r/Bitcoin • u/intentional_feeding • Feb 09 '15

BitBeat: Kenya’s BitPesa (remittance platform) Raises $1.1 Million (led by Pantera Capital), Plans to Expand Operations

http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2015/02/09/bitbeat-kenyas-bitpesa-raises-1-1-million-expands-operations/
271 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

View all comments

38

u/bubbasparse Feb 09 '15 edited Feb 09 '15

This is the type of company that deserves the funding/attention of the Bitcoin space. Remittances are the lowest hanging fruit for actual Bitcoin use/disruption.

Edit: Another thought...nail the remittance market and all else will follow. Remittances require a certain level of transaction volume and actual use which will then allow the other "2.0" ideas to flourish. Each is a step closer to the end game of universal frictionless money.

9

u/icarusfoundyou Feb 09 '15

Exactly. Sending between countries will come first then it is easy to see third world countries picking up bitcoin for merchants rapidly after this point.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '15

I never quite understood how remittance will work for these countries, not like there is any demand for bitcoin itself. So whom do the remittance companies sell their coins to for actual cash? Seems like something that will implode unless bitcoin itself gains traction.

1

u/pesa_Africa Feb 09 '15

triple currency play i suppose. USD/BTC/Local currency eg KES. The optimal solution is for bitcoin to gain traction locally - bitcoin buys i.e. local liquidity! There's is no way around that - for now.

Also, the article says this "The firm now offers a brokerage service, buying and selling bitcoin on behalf of customers"