Centbee Debuts Blockchain-Based UK-West Africa Remittance Service

FinTech Centbee is making it easier for U.K. residents to send digital cash to people in West Africa through the blockchain with a new service, announced Thursday (May 26) at the Global Blockchain Convention in Dubai.

Centbee’s new service will allow U.K. users to send money to West Africa, including Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger and Benin, Co-CEO Lorien Gamaroff said at the convention, according to a company press release.

The new feature lets customers send digital cash to a recipient’s MTN, Vodafone, Tigo or Airtel mobile money wallet or their bank account, a press release said.

“Immigrants living in the U.K. can now send money home to their loved one’s mobile money wallets or bank accounts using their Centbee wallets,” said Gamaroff in the company press release. “By using the BSV blockchain to enable cross-border payments, we’re able to significantly reduce the costs of sending money, making it more affordable — under $2.50 per send — for people to send money home.

“Remittances take a few seconds to send, so when you send money from the U.K., you know your family will receive that money, ready to spend, in seconds,” he said.

The new remittance feature in Centbee wallet builds on their existing offerings, including its Value-Added Services catalog of hundreds of global brands and the introduction of a blockchain-based loyalty program, Centbee Honey, to give their 50,000 customers digital cash rewards in their Centbee wallets.

“We’ve worked hard to find solutions leveraging the BSV blockchain to create useful and valuable services for our consumers across the world,” said Centbee Co-founder Angus Brown. “Our numbers show that consumers like having a digital cash wallet that can do it all — send money, buy products and services that they need and get rewarded instantly.

“The introduction of remittances to Centbee wallet builds on our vision of making digital cash useful to everyone, everywhere,” he said.

Related: Digital Identity Network Trulioo Boosts Crypto Firm Roster With GMO Trust and Centbee

In December, Centbee announced a partnership with global identity verification firm Trulioo as part of the latter’s GlobalGateway marketplace of digital identity data and services.

In addition to Centbee, Trulioo added GMO Trust, Omni Matrix, Skilling, Strike Protocols and Vintech Capital to its platform, which enables organizations to execute identity checks to meet the stipulations of know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) compliance conditions.