Through its new partnership with Pouch, Coincorner’s Send Globally will enable customers in the United Kingdom or the European Union to send money to loved ones in the Philippines for free and instantaneously via the Bitcoin Lightning Network, with the funds being converted from British or European pounds into Philippine pesos and deposited into a local bank account or mobile money wallet.
The news comes after CoinCorner announced a partnership with Bitnob to ease international trade between the UK, Europe, and Africa. Using Send Globally, CoinCorner users may instantly convert British pounds into Bitcoin (BTC) and send the funds to the Philippines using the Lightning Network. Upon receipt of the Bitcoin, Pouch will immediately convert it to Philippine Pesos (PHP), and the receiver will get the funds in their chosen payment method.
Commenting on the development, CoinCorner CEO Danny Scott said:
We’re excited to announce our latest partnership with Pouch and expand our Send Globally service to the Philippines. Every year, more than £2 billion is remitted from the UK and Europe to the Philippines, so this is another great opportunity to demonstrate the power of Bitcoin, with instant and low-cost transactions via the Lightning Network.
Bitcoin micropayments on the rise
Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s lightning network has seen some updates of its own. A new form of BTC addresses has been introduced in a small yet significant development for Bitcoin. Dubbed the lightning address, these unique identifiers are designed for use on the Lightning Network, making Bitcoin wallet addresses easier to read or memorize.
Furthermore, Kgothatso Ngako, a South African developer, has created a new-sms based service dubbed Machankura that allows people in Africa to send bitcoin on a simple feature phone.
Machankura makes it easy to send bitcoin internationally with just a country code, such as *920*8333# for Ghana or *483*8333# for Kenya. Dialing t his launches a setup wizard asking for a 5-digit PIN.
Following registration, a subsequent menu provides further functionality, such as sending and receiving bitcoin and seeing transaction history. Users press the number on their feature phone corresponding to the desired menu option.
