Hellobit to Reduce Global Remittance Costs with New Bitcoin App

December 5, 2014 By: Michael Cheng

San Francisco-based startup, Hellobit, aims to lower international remittance costs drastically with its latest payment offering.

The company plans to release an app that allows consumers to send and receive cross-border payments. Using bitcoin as the primary medium for digital transactions, the startup would be able to cut remittance service fees by as much as 12 percent.

Ali Goss, CEO of the payments company, said, “Overall, the transaction should cost much less than the traditional methods. If we can reduce the cost associated with sending one’s own money globally by even 5 percent, it would save consumers $25 billion a year.”

Hellobit’s approach to bitcoin remittance is very similar to Uber’s consumer connection model. Through the company’s app, users would be able to connect with nearby currency exchangers, i.e. businesses, large establishments or individuals. Once connected, a person can receive payments in the local currency.

The startup’s strategy thrives on the statistics behind mobile usage. Most of the core features built in the app uses smartphone technology, including location-based GPS and SMS.

Hellobit’s plans caught the digital payments industry by surprise. Other startups have taken a very traditional approach in providing payments solutions by focusing solely on infrastructure. In theory, it makes sense to start with infrastructure when the objective is minimizing costs and boosting reliability.

Analysts say that without a foundation in place, the company would be left open to security and fraud-related risks. In a move to ensure its users are well protected, the young startup will implement several security measures, ranging from background checks, multiple-tier verification, and algorithms designed to calculate trustworthiness.

In addition to heightened security features, Hellobit plans to partner with local bitcoin service providers worldwide to ensure the app is effectively pushed out to its target user demographic.