A digital money platform is challenging rivals by offering instant transfers from a greater number of cryptocurrencies, fiat currencies, and commodities – all with the ambition of reducing the seemingly endless costs and fees customers face. According to Uphold, it is free to open an account on its platform and transfer funds from bank accounts – and there are also low costs and no limits attached to sending or receiving money (if it is the same currency) to other Uphold members, whether they are down the street or on the other side of the world. This format is especially useful …

Japanese bank holding and financial services company Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (MUFG) said it will use Ripple (XRP) to create a new cross-border payments service to Brazil in a press release Nov. 9. MUFG, which has demonstrated an increasing interest in cryptocurrency products, will partner with Brazil’s Banco Bradesco to create the platform through its local subsidiary Banco MUFG Brasil. Confirming the two parties had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), MUFG reiterated its faith in Ripple’s technology, after joining its global payments steering group in March last year. “The new payment system [...] will assist the banks as …

Japanese insurance company Sompo has partnered with pan-African digital payment platform BTC Africa, also known as BitPesa, according to Sompo’s press release published Nov. 9. As Cointelegraph Japan has confirmed, Sompo Holdings Inc. invested 570 million yen ($5 million) Nov. 8 to acquire a 10 percent stake in BitPesa. BitPesa is anAfrican Bitcoin (BTC) startup that was founded in 2013, with an initial focus on crypto-enabled fiat remittances between the U.K. and Kenya. In a statement accompanying the investment, Sompo outlined that the partnership is focused on the “digitalization of global remittance services,” and that: "Using BitPesa's technology, developed through …

Alibaba subsidiary Ant Financial has trialled its first blockchain remittances, sending a transaction in three seconds, Bloomberg reports June 25. The company, formerly known as AliPay, completed a funds transfer between its AliPayHK app in Hong Kong and Filipino payment app GCash, its joint project with local telecoms company Globe Telecom. Part of a growing trend of Blockchain remittances in the Philippines, Ant Financial will establish international outreach in future, CEO Jack Ma told the press on the back of the project. “Using blockchain to achieve cross-border remittances is one of my most concerned projects in the past six months. …

The growing adoption of Blockchain technology has been disrupting a number of industries, including financial services, data management, healthcare, agriculture, supply chain, gambling, gaming, public services, music, airline ticketing and many more. Several companies are already piloting the technology to facilitate and improve the transparency of their transactions. One of these companies is the American retail giant Walmart, which recently launched a project to test the technology for supply chain management. The initiative aims to leverage distributed ledger technology to monitor and trace pork sourced from China and sold in the US. The use of Blockchain in the remittance industry …

Blockchain technology has the potential to disrupt and overcome all technological boundaries. Its inherent characteristics have made it much desired within several industries where data management is of utmost importance. Fundamental aspects of the technology that underpins cryptocurrencies and assets are causing people to re-imagine and then enact new ways of creating and exchanging value online. Almost every industry is experiencing some form of disruption in terms of how data is managed. Some of the qualities of the Blockchain that has endeared it to most technological processes include: Immutability Information stored on the Blockchain cannot be changed. Therefore, the need …

Americans can now make instant deposits to Ripple from several US banks, according to a post published in the company's blog. Instant Deposits from US Banks This announcement was made on August 22, and indicated a recent partnership between SnapSwap and Knox Payments. SnapSwap Inc. is a Washington-based startup that develops gateway services for Ripple in the US and Europe. The company was founded in May 2012 by banker and entrepreneur Denis Kiselev, and co-founder and CTO Natalia Pavlova. Knox Payments is a service that allows merchants to accept payments from their customer's bank accounts through ACH (Automated Clearing House) …