Bitspark presents the first ever end-to-end Hong Kong to Philippines Bitcoin remittance service which leverages the Bitcoin network to provide instant money transfer and low transaction fees.
We did it!
Bitspark has gone above and beyond to provide a service that is truly usable by everyone – after all, the benefits of Bitcoin shouldn’t only be exclusive to tech savvy individuals!
(Bitspark aims to power Asia with Bitcoin solutions)
Hong Kong has a foreign worker force which makes up 3% of the population with every individual needing to send money back home to their families and friends. Since the rise of Bitcoin and its obvious benefits of instant transactions at a fraction of the price, excitement has been buzzing about what this means for the traditional remittance industry in Hong Kong and world wide. Bitspark got out there to test drive the market with their new service to answer the typical questions of "Will Bitcoin distrupt the remittance ecosystem?" "Will ordinary people embrace such a new idea as electronic money?" "Will it even work?" And we're delighted to answer "yes!".
(Our CEO, George Harrap, helping send money back to the Philippines by using Bitcoin!)
So, what is the pure definition of a start up anyway?
"A start up is a human institution designed to create a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty" - Eric Ries [The Lean Startup]
And that is exactly what Bitspark achieved last Sunday. We secured a space at the World Wide House, a center frequently visited by senders who seek to remit money overseas. It is literally an epicenter of traditional remittance providers such as Western Union, Money Gram and many others making the competition fierce amongst the masses. However, for the first time, an offer was made available to senders that provided a cheaper option with accurate exchange rates and no hidden fees. Additonally, a portal to using Bitcoin with no prior knowledge was made avaliable and provided an opporutnity for everyday citizens to enjoy the benefits of Bitcoin.
(Our COO, Maxine Ryan [right], with our first remittance customer Ms. Camara [left] who also happened to send the largest amount of HKD$10,000/ PHP$57,950! Big thank you to Ms. Camara for believeing in us!)
Remitters were lining up to learn about Bitspark's service and were genuinely intrigued by our competitive price, our 30 pick-up locations in the Philippenes and of course by our incredible customer service. Bitspark was able to reach an audience of 400+ and remit money for senders back to their home towns ranging from Aurora province, Quezon Province and Lanao del Notre Province proving that you can recieve money transmitted in the form of Bitcoin almost anywhere!
(Senders choosing from 30 different pick up locations for their recipients to receive their money)
Bitspark cannot wait to show you what else we've got installed on the remittance front so stay tuned!
A shout out and thank you to Rebit.ph for their support and to Maria and Rocky who allowed us to use their store for the first ever end-to-end bitcoin remttiance solution!
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