Ripple has acquired an equity stake in Flutterwave, a major African fintech company, valued at $3.3 billion. The deal aims to deepen Ripple's presence in Africa's growing cross-border payments market and will see Flutterwave integrate Ripple's stablecoin and XRP Ledger for faster, cheaper transactions.
Ripple has acquired an equity stake in Flutterwave, a major African fintech company, as part of its expansion into the continent's growing cross-border payments market. The deal will see Flutterwave integrate Ripple's stablecoin and XRP Ledger for faster, cheaper transactions.
Chinese film 'Dear You' has generated significant anticipation among Singapore's Chinese diaspora, grossing over $236 million in China. However, concerns have arisen over potential Mandarin dubbing in Singapore, raising questions about preserving the film's authenticity and heritage.
Envioscuba.com, a major platform for Cubans in the US to send remittances and goods to relatives on the island, has stopped taking new orders due to US sanctions targeting Cuban businesses. The platform cited reasons beyond its control for the cessation of services.
A Teochew-language film exploring Chinese migration and heritage has achieved significant box office success in China, while also igniting discussions across Southeast Asia regarding China's soft power and influence among Chinese diaspora communities.
Movement, a Move-based blockchain network, announced it has gained access to licensed payment rails across the US, Canada, and EU. This move aims to enhance its cross-border payment offerings, connecting traditional banking with stablecoin settlement networks, particularly for emerging markets.
MoneyGram has launched MGUSD, a US dollar stablecoin on the Stellar blockchain, integrated into its app via a self-custodial wallet. This move deepens its blockchain-based cross-border payment strategy, aiming to reduce remittance costs and offer global fund movement and local currency conversion.
Overseas money transfers via India's Liberalised Remittance Scheme have stabilized around $30 billion. While education remittances dropped due to international restrictions, investments in foreign equity and debt markets have nearly doubled in three years, indicating a shift in remittance patterns.
Indians significantly reduced overseas travel spending in March, with remittances dropping by over $212 million from February, according to RBI data. This decline is attributed to rising oil prices, a weakened rupee, and a call from PM Modi to curb foreign travel.
Google-owned remittance app Pring will end all services on December 1, 2026. Acquired by Google in 2021 for over 10 billion yen, the integration with Google Pay never materialized. Pring will stop new registrations in June 2024 and gradually halt services, with remaining balances to be automatically refunded.
Asian migrant workers in the Gulf are testing stablecoins as a backup channel for sending money home, as the Iran war heightens fears that the risk of US sanctions could disrupt remittances that millions of families and several Asian economies rely on. Remittances from these workers account for 3 per cent to 5 per cent of gross domestic product in several emerging markets – in Nepal, it is as high as 10 per cent, according to data from the Global Settlement Network. Concerns over remittance...
El Nino's expected return in May brings hotter, drier conditions to Southeast Asia, damaging agriculture and increasing forest fire risks, yet may also cause dangerous localized flooding despite overall dryness, exacerbating challenges for emerging economies already strained by geopolitical tensions and higher energy costs.
India's global migration impact is soaring, with its diaspora of 19 million driving a record $137 billion in remittances for 2024. The nation also leads in student and skilled worker emigration, particularly in tech and healthcare. Key corridors include UAE, US, and Saudi Arabia, showcasing a dynamic shift in global labor.
Remittance firms are using crypto to bypass parts of traditional settlement infrastructure, but this does not mean SWIFT is disappearing.
Western Union is one of several remittance firms that announced stablecoin plans after the US passed the stablecoin-friendly GENIUS Act in July.
Remittance giant Western Union’s USDPT token will power cross-border payments and a consumer spending product launching in 40+ countries.
The US-to-Mexico remittance corridor, while still the largest, shrank 4.5% in 2025 as other Latin American corridors grew.
A former Bybit executive is urging fintech and stablecoin companies to expand beyond the US-Mexico corridor to capture the $174 billion Latin America remittance market. Claudia Wang, former CMO at Bybit, spent six months studying the region and identifies the US-Central America corridor as 'exploding' with Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala seeing 19%, 18% and 15% growth respectively in 2025, while the saturated US-Mexico corridor declined 4.5%. She notes that many companies have overlooked the $112 billion non-US-to-Mexico remittance market, including Venezuela-to-Colombia and Argentina-to-Bolivia corridors that remain barely served by money transmitters and crypto rails.
India's remittance inflows have grown to $138 billion in FY2025 from $120 billion in FY2024, becoming more shock-resistant as advanced economies now contribute over half of total inflows. The GCC share has declined from 47% to 38%, while the US now contributes 27.7%. Despite near-term risks from Middle East conflict, the diversification toward white-collar diaspora provides structural resilience.
South Korea's Hana Financial, POSCO International and Upbit operator Dunamu have moved their blockchain remittance system into live trade transactions.
South Korea's Kbank has signed a strategic partnership with Ripple to test blockchain-based overseas remittances, placing a bank with a central role in Upbit's KRW account access beside one of crypto's longest-running payments infrastructure firms. Local reports describe the work as a technical verification, or proof-of-concept, focused on whether Ripple's infrastructure can improve the speed, […] The post The South Korean bank powering Upbit is testing Ripple integration for cross-border payments appeared first on CryptoSlate.
Kbank, South Korea's internet-only bank, has signed a strategic partnership with Ripple to test blockchain-based overseas remittances. The agreement was signed by Kbank CEO Choi Woo-hyung and Ripple's Asia-Pacific managing director Fiona Murray at Kbank's Seoul headquarters. The partnership uses Ripple's global network to test whether remittances can be made faster, cheaper and more transparent. Companies are conducting phased technical verification, with the second phase digitally linking customer accounts and internal systems, including onchain transfers to the UAE and Thailand. The tie-up comes as South Korea prepares stablecoin regulations under the Digital Asset Basic Act.
Crypto majors are very green with Bitcoin making a new another 2-month high; BTC +2% at $96,7500; ETH +2% at $3,360, SOL even at $145; XRP -1% to $2.11. DCR (+30%), DASH (+10%), ICP (+10%) and ZEC (+7%) led top movers; XMR hit another new ATH at $800 before retracing to $725. Coinbase pulled support for the Senate’s crypto market structure bill ahead of a key vote, citing major concerns with the latest draft, leading to the Senate delaying the bill. Zcash avoided SEC action after the Zcash Foundation said the agency’s investigation has concluded. Ripple secured a Luxembourg license as its European expansion continued. Pakistan teamed with World Liberty Financial to explore stablecoin use cases for remittances and cross-border payments. The Human Rights Foundation awarded nearly $1.3M in Bitcoin grants to projects tied to human rights and freedom tech. Figure unveiled a new public equity network designed to enable on-chain issuance of stocks and related assets. FTX prepared another round of creditor payments and outlined timing details for the next distribution on March 31. Sui came back online after a nearly six-hour network stall, marking another reliability test for the chain.
