The Philippines’ remittance market now has a faster, cheaper option through the use of the Lightning Network.
Customers in the U.K. and Europe can now use CoinCorner’s Send Globally feature to send fiat to the Philippines after partnering with Pouch, a Lightning service provider based in the Southeast Asian country.
Send Globally utilizes the Lightning Network to convert one fiat currency into bitcoin, which is then sent over the Lightning Network to a receiving entity which converts the bitcoin into another fiat currency, effectively making global payments instant.
Send Globally was recently enacted for both CoinCorner and Strike through partnerships with Bitnob. This enabled users from Europe, the U.S. and the U.K. to send money quickly and at low cost to Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria.
The Philippines is yet another remittance market that now has access to Bitcoin’s Lightning Network. Around $33 billion a year is sent home from workers in foreign countries, a major percentage of the country’s GDP.
CoinCorner CEO, Danny Scott, expanded on this, saying, “We’re excited to announce our latest partnership with Pouch and expand our Send Globally service to the Philippines. Every year, more than $2,412,600,000 (£2 billion) is remitted from the U.K. and Europe to the Philippines, so this is another great opportunity to demonstrate the power of Bitcoin, with instant and low cost transactions via the Lightning Network.”
The CEO of Pouch, Ethan Rose, reaffirmed this excitement about Lightning, stating that, “The Lightning Network is the most efficient way to send money across borders, but until now the user experience has been too complex for the average user. We’re so pleased to announce the partnership between Pouch & CoinCorner, because it allows us to drastically simplify a remitter’s user experience while still taking full advantage of the utility of Lightning.”
