Alibaba’s payment arm, Ant Financial, has just announced the decision to team up with GCash and Standard Chartered. The partnership will be focused on a launch of a new remittance service that will be powered by blockchain technology and will allow for fast cross-border payments.
Alibaba create a service that rivals Ripple
Until recently, things like cross-border payments were long processes taking anywhere from 10 minutes to entire days to complete. That changed when Ripple (XRP) introduced its product called xRapid, which allowed for almost instant transactions.
Now, Alibaba wishes to achieve the same without the need to partner up with Ripple, through a partnering with Standard Chartered and GCash instead. This will allow these corporations to start a new remittance service. The service will allow for cross-border payments which will complete in an extremely short amount of time, thanks to blockchain technology.
#AlipayHK and #GCash launch world's first cross-wallet #remittance service powered by #blockchain using tech developed by @AntFinancial and @Alipay — we're now providing 24/7, real-time #moneytransfer between #HongKong and the #Philippines at much lower costs. #GCashXAlipayHK pic.twitter.com/9Wb7ETkLBe
— Ant Group (@AntGroup) June 25, 2018
According to Alibaba’s chairman, Jack Ma, the system has been in development for months now, and the first transaction has already been sent. The receiver was a Filipino worker overseas by the name of Mary Grace. The transaction took only three seconds for the system to process, which makes it as efficient as local transfers. Not only that, but it will also have non-stop support and added cost savings.
Exciting moment! @AlibabaGroup Executive Chairman Jack Ma witnesses the very first #GCashXAlipayHK transaction by Mary Grace, an overseas Filipino worker, who transfers money to her friends and family back home in the #Philippines pic.twitter.com/eCiGWZsSHX
— Ant Group (@AntGroup) June 25, 2018
Jack Ma says no to cryptos, but yes to the blockchain
Jack Ma doesn’t think especially highly of cryptocurrencies. In fact, for a long time now, he is known for stating that he sees Bitcoin as a bubble. Still, he has a much better opinion of blockchain technology.
According to him, blockchain has real potential and should not be used for getting rich quick. It needs to address various issues like ownership concerns, data privacy, and its efforts should be dedicated to solving real social problems, and to enable sustainable development. This is what the new project is all about and, according to Jack Ma, global expansion will be underway as soon as the Philippine and Hong Kong runs are over.
Global adoption is more than possible, according to him. Even though there is a lot of people around the world who do not own bank accounts, they still have smartphones. This is what will enable blockchain technology to make a great impact on the future of FinTech.
He added that the impact of other technologies is already obvious, and larger than anyone could have ever imagined. The IoT (Internet of Things) and machine learning are becoming more sophisticated so a deep level of understanding for these technologies is necessary if the industry is to handle such rapid development.
