Yesterday, Dallas-based money transfer company MoneyGram announced a new partnership with San Francisco-based cryptocurrency company Ripple (formerly Ripple Labs). The partnership will allow MoneyGram to test a new, cryptocurrency-based approach to processing international transfers, and is aimed at reducing the high costs for moving money across borders. Given the steady rise of the global remittance […]

A new partnership between Indonesian bitcoin exchange Bitcoin.co.id and the Indomaret convenience store chain is set to bring cryptocurrency payments to over 10,000 new locations in the Southeast Asian country. The new service is powered by payment gateway iPaymu, giving bitcoin transactions a serious credibility boost in the region. Using the new system, Indonesians will […]

The first bitcoin exchange in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) opened today, bringing a fully licensed digital currency commercial brokerage to Dubai. The exchange is a branch office of Australia-based bitcoin exchange igot, and is the first stage of a planned expansion into the Middle East and Asia. Although there will be a small staff […]

Online merchant service and payment processor Payza announced yesterday that will be bringing a new “withdraw funds by bitcoin” option to users in 190 countries. The system effectively makes Payza into a bitcoin brokerage, much like Coinbase, allowing users to instantly buy bitcoin. Although the price is locked at time of payment, purchases are subject […]

If Lamassu has its way, bitcoin ATMs may soon be seen as more than a novel way to purchase digital currency. The ATM maker has released a new, open-source software platform today via GitHub that allows ATM owners to set their machines up as airport-style cash exchanges, bill-payment kiosks and remittance terminals, in addition to […]

It’s hardly a secret that Africa’s remittance fees are some of the highest in the world. In April, a report by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) revealed that large money-transfer companies like Western Union were charging huge rates in some of Africa’s poorest nations, with average fees of around 12% for sending $200. The ODI […]

If there is a single real-world problem that bitcoin could solve, it’s the overwhelming cost of sending money internationally. According to investors like Barry Silbert, it may be bitcoin’s role as an alternative remittance provider that catapult the cryptocurrency into the mainstream. At the moment, remittance fees average between 7 to 9%, creating a real […]

Make no mistake: Goldman Sachs doesn’t particularly like Bitcoin. But that doesn’t mean the investment banking giant doesn’t see some potential in the virtual currency. In a report published yesterday, Goldman’s chief markets economist Dominic Wilson noted that Bitcoin is not a traditional currency, and is unlikely to ever work as one. Without state control […]