Cross-border business payments are one of the many industries prone to disruption. Blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies can make this process frictionless and a lot cheaper. Wyre, a startup specializing in cross-border payments, is keeping a close eye on blockchain technology. In fact, they acquired a Chinese blockchain business to make progress in this particular market.
It is quite interesting to learn a US company acquires a Chinese blockchain firm. Although Wyre has been working with blockchain technology as well, gaining traction in the Chinese market is always challenging. Through this acquisition, the US company solidifies its push into the US$500bn US-China business payments market. Blockchain can make a big impact on the corporate payments space moving forward.
Blockchain-based Business Payments Are Very Popular
Remitsy, as the Chinese startup is called, will be integrated into Wyre’s payments platform. As a result, US-China business payments can complete in mere hours, rather than days. Under current circumstances, such payments take between 3 and 5 business days to complete. Using traditional payment processors slows down the clearing and settlement by quite a margin.
The US-China business payments corridor is an important market right now. Strengthening ties between both countries is of the utmost importance. Wyre and Remitsy want to use blockchain technology to make this market more competitive. Given the global focus on distributed ledgers, this partnership could herald a new era of cross-border business payments. Tackling the Chinese market will be challenging, yet blockchain technology poses many advantages.
It is also worth mentioning Remitsy has powerful partnerships in place already. For example, the company has partnered with Alipay a while ago. Wyre will be able to leverage this partnership into their own platform. Having Alipay on board is significant for the future of US-China blockchain-based business payments.
Moreover, Wyre has made quite the name for itself as well. The company saw payment volume rise to US$50m in march of 2017. This acquisition will push that number to US$70m or more in the coming months. There is a growing demand for blockchain-based payment services, that much is certain.
Header image courtesy of Shutterstock