Coinone Transfer Introduces New Ripple-Powered Remittance Service
"Cross, South Korea's first blockchain-powered payment solution, will be initially applied to АСЕАН countries.
Coinone Transfer, a subsidiary of crypto exchange Coinone, has become South Korea’s first provider of blockchain-based remittance services. Ripple officially announced this with the recent launch of a new payment solution called Cross.
Cross will be available as a web service and mobile app and will allow users to perform fast and cheap money transfers between South Korea and both Thailand and the Philippines, initially. Coinone Transfer plans to expand its geographical coverage in Southeast Asia actively over the coming months.
To serve and remit
Coinone has always been taken an interest in remittances. In May 2018, it joined RippleNet, Ripple's blockchain network, to be able to use xCurrent. Ripple's well-known blockchain solution for cross-border payments allowed Coinone Transfer to launch its new service in partnership with two regional large financial institutions using RippleNet - Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) in Thailand and Cebuana Lhuillier in the Philippines.
Soon Cross will also be integrated into PromptPay, thus enabling customers to perform instant transfers to any bank account in Thailand.
"Unlike other remittance options in South Korea, Cross does not rely on traditional banking rails. Rather, it provides a safe alternative for those with or without a bank account, and the increased payment transparency and reliability inherent to Ripple's advanced blockchain technology," Ripple explained.
Demand exceeds supply
Currently, remittances represent a pressing issue for the ASEAN (Association of South Eastern Asian Nations) region. Both individuals and businesses regularly face such problems as slow transactions speed, high fees and generally undeveloped banking network with some restrictions.
In the meantime, the mobility rate in Southeast Asia is rather high, which suggests a great many people who need to send or receive money. According to the various official statistics cited by Ripple, currently, in South Korea, there are over 200,000 immigrant workers from Thailand and the Philippines, while the total amount of money transfers into and out of South Korea in 2017 was estimated at $17 billion. This proves the high demand for fast and reliable remittance services in the region.
Thank you, government!
Notably, Coinone's latest move would have been impossible without certain governmental support. It was only in summer 2017 when the South Korean authorities made amendments to national laws and allowed non-bank companies to be licensed as providers of cross-border remittance services on the territory of the country.
This decision opened access to the market of financial services for innovative fintech businesses using blockchain-based solutions.
Thus, the latest developments will definitely help to solve one of the region’s severe problems and improve the lives of many people living and working in ASEAN. The regulatory changes in South Korea "combined with the introduction of the new Cross service finally provides these customers with a better way to send money abroad - options that are less costly, faster and more reliable than traditional options", Ripple stated.