Cryptocurrency Would Fix Money Transfer Markets If More People Were Familiar With It

Money transfer markets can be a life-or-death matter. Migrants like Ahmed Ali from Somalia have to send money to their family because Somalia doesn’t have a functioning government. The money can mean the difference between their family starving or eating. Yet traditional banking services are cutting down on the money transfer services that allow him to send that money in the first place. High fees eat away at the dollars he sends.

Remittance payments are a multi-billion dollar industry involving international money transfers. Migrant wage-earners will send some of their salaries back to family members and others in their home countries. In 2017, remittance payments from the United States to Mexico, India, and China totaled over $55bn.

Remittances worldwide totaled about $582bn in 2015. They’ve topped $613bn in 2018 says the World Bank. That’s more money flowing into…