The Bitcoin Society has unveiled its new Remittances API, allowing individuals and financial institutions to send instant payments to any bank account in Mexico and Brazil in less than a second, according to a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine. This API marks the company's expansion into international remittances, with plans to soon expand its services to the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia and Africa.
We are excited to launch our new Remittances API which enables instant cross-border payments for any application 🚀
Simple integration to send Mexican Pesos 🇲🇽 or Brazilian Reals 🇧🇷 to local bank accounts in less than a second⚡
More currencies and countries to come! pic.twitter.com/R63Z3mNnb3
– The Bitcoin Company (@theBTCco) March 22, 2024
“Disrupting the remittance market is a key step in our roadmap to providing easy-to-use Bitcoin-native financial services and has always been an exciting application for the Bitcoin network,” said Ben Price, founder and CEO of The Bitcoin Company. With Bitcoin, payments can be cheap, instant, inclusive and global. »
By leveraging the Bitcoin network, The Bitcoin Company's Remittance API provides a cost-effective alternative to traditional banking channels like SWIFT, significantly reducing the costs of international remittances. The API communicates with local payment networks in Mexico (SPEI) and Brazil (Pix), ensuring that funds are deposited instantly into recipients' bank accounts.
The remittance market in Mexico and Brazil has historically relied on expensive services like Western Union and MoneyGram, which charge high fees. According to the World Bank, remittances to Mexico and Brazil cost 3.01% and 4.59%, respectively, with an average international remittance cost of 6.18%. The Bitcoin Company API disrupts this landscape by providing low-cost, instant, 24/7 cross-border payments.
“Cross-border payments as they exist today are disrupted,” Price continued. “Traditional money transfer providers like Western Union are taking advantage of the world's most desperate populations by charging exorbitant fees for sending/receiving money. Cross-border payments are now trivial thanks to our new Remittances API which leverages the Bitcoin network. “
This launch is part of The Bitcoin Company's vision to provide easy-to-use Bitcoin-native financial services and create a developer-friendly infrastructure connecting Bitcoin to existing financial systems. More information about the Remittance API can be found here.