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Why Is SWIFT Financial Network Interested In African Blockchain Startups?

Why Is SWIFT Financial Network Interested In African Blockchain Startups?

African blockchain-related startups will pitch new products in sectors ranging from remittances to renewable energy at the SWIFT African Regional Conference in Mauritius on May 18, according to a report in CoinTelegraph.

SWIFT — the Belgium-based Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications — provides a network that enables banks worldwide to send and receive standardized financial transaction information using “SWIFT codes”.

The institution likes to say its transactions are conducted in a “secure and reliable environment.” It is thought to be the most secure financial messaging system in the world. But a recent SWIFT theft — not the first —  suggests a “wider and highly adaptive campaign targeting banks,” NewYorkTimes reported.

The Swift messaging system is used by thousands of banks and companies to move money around the world.

So why is SWIFT interested in blockchain?

“The coding behind virtual currency bitcoin could … prove to be enormously transformational, potentially even replacing the SWIFT network for interbank payments,” said Chris Skinner, a banking, finance and fintech expert, in an AmericanBanker report.

“Banks are waking up to bitcoin and, more important,the blockchain and its ability to transform banking. But not quickly enough,” Skinner said.

The SWIFT challenge

Three African companies were selected out of of 89 applicants by more than 100 judges from across the financial, technology, and investment communities. The 89 applicants have been evaluated for a second edition of the Startup Challenge, CoinTelegraph reported.

During the showcase, the audience will vote for the three best startups out of 12. Then, the companies will be invited to Sibos — SWIFT’s annual global financial services conference — taking place Sept. 26-29 in Geneva.

The three finalists will share the stage with fintech experts, providing insights on innovation happening on the ground in Africa to the financial industry at large.

AMoney focuses on remittances

Based in Yaoundé, Cameroon, AMoney uses a multi-rail technology to combine four rails — the AMoney protocol, the blockchain technology, the Ripple protocol and the Stellar protocol — to enable large volume of low-value, cross-border payments and unify mobile wallets in Africa.

International remittances are a major and stable source of income for people in many developing markets. Some 80 percent of Africans don’t have a bank account or a credit card, but they do have a phone, and most of those will soon be a smartphone.

Despite one in seven Africans (120 million) receiving remittances from friends and family abroad totaling $60 billion US, Africans pay the highest transaction fees in the world.

Africa’s mobile wallets’ fragmentation presents AMoney with an opportunity to unify the structure of a fragmented e-commerce backbone. It takes advantage of the strong local footholds built by carriers to improve the almost nonexistent cross-border payments capability.

The Sun Exchange incentivizes renewable energy investment

The Cape Town-based Sun Exchange is a peer-to-peer lending platform that connects people wanting to invest in solar energy with people who want to access it.

Its platform promises to turn digital currency into solar energy with seamless international revenue distribution providing an earning of more than 10 percent annual returns in the process.

Energy is a huge issue in most parts of Africa.

The Sun Exchange platform presents the ability to look at alternative energy options with a really innovative and exciting funding mechanism. It hosts solar projects worldwide for interested investors to choose for a portfolio.

All the investor needs is a bank account or a Bitcoin wallet and web access.

An investor’s wealth increases whilst doing good – crowd-investing money for community centers, schools, businesses, factories and even whole neighborhoods to achieve their goals of going solar and reducing running costs.

BitPesa accepts Bitcoin

Based in Nairobi, Kenya, BitPesa has been offering a world-class platform to trade in digital currency. It is a localized solution for its users to participate directly in global finance with diversified financial tools.

BitPesa allows individuals and businesses to send payments to and from Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, and Tanzania and accepts Bitcoin from nearly anywhere in the world and exchange it for local African currencies.

It enables recipients to receive local currency into mobile money wallets or bank accounts and also sells Bitcoin in its operational countries, except for Tanzania.

It recently closed a follow-on round of $1.1 million in a second round of funding led by San Francisco-based Pantera Capital bringing its 2014 total equity to over $1.7 million.

The raise was led by Pantera with support from the Crypto Currency Partners LP, Stephens Investment Management LLC, and existing shareholders: the Bitcoin Opportunity Corporation and Future/Perfect Ventures, among others.

Read more at CoinTelegraph.