Overall, average transaction took less than a minute and recorded savings of over 7% in remittance cost and currency exchange rates. Therefore, over 850,000 Thai baht (around USD 24,000 USD) were transferred using the Everex wallet, a mobile and web based app that sends digitized national currencies using Ethereum blockchain.
Although the test recipients used Myanmar money-changers to switch from CryptoCash back to physical cash, no centralized entity performed the actual remittance. This cuts time and costs dramatically, since the transmission process was automated with programmable smart contracts on Ethereum.
Through this test, Everex aims to give financial access to the world’s huge “Bottom of the Pyramid” (BOP) population. According to CoinDesk, Myanmar workers send most of their money home via informal channels because of mistrust in existing remittance and financial networks.
As a result, a trust-based cash system called hundi, similar to the hawala remittance networks of the Islamic world, served their needs. These systems have little transparency and often hide extra charges in unfavourable FX rates and conversions, even if rates appear low on the surface.
But the story highlights how, if people cannot use or trust existing financial systems, they will find a way to route around them.
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