Bitcoin Forum

Cryptocurrency exchange Remitano has expanded beyond Asia to offer its bitcoin remittance services to millions of citizens in Africa.


The remittance industry has been expected to suffer great disruption at the hands of bitcoin since it’s inception. The global remittance industry has been valued at over $500 billion USD annually in recent years, yielding exorbitant profits for the middle-men who have monopolized the international circulation of money.

Remitano has recently announced that it will be expanding its services outside of Asia, with Nigeria, Kenya, and Tanzania. Remitano began its life a start-up in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, before incorporating in the African nation of Seychelles and being offered as a product under Babylon Solutions Limited. Remitano now provides remittance services to more than 10 different nations, including Vietnam, Malaysia, the United States, Australia, United Kingdom, China, India, and Ghana.

Remitano initially garnered attention for being the bitcoin exchange that experiences the most traffic in Vietnam, despite Vietnam’s notoriously unclear regulations when it comes to bitcoin. Vietnam first addressed the digital currency officially by issuing a warning in February 2014 stating that bitcoin wasn’t recognized as legal tender, nor covered by commercial or consumer legislation. In October of 2014 three bitcoin traders were arrested, but the request for charges was rejected by the judge as “[bitcoin had] not been subject to any legal regulations”. At present, financial institutions are forbidden from owning and transacting in bitcoin.


The Vietnamese ban on financial institutions from transacting in bitcoin has not prevented businesses such as Remitano from flourishing. In addition to Remitano, Bitcoin Vietnam has achieved success as an exchange, operating in partnership with Israeli company Bit2C for several years. As Remitano and Bitcoin Vietnam facilitate a marketplace that allows private individuals to transact in bitcoin, the companies themselves have managed to evade operating outside of Vietnamese cryptocurrency regulations.

The bitcoin-based remittance industry has started to gain traction in Africa. Last year theRemitano Expands Bitcoin Remittance Services Into Nigeria, Kenya, and Tanzania African economy lost over $60 billion USD to remittance fees, illustrating the imperative need for an alternative solution to the current mainstream remittance industry. Recently, the largest pan-African wallet provider, Bitmari, applied for an international remittance license with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. Competition between remittance providers in Africa like Remitano and Bitmari will reap further benefits for local economies.

The expansion of companies like Remitano further embed bitcoin into the normal, daily lives of citizens across the globe, signaling that for some countries, mainstream bitcoin adoption may not be far away.

https://news.bitcoin.com/remitano-expands-bitcoin-remittance-services-into-nigeria-kenya-and-tanzania/

They'll still be paying higher fees than they need to with Bitcoin. Other cryptos are far cheaper. Still, this is a promising start to help migrant workers' families get more of the funds their kin send. Hopefully, the thieves that are Western Union will be forced to reduce their fees massively or face annihilation.

I really think that bitcoin is gaining traction as far as remittances is concern. Although the high transaction fees is the reason the migrant workers will still choose to used WU to send money hack home, In a few years when this roadblock have been resolved, bitcoin as remittances will grow and can probably overtook WU. Asia will boom with the remittance business because we all know that we have so many migrants coming from that region. And now Remitano has expanded its bitcoin remittances to cover Africa as well, which will help a lot of workers abroad to send money to their relatives in Africa with ease.

Africa is representing a good and big market for Bitcoin and I am sure that soon we can see new start-ups sprouting on this area for Bitcoin related businesses. I am not really that familiar with the economic going-ons in Nigeria but I understand that there are many people in this country that are also into the MMO industry which is a good ground for the cryptocurrency market.

Africa is a fresh market for cryptocurrency to flourish and with some countries experiencing some upheavals and conflicts Bitcoin can have a good role to play for these people. I heard somewhere that a humanitarian agency is now using the blockchain technology to distribute financial aids to war-affected families.

Soon there would be exchanges based in Africa and in Nigeria.

Only thing that I see that still a hindrance for African nation is infrastructure. I think this should be developed first, before we can see a actual booming of this remittances or even bitcoin usage in this part of the continent. There are also more pressing issues next to be tackled first like basic needs of the citizens (shelter, food, water and clothing).

How many countries has been added in the 2018? and how many countries all together do we have remitano now?