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Manila Bulletin devider Technews devider Securing instant US remittance payments to Philippines

Securing instant US remittance payments to Philippines

Published Feb 2, 2023 09:59 am

Pouch has partnered with Strike to facilitate fast, secure, and low-cost remittance payments from the U.S. to the Philippines. Customers, including Filipino expats in the U.S., can now send U.S. dollars to the Philippines and have the funds received as Philippine pesos in a recipient's bank or mobile money account.

Pouch.ph

Pouch, the first lightning service provider in the Philippines, was founded in August 2021 by CEO Ethan Rose, who left his software engineering job in the U.S. to focus on his passion — improving the experience of sending money back home to the Philippines. In 2022, Pouch spearheaded the massive adoption of bitcoin and the use of the lightning wallet in Boracay, turning the summer destination into a Bitcoin Island.

Many Filipino families rely on remittances. In fact, the Philippines is one of the top five global remittance markets in the world according to the World Bank. However, transfer fees take a huge portion of those funds. The average transaction cost of sending remittances to the Philippines is 4.57% based on data from the World Bank. Ethan Rose shared, "The U.S. to Philippines remittance market is one of the largest in the world, and until now, most Filipino-Americans have been limited to outdated options. With Pouch’s partnership with Strike, we are revolutionizing the way cross-border payments are made, empowering people to easily send money to their loved ones back home. We are proud to be a part of building the world's most powerful payment network for global transactions.”

Strike

Strike is the world’s leading digital payments platform built on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network. Jack Mallers, Founder and CEO of Strike said, “Remittances are a broken system and Strike delivers an incredibly empowering experience for people to send money around the world in nearly an instant. We’re excited to partner with Pouch to advance financial inclusion and bring fast, low-cost cross-border payments via the Lightning Network to the Philippines. Our technology allows us to both improve on the existing cross-border experience and include those that have previously been excluded by legacy payment rails.”

Bitcoin’s Lightning Network is a world-changing technology that boosts financial inclusion and the efficiency of cross-border payments. Pouch is connecting the Philippine economy with the Lightning Network to ensure that Filipinos can seamlessly operate on this new payment standard.

Strike Send Globally

Send and receive payments across borders via Bitcoin lightning payments. Download Pouch lightning wallet on Google Play or Apple Store, or visit the website https://pouch.ph.

Related Tags

strike REMITTANCE Pouch digital payments platform
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