bitcoin-based treasury tools, SBI hopes to key into a lucrative seam of Japan-Africa trade which includes cosmetics, electronics and used cars. The partnership will for the first time provide direct currency pairs between the yen and the national currencies of Nigeria, Ghana, Morocco, Kenya, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and the DRC.
Previously, the cost of remittances averaged about 7 percent of the transaction value, but often added up to much more, with long wait times and unreliable service. After removing middlemen from the process using BitPesa’s tools, this comes down to about 3 percent of the transaction value, with the added bonus of being immutable, reliable and relatively fast.
SBI’s Blockchain Technology Quest
While SBI may be a first-time bitcoin user under this partnership, the company has a well-documented interest in using blockchains and cryptocurrencies to aid cross-border payments.
In 2016, the company partnered with XRP founding company Ripple to form SBI Ripple Asia, a payments-focused organisation helping banks in Asia to execute real-time cross-border transactions at relatively low costs. Earlier this year, it launched a 50 billion yen fund to support blockchain development and artificial intelligence startups over the next ten years.
Forbes reports that SBI Group has investment positions in 20 digital assets companies including bitFlyer, Templum, R3, coolBitX, Veem and its native crypto exchange SBI Virtual Currencies.
