Bitcoin and the Lightning Network will be used for fiat transfers between Europe and Africa via the Send Globally app.
British crypto exchange CoinCorner in cooperation with Bitnob launched the payment service Send Globally, based on the Lightning Network, allowing to make cross-border transfers of fiat currencies using BTC.
Currently, transfers are available between the United Kingdom, EU countries, and several African countries, such as Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana. Transfers are made by double conversion from the sender’s currency to BTC and from BTC to the recipient’s currency. Funds are deposited directly into the bank account, and there’s no need for centralized intermediaries.
In the Send Globally app, fiat currencies are available in all countries between which transactions are possible: British pounds (GBP), euros (EUR), naira (NGN), shillings (KES) or cedis (GHS). Funds are expected to be sent from Europe to Africa, so the possibility of sending transactions in the opposite direction isn’t specified.
According to a press release citing the World Bank, ~£12 billion is sent annually from the U.K. and Europe to Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana, with Sub-Saharan Africa remaining the most expensive region to send money. The developers of Send Globally hope to change this situation.
According to the World Bank’s 2020 data, annual remittances to Sub-Saharan Africa exceeded $40 billion. More than half of that amount went to Nigeria, which was home to about a third of all African crypto users in September 2022. However, analysts believe that Ghana could displace Nigeria on the African “crypto Olympus.” In Nigeria, Ghana, and other countries in the region, cryptocurrencies are used primarily to raise money from abroad and as a hedge against inflation.
