TBD, one of four businesses at Block (formerly Square), which is focused on creating open and decentralized technologies to connect the financial world, has announced that Chipper Cash, a remittance fintech has integrated with the tbDEX protocol to power cross-border payments and decentralized identity use cases for individuals and businesses on the African continent.
Block was co-founded by Jack Dorsey, who also started Twitter. Dorsey is also Block’a chairman.
“Across Africa, the challenges of currency liquidity and access to global financial systems are palpable,” said Mike Brock, CEO of TBD. “For these reasons, we are laser-focused on building out the tbDEX ecosystem in Africa, which already includes Yellowcard, the largest and only licensed stablecoin on/off ramp on the African continent. Fast on the heels of our tbDEX SDK 1.0 release, adding Chipper Cash to our growing network will help to accelerate our work on global cross border payments and decentralized identity.”
Chipper Cash allows 5 million consumers to move money efficiently to over 21 African countries. And with over 1.2 million cards issued, Chipper’s integration represents the onboarding of one of the largest virtual card issuers in Africa.
“At Chipper Cash, we’re excited about the potential of tbDEX to revolutionize remittance flows into Africa,” said Maijid Moujaled, President and Co-Founder of Chipper Cash. “Remittances are a lifeline for many African families, but the costs of sending money to the continent remain among the highest globally. By plugging into an open protocol like tbDEX with numerous network participants, we believe we can, collectively as an industry, drive down these high costs and facilitate remittances in a more efficient, transparent, and compliant manner.”
While the initial collaboration will focus on enabling faster and less expensive consumer remittances, the two companies will also explore ways to empower small businesses. Chipper’s offerings for businesses already enable local and cross-border digital payments for underbanked SMEs across 40 different African countries, powering disbursements and collections from bank accounts, mobile money wallets and Chipper wallets.
Chipper Cash will also leverage tbDEX to unlock trusted, compliant transactions with verifiable credentials (VCs) and decentralized identifiers (DIDs) to accelerate the onboarding and identity verification of consumers and small businesses.
“Chipper is also excited to collaborate with TBD on the trust frameworks and innovative credential designs that underpin every financial transaction on tbDEX,” Moujaled said. “The idea that we can have a standardized and streamlined way to verify our identity on the internet can help make the world feel a bit more inclusive.”
