Despite the massive economy surrounding remittances, sending cross-border payments is often still a cumbersome and expensive process. Centbee challenges this by offering digital cash payments that are not only easy to send, but have almost no fees attached.
This process has been streamlined as Centbee has been designed to act more like a social media network rather than a traditional banking app, says Centbee Co-Founder and CEO Lorien Gamaroff.
‘The idea is to make digital cash payments very easy – specifically for young people, students and teenagers. What we are trying to do is create an experience very much like the social networks used by young people today, but money is the media.’
Centbee growth and target markets
While Centbee started as a South African company, Gamaroff noted that the company is now truly international as it aims to follow the original tenets of Bitcoin by making cash truly global.
‘Of course, as the blockchain is global, it means that anyone who has a mobile phone and wants to make payments for things can use Centbee. We recently announced the ability to send money to your European bank account and UK bank accounts and all you need is an IBAN number. So that’s really convenient, especially for people around the world who do send money home to their families or friends.’
‘And then we are going to be announcing other countries as well where you can send your money. So Centbee has a global footprint and global ambitions. By leveraging the BSV blockchain, it makes it easy to reach every corner of the earth.’
When building Centbee, Gamaroff said that a key goal was to target young people and consider how they interact with their phones and apps. He added that traditional banking apps are typically clunky by nature and are definitely not built with younger users in mind.
This has allowed Centbee to differentiate itself from other wallets by offering a clean and simple look and feel, said Gamaroff. He added that Centbee has incorporated notifications and chat features similar to other social networking apps such as Twitter or Instagram.
‘That’s the design approach. We want to make sure that we don’t bring all the bad ideas from old legacy payment systems. We want to keep things clean and simple as well as fast and cheap.’
No blockchain knowledge is necessary
Another key design tenet of Centbee is hiding some of the more technical jargon behind the backend and away from the user. Gamaroff added that users don’t need to have any familiarity with the BSV blockchain or concepts such as peer-to-peer transactions.
‘The nice thing about BSV as a payment system is that it works just like money. And so you have a balance in your wallet.’ He added that the process of using Centbee will be familiar to anyone who has used a banking app before.
‘You can draw money out of a bank account and you can top up your wallet – and now you’ve got a balance in your wallet. And then you can go through the shop page and find many countries that we support where you can buy gift cards for your favourite stores, you can recharge your phone, you can buy electricity etc.’
However, Gamaroff noted that the BSV blockchain is essential to Centbee’s success – even if it is working in the background. This is because it is the only blockchain to offer near-instantaneous transactions married with low fees.
Another significant advantage offered by the BSV blockchain is that it is regulatory-compliant and that it is possible to follow KYC laws and other important requirements instead of operating within a grey area like other blockchains.
Partnerships with nChain and Centi
Gamaroff also announced that Centbee had recently signed a strategic partnership with nChain, a world leader in Web3 and Blockchain technologies, to strengthen its blockchain payments technology offerings.
The partnership will supplement Centbee’s technical team with nChain’s specialist software development team, who are experts in the BSV blockchain and other services. The agreement will significantly strengthen Centbee’s technical skills, leveraging its deep experience in BSV blockchain technology.
‘So we will be able to leverage some of the technologies that they’ve been developing and the IP they have created to further stabilise Centbee and ensure that it maintains its role as the leading Bitcoin (BSV) wallet.’
Gamaroff also confirmed that his company has entered into a partnership with Swiss fintech company Centi to redefine remittance services from Switzerland to Africa. Deploying advanced blockchain technology, this partnership is poised to make cross-border money transfers more streamlined, cost-effective and inclusive.