The Bitcoin Company has introduced its Remittances API, enabling swift cross-border payments to bank accounts in Mexico and Brazil, heralding a new era in international remittances. This move marks the company’s strategic expansion into global remittance services, with plans for further expansion into regions including the USA, Canada, Europe, Asia, and Africa.
In a press release dated March 22, Ben Price, founder and CEO of The Bitcoin Company, highlighted the inherent advantages of Bitcoin in enabling cheap, instant, inclusive, and global payments. He stated:
“Disrupting the remittance market is a key milestone in our roadmap to provide easy to use Bitcoin-native financial services and has always been a compelling application for the Bitcoin network. With Bitcoin, payments can be cheap, instant, inclusive, and global.”
Traditional Remittance Providers’ Hefty Fees
Brazil and Mexico represent significant markets dependent on inbound cross-border payments, traditionally facilitated by money transfer platforms such as Western Union, MoneyGram, Xoom, and Transferwise. These services work on top of sluggish and costly legacy banking infrastructure to facilitate international fund transfers.
According to data from the World Bank, remittance payments to Mexico and Brazil incur average costs of 3.01% and 4.59%, respectively, contributing to an international remittance cost averaging of 6.18%.
The Bitcoin Company’s Remittance API disrupts this landscape by offering low-cost, instantaneous, and round-the-clock cross-border payments. Price emphasizes the broken nature of current cross-border payment systems, citing the exploitative fee structures of traditional remittance providers. He states:
“Traditional remittance providers are taking advantage of the world’s most desperate populations by charging exorbitantly high fees for sending/receiving money. Cross border payments are now trivial with our new Remittances API that leverages the Bitcoin network. Our plans include expanding to more regions and currencies to service both business and consumer payments.”
Remittances API
According to the announcement, the Remittances API leverages the efficiency of the Bitcoin network to provide a cost-effective alternative to traditional banking channels. By interfacing with local payment networks in Mexico (SPEI) and Brazil (Pix), the API will ensure instantaneous deposit of funds into recipients’ bank accounts, bypassing the delays and high fees associated with legacy remittance services.
Notably, the company’s mission extends beyond mere disruption. The new product empowers developers to seamlessly integrate affordable, cross-border, instant payments into their applications through a simple API integration.
The Bitcoin Company’s Strategic Expansion
The launch of the Remittances API aligns with The Bitcoin Company’s broader vision of building user-friendly infrastructure that bridges Bitcoin with traditional financial systems. As part of their ongoing efforts, the company plans to introduce a range of infrastructure-focused services encompassing payments, exchanges, and rewards.
With the introduction of the Remittances API, The Bitcoin Company is poised to redefine the landscape of international remittances. It aims to offer a compelling alternative to traditional providers and pave the way for a more inclusive, efficient, and accessible bitcoin-powered financial ecosystem.
