Ghanaian startup hopes “ethical pricing” prompts surge in African Bitcoin remittances
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Beam, founded in October of last year, by Nikunj Handa and Falk Benke, was established based on the realisation of how many problems existed in the payments industry in Ghana.
An estimated three million Ghanaians live in the diaspora, with US$120 million remitted to the country in 2013 according to the World Bank. Remittance flows to and within Africa approach US$40 billion in total, but Beam believes the cost of remitting money is too high.
“We started looking into how using Bitcoins could solve these problems, ran a Bitcoin brokerage for a while, and finally settled on Beam,” Handa told Disrupt Africa.
The startup facilitates Bitcoin remittances to Ghana, allowing Ghanaians in the diaspora to send money home using the digital currency.
Source: Disrupt Africa (link opens in a new window)
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