In a statement released on Monday, bitcoin app CoinCorner announced that it had made Send Globally available to its EU and U.K. users. This feature enables foreign users to send money to Africa quickly and affordably.
The achievement is made possible by a collaboration with the African Bitcoin app Bitnob, which follows a similar collaboration with the Lightning payments app Strike.
Last week, Strike enabled Send Globally for its American users, enabling them to send money instantly and cheaply to bank accounts in Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria.
With the help of the Lightning Network, a peer-to-peer currency’s overlay protocol for quick and inexpensive payments, Bitnob connects local residents with those in the U.S., EU, and U.K.
According to Bernard Parah, CEO of Bitnob, “this is another step toward the economic empowerment of Africans.” According to the World Bank, sending $200 to Sub-Saharan Africa costs an average of 8.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020, making it the region with the highest transaction costs. The future of money is being powered by Bitcoin, and this collaboration shows a compelling use case for that future.
Send Globally functions by using the local Bitcoin apps as the on- and off-ramps for fiat. Strike or CoinCorner first converts U.S. dollars, euros, or British pounds into bitcoin. The BTC is then delivered to Bitnob via Lightning. The receiving user then receives the corresponding amount in local currency from the African app. Despite all of these steps, the procedure is inexpensive and almost instantaneous because of Lightning’s quickness and effectiveness.
According to Danny Scott, CEO of CoinCorner, “Bitcoin’s borderless nature has always made it a great tool for sending money around the world, but now with the Lightning Network, sending Bitcoin is instant and very cheap.” “We hope to reduce some of the friction and expense that customers encounter when using traditional FX and money remittance companies by partnering with Bitnob to provide a seamless cross-border experience using Bitcoin and the Lightning Network.”