Bitcoin-startup BitPesa expands into Nigeria and Uganda

At USD 568.5 billion, Nigeria is nearly ten times the size of Kenya’s USD 65 billion economy. And while it has its share or problems like many frontier markets, and its own share of the unbanked, it also has tens of millions of people who live in cities and have access to banking services, and build businesses like in any other nation.

BitPesa’s service was first aimed at a single corridor of the remittance business: Kenyans living abroad in the UK. It has built up its customer base by going into the diaspora community and building ties.

What BitPesa is finding is that there’s demand for its service among businesses, especially businesses working for foreign suppliers that need to move money across borders.