Last month, BitPesa began the pilot phase of a new, cheaper, faster way to send money from anywhere to Kenya freely and at a highly competitive exchange rate to any Kenyan mobile money wallet (M-PESA, Airtel Money, Orange Money and Yu Cash), within minutes.
Now, on June 26th, the firm is launching officially in Kenya and in style with live football matches, beers, bitings, and bitcoins to the first 50 people to show up. The Kenyan company with shareholders such as Joe Mucheru, Google East Africa Lead, and Duncan Goldie-Scot, Chairman of Musoni, aims to offer better value to the Kenyan diaspora who send billions of shillings to Kenya every year.
Because traditional remittance services currently apply a premium of between 6%-13%, BitPesa says it’s rates are much more competitive at just 3% premium, with no additional fees, and transfer to any mobile money wallet within minutes.
BitPesa also aims to create value for Kenyans in Kenya by allowing users such app developers to be paid in Bitcoin or use it to power their in app purchases. BitPesa then can help such developers to convert his/her Bitcoins into Kenyan Shillings and have them deposited into any mobile money wallet within minutes.
BitPesa added that it’s also developing an update to its site that will allow Kenyan NGOs to receive international donations via Bitcoin and convert these into Kenyan Shillings at zero cost.
RSVP for the BitPesa Kenya World Cup Party on June 26th, here.
Image credit:CoinDesk.com