ROUGHLY 10 million Filipinos work abroad and according to the World Bank they remit $33 billion a year. That makes the Philippines the third largest country for remittance behind India ($65bn) and China ($63bn).
A blockchain remittance app to transfer money from Hong Kong to the Philippines benefits roughly 200,000 Filipinos working in Hong Kong. Filipinos in Hong Kong, who often work as housekeepers and nannies, frequently send money back home. These workers collectively transfer about HK$4.4 billion (US$561 million) annually to family and friends back home.
A blockchain-based service to send money between Hong Kong and the Philippines is slashing remittance. A normal remittance from Hong Kong would cost a minimum of HK$18 plus additional fees. What used to be a long process of physically going to a remittance booth, queuing in line and filling out forms, is now easily and securely done over the mobile phone in just a few seconds.
It is currently available only for transfers between Hong Kong and the Philippines. Newly developed blockchain-based electronic wallet cross boarder remittance service employs Ant Financial’s Alipay HK and Filipino counterpart GCash, (operated by Globe Telecom) to transfer money internationally via smartphone in just seconds providing real-time money transfer between Hong Kong and the Philippines at a competitive exchange rate with much lower transaction fees. Standard Chartered Bank acts as the settlement bank for the transactions.
Blockchain, the digital ledger technology behind cryptocurrency bitcoin, provides a series of networks of databases that let users create, disseminate and store information securely and efficiently, eliminating the need for a central authority and providing greater transparency for transactions every step of the way.
