Chipper Cash, a financial technology company has partnered with tbDEX, an open messaging protocol that connects liquidity seekers, to improve cross-border payments in Africa.
The collaboration seeks to address currency liquidity and access to global financial systems which are significant challenges across Africa.
Focusing on enabling faster and less expensive consumer remittances, the two companies will also explore ways to empower small businesses.
Already Chipper Cash’s offerings for businesses enable local and cross-border digital payments for underbanked Small and Medium-sized Enterprises across 40 different African countries, powering disbursements and collections from bank accounts, mobile money wallets and Chipper wallets.
It will further leverage tbDEX to unlock trusted, compliant transactions with verifiable credentials (VCs) and decentralized identifiers (DIDs) in order to accelerate the onboarding and identity verification of consumers and small businesses.
At a press briefing, Maijid Moujaled, President and Co-Founder of Chipper Cash, expressed enthusiasm about the potential of tbDEX to transform remittance flows into Africa.
He noted that “Remittances are a lifeline for many African families, but the costs of sending money to the continent remain among the highest globally. By plugging into an open protocol like tbDEX with numerous network participants, we believe we can, collectively as an industry, drive down these high costs and facilitate remittances in a more efficient, transparent, and compliant manner”.
He also highlighted the collaboration with TBD on trust frameworks and innovative credential designs, noting that a standardised and streamlined way to verify identity online can help make the world feel more inclusive.
As one of the largest fintechs in Africa, Chipper Cash already allows 5 million consumers to move money efficiently to over 21 African countries. And with over 1.2 million cards issued, Chipper’s integration represents the onboarding of one of the largest virtual card issuers in Africa.
For his part, the Chief Executive Officer of TBD Mike Brock emphasized their focus on expanding the tbDEX ecosystem in Africa, highlighting the inclusion of Yellowcard, one of the continent’s largest and licensed stablecoin on/off ramp.
He noted that with the release of tbDEX SDK 1.0, integrating Chipper Cash will accelerate their initiatives in global cross-border payments.
“This integration will also advance our efforts in decentralized identity,” he added.
tbDEX
tbDEX is an open messaging protocol that connects liquidity seekers with providers and equips all participants with a common language for facilitating transactions. Using open source protocols and common standards, it provides developers, enterprises, entrepreneurs, and governments with a universal language to facilitate transactions in a way that’s more inclusive, efficient and trustworthy.
TBD
As one of four businesses at Block (fka Square), TBD is focused on creating open and decentralized technologies to connect the financial world. Guided by this vision, TBD is building an open-source developer platform and infrastructure that enables everyone to access and participate in the global economy.
Chipper Cash
Chipper Cash is a financial technology company serving more than five million customers across the African continent. In 2018, Chipper Cash revolutionized moving money in Africa by providing a frictionless way to send and receive money cross-border. Since then, Chipper has increased its product suite by offering personal investments and digital business transactions and expanded its reach into the US. Led by co-founders Ham Serunjogi and Maijid Moujaled, Chipper Cash is focused on its mission to provide the most trusted and accessible financial services for people living in Africa and beyond.
