HANGZHOU, China—Ant Financial Services has taken a strong step toward pushing its way into the international remittances business by lowering the cost of sending money using a blockchain-based platform.
The move, the first of its kind according to the company, will initially help the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos working in Hong Kong.
These workers collectively transfer about HK$4.4 billion (US$561 million) annually to family and friends back home and, by using blockchain technology, Ant Financial – an affiliate of the giant Alibaba Group Holding Co.– aims to eventually cut the cost of these remittances to near zero, China Tech reported.
Fulfilling a Promise
Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma Yun said he seeking a way to help people.
“This comes from a promise I made a long time ago when Alipay was just launched,” said Ma. “I have Filipino friends who asked me when they could use Alipay to send money home, because it was too expensive through banks, which charge too much.”
The blockchain money remittance service announced for the AlipayHK wallet is the first of its kind globally, according to Ant Financial.
It is currently available only for transfers between Hong Kong and the Philippines, which is the world’s third-largest remittance market, with inflows of US$33 billion in 2017, according to Standard Chartered, which will act as the settlement bank for both AlipayHK and GCash for the blockchain transactions, China Tech said.