BitLipa is a Kenyan peer-to-peer remittance startup that enables users to send money to Africa from anywhere in the world using cryptos such as bitcoin. The startup launched its Android app in April, 2020. BitLipa is in partnership with Enigma Securities to provide it with bitcoin liquidity to facilitate reliable transfers.
The app allow freelancers to receive payment for their work both locally and internationally while people who work abroad can send money back home easily and with no transaction fee.
How BitLipa Works
You can only make bitcoin transactions with a crypto wallet. To get a crypto wallet, you have to download the BitLipa Android app and sign up. Once you have signed up successfully, open the wallet, click on “deposit” and fund your wallet. If you want to acquire cryptocurrency, click on the exchange function inside the fiat wallet, enter the amount of cryptos you want to acquire and wait for the confirmation of the transaction on the blockchain.
To receive cryptos from another person, open your crypto wallet and copy-paste your public address from the receive function and then provide the wallet address of the person sending you cryptos. Once the transaction has been confirmed on the blockchain, you can convert it to fiat money by clicking on the exchange function inside the wallet and exchange your cryptos. You can then withdraw the money to your bank account or mobile wallet such as M-Pesa.
At the moment, supported cryptos on BitLipa platform are bitcoin, ethereum, dash, and aeternity. More cryptocurrencies will be added in the future.
You can fund your BitLipa fiat wallet through fiat gateways in Paypal, M-Pesa, and banks. You can send money using the receiver’s QR code, phone number or public address in crypto.
How to Receive Funds Via BitLipa and Transfer Limits
Your beneficiary can receive money instantly in their local currency or crypto within BitLipa. Thereafter, the recipient can either spend the transfer in crypto or convert it to fiat within the application. The minimum number of bitcoins you can transact on BitLipa is 0.001 as the fintech operates with 3 decimal places. You can use Google to find out the current exchange rate of 0.001 BTC in the local currency of the receiver. The maximum amount you can transact on fiat wallet is $1,000 or equivalence in cryptocoins.
Conclusion
There is a growing interest around the world in blockchain-based transfers using cryptos such as bitcoin to send money to Africa in order to, primarily, cut down on transfer costs so recipients can receive more money for their basic needs. Sending money to Africa attracts unreasonably high fees, the highest in the world. Sending money within Africa is even more expensive than sending money to Africa from abroad. BitLipa free transfers is one of the latest innovation in remittance market in Africa.