“I really think that cross-border payment is the next agenda. The next frontier.”
Jean Pesme, the World Bank’s Global Director of Finance, Competitiveness, & Innovation, comments on the potential of crypto to advance development. Pesme defines crypto as anything backed by blockchain—a necessary clarification when crypto is popularly associated with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Pesme believes that crypto can facilitate trade payment and information exchange through single-window ports and data ledgers. Pesme claims that the biggest opportunity to implement crypto is in cross-border payments—specifically, remittances. Crypto could reduce fees in the $500 billion dollar cross-border remittance market, putting more money in the hands of remittance recipients to save and spend on basic services. The fee reduction in money transfers with crypto would result from increased competition. Moreover, Pesme says small transactions with cryptocurrency do not require identification, which most of the world does not have. However, ID is needed for more sophisticated transactions, further justifying the need to develop digital IDs.
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