FSA COMMITTEE
FINTECH FRIDAYS
7th May 2021
Telcoin Set to Start Remittance Operations in Australia
Ethereum-based token Telcoin hit an all-time high of $0.0037 Wednesday late night, with the cryptocurrency adding over 80% in a 24-hour period. This comes after news that Telcoin announced plans to expand operations to allow remittance business into Australia, with operations already flourishing in Singapore and the USA. Australia currently has an approximate $16 billion remittance industry in valuation; for perspective, Telcoin holds a market capitalization of $1.75 billion in itself.
As we have introduced in our piece on Airwallex some time ago, remittance is defined to be the non-commercial transfer of money by a foreign worker to their familial ties abroad, where this money is used as household income in their home country. Remittance always comes with heavy fees due to the sending and receiving agency, (presumably the commercial bank in both countries) taking a fee. Apart from this, the remittance agents may earn an indirect fee in the form of interest or float, the float can be significant in countries where overnight interest rates are very high.
This is where Telcoin comes in. With most remittance services, a heavy fee is charged - around 5-10% - resulting in less money reaching the families that need the support. With Telcoin, fees are expected to be in the range of around 2% or less, with funds being received instantly when transferred over, which is significantly faster than sending money through credit unions or typical bank transfer methods.
According to Wednesday's announcement, “This is the first step toward providing our users in Australia the ability to send fast, affordable remittances to SEA and beyond.” As of now, Telcoin has registered officially to become a remittance service provider with AUSTRAC, a government agency set up to monitor financial transactions and financial crime, such as money laundering.
From a user standpoint, Telcoin has touted to be very easy to use by its consumer base. The application associated with Telcoin has a single dashboard, which covers all functionalities and bases. To simply send money, all that needs to be done is to cash in, enter the beneficiary country, phone number, amount and send. Furthermore, being an Ethereum-based token, a.k.a ERC-20 token, Telcoin utilises the strength of its decentralized network with multi-signature crypto security. Telcoin is available to be downloaded on the App Store and Google Play.
References:
https://cointelegraph.com/news/telcoin-tel-gains-300-after-layer-2-migration-to-the-polygon-network
https://bestinau.com.au/telcoin-set-to-start-remittance-operations-in-australia/
US Banks to Offer Bitcoin Trading in 2021
The era of American banks regarding cryptocurrencies as evil might be coming to an end. Some US lenders are keen to get in on the crypto trading action and could soon allow customers to trade Bitcoins directly from their bank accounts.
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According to a recent report by CNBC, New Digital Investment Group (NYDIG) has inked a partnership with fintech giant Fidelity National Information Services, (FIS) to provide a framework for US banks to offer crypto trading services to their customers. Patrick Sells, head of bank solutions at NYDIG claims that hundreds of smaller institutions have already enrolled in the program whilst the firm is currently in discussions with some of the biggest US banks.
Until now, Bitcoin adopters in the US have relied on fintech players such as brokerage firm Robinhood, payments giants Paypal and Square, or cryptocurrency exchanges such as Coinbase, whilst US banks have taken a backseat, with the exception of recent developments in which banks have announced plans to offer bitcoin investment options to their wealthy clients.
Banks are now asking for bitcoin because they can see their customers sending dollars to Coinbase, Kraken and other crypto exchanges, according to Yan Zhao, president of NYDIG. “This is not just the banks thinking that their clients want bitcoin, they’re saying `We need to do this, because we see the data,’” Zhao said. “They’re seeing deposits going to the Coinbases, Galaxies and Krakens of the world.”
In the near future, there is a high likelihood of US banks greenlighting crypto trading. This would put the banks in competition with the other trading platforms already benefiting from the crypto boom. Furthermore, despite the early adopters being smaller banks, the big banks like JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America could soon be faced with peer pressure to offer crypto to their retail banking customers, according to Rob Lee, head of digital banking at FIS.
References:
https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-banks-to-allow-bitcoin-trading-in-2021-says-nydig-execs
The views expressed within this article are those of the authors and do not represent the views of the Finance Student's Association. All images and references in this article are for fair and educational purposes only. The content in this article is not intended as legal, financial or investment advice and should not be construed or relied on as such.