Biz Builder Mike

You can't sail Today's boat on Yesterdays wind - Michael Noel

transfers

Fintech Firms in Pakistan Continue to Receive In-Principle Approval from State Bank to Offer Digital Financial Services

Supported by an upcoming generation of talented tech professionals, the Fintech industry is evolving rapidly in Pakistan. Fintechs could begin to make major contributions to the Asian country’s nearly $400 billion GDP.

Professionals leading the country’s finance ministry and its reserve bank (the State Bank of Pakistan or SBP) are planning to introduce initiatives that will improve the Pakistani economy.

New companies or businesses now operating in the country’s Fintech space such as SadaPay aim to enable greater financial inclusion while offering innovative and user-friendly digital financial services.

As reported by the Business Times, Mutaher Khan, an IT worker who’s been following the growth of the Fintech sector, revealed that they’ve seen over a dozen firms obtaining in-principle approval from the SBP in order to provide different types of financial services. These include establishing digital commerce gateways and bill payments facilities.

Khan claims that payments, bills and money transfers are some of the key areas where there’s considerable activity, along with a shift towards mobile and Internet banking – which may have accelerated following the COVID-19 outbreak.

Khan, who’s working on a directory for the Pakistani technology industry, called DataDarbaar.com, where you can obtain all the information on domestic startups and new technologies, noted that a lot of the growth on this front is being driven and supported by telco-backed Fintech apps, such as JazzCash and Easypaisa.

Khan confirmed that these apps have acquired a significant user base via their agent-based network that has now penetrated some of the most remote areas in Pakistan. He explained that  the same over-the-counter or OTC transactions have now been digitized. Meanwhile, there are traditional Pakistan banks that are also developing a strong online presence so that they can remain competitive in this fast-evolving Fintech space, Khan revealed.

In another update from the Business Times, the news outlet reported that there might be some scope for Pakistan and Singapore to work on Fintech projects and the broader tech industry as well. Singapore is now home to a major Fintech sector so there could be a lot that Pakistan might be able to learn from these initiatives.

An industry professional suggested that these collaborations might be as simple as knowledge exchange programs, which has become quite popular due to events like the Singapore Fintech Festival (SFF) where people are able to participate in masterclasses conducted by experienced business owners.

According to industry professionals, there could be a major investment opportunity for investors looking to establish some type of operation in Pakistan. Golden Gate Ventures and Stripe Asean are working on some projects, however, there’s still a lot of room for more growth and development.

It’s worth noting that Pakistan still faces many socioeconomic challenges with the vast majority of the nation’s population not having access to modern banking services, quality education, or decent job opportunities.

Pakistan has suffered from many decades of corruption and was also dragged into the lengthy issues and problems in neighboring Afghanistan after 9/11.

Most mainstream business and global financial services offered by platforms such as Amazon and PayPal (among many others) are still not available in Pakistan because the nation’s regulators have failed to implement a proper framework so that businesses can operate smoothly.

Despite these issues, Pakistan is home to one of the largest freelancer communities in the world and the country is on track to potentially become a leading or more prominent world economy by 2030. Pakistan is also considered a “middle-power” (so not completely a third-world country) which could be, in large part, due it being a nuclear power.

Source

Crypto User Experience Must Improve as 5% of World May Own Digital Assets Soon, Industry Exec Says

Ari Paul, CIO of BlockTower Capital, a company focused on bringing professional trading and portfolio management to cryptocurrency, predicts that we might have 5% of the world owning crypto-assets by the end of this bull run (ahead of Internet adoption back in 2000).

However, Paul points out that there are many “basics” that still require building. For instance, the crypto and blockchain space needs “real privacy” along with secure and easy funds transfer capabilities. The industry needs prime brokerage as well (for starters), Paul noted.

As present, Bitcoin is only as “private” and censorship-resistant as the Internet itself (not very), Paul claims, while adding that TOR still needs “a lot of work, and we need default consumer friendly ways to encrypt crypto traffic so aggressive ISPs/states can’t censor.”

Paul also thinks we need much easier ways to use “methods of communication on crypto networks.” He adds that “ISPs, satellite, radio, the more the better, and we need these globally accessible and consumer-friendly.”

Paul also mentioned that sending a crypto transaction is “still insanely intimidating.” He pointed out that people are “supposed to trust an arcane string of alphanumeric characters as a counter party’s address.” He further noted that “we don’t currently have standard ways of verifying a counterparty’s address.” He added that “deep fakes are coming.”

Paul also pointed out that “what if people could easily borrow against their crypto without risking flash liquidations, bugs/exploits, or serious counterparty risk?” According to his assessment, we should “get trustworthy prime brokerage in centralized form soon, decentralized eventually.”

Paul added that “most of these problems aren’t purely engineering in nature.” However, a technical solution that “no one uses because of terrible UX isn’t good enough,” he argues.

As reported recently, digital asset exchange Gemini says that offering an excellent customer or user experience (UX) remains a key priority for the company. Gemini recently launched Cryptopedia, a free crypto education platform.

As covered, the biggest security problem Bitcoin (BTC) has is its UX, according to Casa CEO Nic Neuman.

Neuman had noted in a blog post from last year that October 2020 marked the 12th anniversary of Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin whitepaper. During this relatively short period of time, Bitcoin has fundamentally transformed “the way we think about money, but it’s still a long way from mass adoption,” Neuman claimed.

According to Neuman, who’s the Co-Founder and CEO at Casa, there’s “no question” that UX has “always been the biggest single obstacle to Bitcoin adoption.” However, “not in the way you might think,” Neuman revealed.

He added:

“UX is a slippery term: it means different things to different people in different contexts. With Bitcoin, for example, UX extends far beyond the intuitiveness of individual exchanges or wallets. Since we’re talking about people’s investment, security is a — the — crucial consideration in any discussion about UX.”

Neuman believes that Bitcoin suffers from a “usability” problem that can’t be fixed by creating a new user interface (UI). He explains that this isn’t really a technical error or mistake, but rather a human one. That’s because we’ve made the assumption that it’s “safer” to store coins or digital currencies with a centralized exchange platform instead of keeping (self) custody of our own assets. He argues that this can’t be “fixed” with a new UI. It requires “a revolution in the way we think about Bitcoin security,” Neuman argued.

In an interview with CI last year, Zilliqa Co-founder Amrit Kumar had noted:

“A user interface that is unintuitive and inaccessible to all users is a significant roadblock to mass-utility. For decentralized finance (DeFi) to grow, it needs to equally address these issues alongside the wider blockchain industry as a whole. This applies to infrastructure, such as Web 3.0 wallets that can easily integrate with your browser of choice as well as using far more accessible language on applications and user resources.”

Kumar also recommended:

“For one, eliminating jargon can go a long way in generating a more encouraging, welcoming environment for newcomers who may not necessarily be the most financially literate or knowledgeable about blockchain.”

He continued:

“If you think about many of the technologies that we rely upon today, the ideal scenario is that they’re almost invisible—you don’t have to think about when you’re using it or what you’re doing as you do so. DeFi application developers should remember that users care more about the value of the technology and what it can offer them, rather than the technology itself.”

Source

Ripple Says SEC Lawsuit Hasn’t Impacted Business in Asia

Amid Ripple’s regulatory troubles in the United States, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Brad Garlinghouse has disclosed that business is smooth in the Asia-Pacific region.

Garlinghouse made this known while speaking with Reuters on Friday about the company’s $1.3 billion lawsuits with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which started in December 2020. The SEC had charged Ripple and its principal executives of violating securities laws in the sale of XRP tokens in 2013.

Ripple’s Expansion in the Asia-Pacific Region

According to the CEO, even though the company’s businesses were hindered in the United States, it hasn’t had a negative effect on its relationship in the Asia-Pacific region. He said instead of negativity there have been positive changes, growth, and expansion in the markets.

One of the reasons Garlinghouse gave to why there haven’t been any fallout in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region markets is due to the good standing the company has with the regulators.

“We have been able to continue to grow the business in Asia and Japan because we’ve had regulatory clarity in those markets.”

This comes as no surprise as Japan and other APAC countries have historically been favorable towards Ripple and XRP.

Ripple has grown such a commanding market share in these countries. It’s pertinent to note that Ripple is also part of a joint venture with Japanese conglomerate, SBI Holdings to form SBI Ripple. This JV firm is at the heart of numerous projects aimed at creating a Ripple-powered payment corridor in Asia.

Last year, Ripple expanded further into Southeast Asia by partnering with Deemoney, a major fintech company in Thailand. The fintech house uses RippleNet (Ripple’s global financial payments network) to facilitate outbound transfers from Thailand.

Ripple Continues to Soar

Despite the SEC lawsuit and the fallout that led to exchanges delisting or halting XRP trades, Garlinghouse appears to be unshaken. The Ripple CEO says Ripple would continue to soar as it has over 200 platforms where XRP is traded.

However, Garlinghouse disclosed that apart from U.S. crypto exchanges, asset managers and cryptocurrency funds like Bitwise and Grayscale have also liquidated their XRP holdings.

Ripple might as well carry out its threat of leaving the U.S. Recall that the executive chairman, Chris Larsen, has previously threatened to leave the U.S. if the country’s cryptocurrency regulations aren’t changed or improved upon. Larsen believes the crypto laws in the U.S are hindering the progress of American firms and most countries are handling the sector better than the U.S. 

Ripple Says SEC Lawsuit Hasn’t Impacted Business in Asia

Source

Cross-Border Payments Fintech Tranglo Continues to Expand Operations Globally to Support Local Businesses

Malaysia-based Tranglo, a cross-border payment firm, has established four new payment channels that are connected to financial networks in Brazil, Ghana, Nigeria, and Uganda. The payment corridors mark the Fintech firm’s first entry into Sub Saharan Africa and Latin American (LatAm) regions.

Tranglo’s management stated that they plan to do their part in reducing the overall cost of remittance payments in these areas.

World Bank data shows that Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the most expensive regions to send money to, averaging around 8.5% per transaction to send $200 during Q3 2020. Meanwhile, it costs around 5.8% of the transaction to send the same amount to Latin American regions.  The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals has recommended lowering the cost of transactions to 3% by 2030.

Nigeria, Ghana, and Uganda reportedly ranked 1st, 2nd, and 7th respectively in the world’s list of top 10 largest remittance recipients in the region last year, according to World Bank data. Remittance inflows for these countries was valued at $25 billion (or 43% of the total value of such payments in the region).

Tranglo’s network in these areas is supported by major online wallets, instant banking services, and cash pickups as well.

Meanwhile, remittance inflows to Brazil were valued at $3 billion last year. Despite projections of the global decline in remittance payments due to the COVID outbreak, Latin America has been fairly resilient, especially Brazil, which reported no contractions in growth during 2020.

With around three-fourths of remittance payments in Latin America originating from the United States, Tranglo had initially expanded operations to the North American markets via strategic partnerships with established players, which included integrating their international transactions infrastructure with Tranglo’s API.

Tranglo’s Brazil-based network includes direct bank transfers and cash pickups.

Tranglo’s single interface platform is supported by domestic and international partnerships, and it is currently accessible in more than 23 countries.

Jacky Lee, CEO at Tranglo, stated:

“It is just the first of many to come. We are already planning to expand into countries like Mexico and Argentina next, bringing our cross-border payment solutions to even more businesses in the region and beyond. We are also focusing on enhancing e-wallet support to stay ahead in the digital economy, so stay tuned for more exciting development this year.”

Source

California based Fintech Wealthfront Adds Additional Automation to “Make Money Movement Effortless”

California-based Fintech firm Wealthfront revealed on February 4, 2021 that its customers will now be able to use their service to monitor for and automatically transfer excess funds to a Wealthfront Roth IRA, Traditional IRA or a 529 College Savings Account.

As noted in a release shared with CI, previously, Wealthfront had been monitoring for excess cash and would automatically transfer the balance to a Wealthfront Taxable Investment Account or a Wealthfront Cash Account. The Fintech company confirmed that it has “quickly expanded” its service to include even more account options.

As mentioned in the update:

“This added automation is another important step in Wealthfront’s ultimate vision to build an ecosystem that optimizes and automates all of their clients’ finances, a vision they call ‘Self-Driving Money.’” 

Clients may use Wealthfront to keep track of or monitor an outside checking account or a Wealthfront Cash Account, and when that account exceeds the client’s “prescribed balance,” the funds are automatically deposited into the Wealthfront account of their choice.

Wealthfront confirmed that they take recurring transfers into account “when looking for excess cash and integrates them seamlessly with clients’ savings strategies.” Clients are able to set up direct deposit for their paychecks, automatically make bill payments and also send out checks on a recurring or regular basis.

Chris Hutchins, Head of Financial Automation at Wealthfront, noted that their vision for Self-Driving Money is “going to be a complete game changer for people’s finances.”

Hutchins remarked:

“We want to completely remove the burden of managing your money so you can focus on your career, your family or whatever is most important to you.”

Wealthfront’s management noted that they will remain focused on implementing various other automation features, such as the option to transfer excess funds to several different accounts simultaneously and “prioritizing accounts based on a client’s individual goals.” In order to open a Wealthfront Cash Account, you may download the Fintech firm’s app on the App Store or Google Play or by visiting the company’s official website.

As previously reported, Wealthfront describes itself as “a nextgen banking service that manages your savings for you using automation.” The Wealthtech firm aims to offer all of the financial services you would need such as “high-interest” checking that provides an ATM/debit card, “low-cost” investment portfolios managed for you, “one-click” loans and “free” advice and planning tools via an easy-to-use mobile app.

Wealthfront recently began implementing “Self-Driving Money” services in order to automate customers’ savings plans so they don’t have to be concerned about monitoring accounts and moving funds around.

Source