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Viewpoint: Bitcoin Investment Has Neglected the Developing World
indesk, the leading Bitcoin news site, stated in its latest quarterly report (The State of Bitcoin and Blockchain) that one of the most heralded areas of bitcoin disruption, “banking for the unbanked” has been the most disappointing area of interest when it comes to investment. Only 0.12 percent of Bitcoin investment has gone to Africa. Of course, this seems to fly in the face of the assertions, which you won’t miss in the various Bitcoin forums as well as news sites, that Bitcoin is the technology that the poor in the developing world have been waiting to afford them cheap financial services. According to Michael Fraser, reporting leader at Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CAAZ):
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- Technology
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The Exciting Promise of Digital Payments in Peru
With almost 80 percent of Peruvians lacking access to a bank account, it’s clear why Peru’s government has committed so many resources to advancing financial inclusion. However, roughly 65 percent have mobile phones. Recognizing this, the National Strategy focuses on connecting those who have phones to financial services through digital payments adapted to the needs of the population.
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- Technology
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Report: Tanzania, other developing countries fail to gain from digital wealth
A new World Bank report says while developed economies have immensely benefited from digital technologies, Tanzania and many other developing countries have not.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- employment, mobile finance
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Mobile Money Set to Disrupt International Remittances Market
Amdocs (Nasdaq:DOX), the leading provider of customer experience solutions, today released the results of a new survey examining consumer attitudes towards different ways of transferring money internationally. With the World Bank citing that the international remittance market is expected to reach $610 billion1 this year it represents an attractive, fast-emerging revenue stream for mobile financial services providers.
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- Technology
- Tags
- fintech, remittances
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Regulation Should Preserve Benefits of Digital Currency
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released a staff paper that examines the risks and use cases of virtual currencies such as bitcoin, recommending a balanced regulatory framework that will not stifle innovation.
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- Technology
- Tags
- regulations
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Inside Facebook’s Ambitious Plan to Connect the Whole World
The stern woman behind the press desk at the United Nations is certain I’ve made a mistake about the person I’m here to see. “Mr. Mark Zuckerberg?” she says. “Who’s he?” He’s an Internet executive, I tell her. He started Facebook. It’s the second week of the United Nations’ General Assembly. Several hundred reporters crowd into the press holding area. Nearby, on the main plaza, heads of state stroll by. In this place, it seems, Mark Zuckerberg might as well be Mark Smith. She checks her dog-eared schedule, then makes a call, enunciating into the receiver: “ZOO-ker-burg. Mark ZOO-ker-burg.” Silence. “Yes, the Facebook guy.” More silence, during which it occurs to me the UN is like the opposite of Facebook. If it had motivational posters on the wall, they’d read: Move slow and break nothing. Finally, she hangs up and turns back to me. Zuckerberg is on the program after all, she concedes, speaking just before German chancellor Angela Merkel.
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- Technology
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Mobile Money Fraud Hits Rural Kenya Residents Hard
Mobile money has made lives easier for most people in Africa, but this has not come cheap for the users with con tricksters forever devising means and ways of stealing the money. In Kenya, for example, con men are applying tricks that are more advanced than service providers and users.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Will India Go Cashless If Mobile Payments Take Off?
As soon as Binod Upadhyay arrives at a destination he immediately turns round to check if the customer is pulling out a wallet or a mobile phone.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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