BVNK launches Mobile Money support for Bitcoin and Litecoin purchases in Africa

United Kingdom FinTech, BVNK, has recently added Mobile Money support to their cryptocurrency platform that enables consumers to buy, store and use cryptocurrency. The platform is aimed at accelerating accessibility and utility for cryptocurrencies. Consumers can easily open Bitcoin accounts and buy Bitcoin via Mobile Money or bank transfer, with card support being introduced soon. They can also send Bitcoin to other BVNK users or external accounts, with a host of financial functionality being released over the coming months. The FinTech also recently released an iOS mobile app to complement their web application, both in open beta. This functionality is designed for businesses to extend or create new solutions, and the applications are available for white labeling.

The company released their open beta applications to generate functional feedback from actual users as quickly as possible. “We launched in beta with Bitcoin and have already added Litecoin. We are also finalising the addition of Dash.” Says BVNK’s CEO and Founder Kyle Redelinghuys. “Our goal is to give people that are unfamiliar with cryptocurrencies the opportunity to participate in a simple and secure manner.” BVNK is aiming their beta version at users in Africa to ensure that the product set is relevant. “We want to avoid assumptions as much as we can and decided to release in open beta to get real feedback from real users.” explains Kyle Hauptfleisch, Head of Business Development, “Our aim is to enable businesses to solve financial challenges in developing markets. The feedback we’re getting is excellent.”

Since the launch of the applications a little over a month ago, the company has amassed a following of over 500 users in 18 countries across Africa and Europe. “We have seen a very healthy amount of demand from Africa, particularly in Ghana and Uganda. This is the primary reason we introduced Mobile Money,” says Redelinghuys, “and all these channels are available to businesses too. We’re gathering feedback so that businesses looking at these market can capitalise on our learnings.”

The company formally launched in September 2017 and has progressed rapidly since. “We have had an amazing response to our SaaS (software as a service) offering and have secured some agreements in a very short space of time. We also have multiple conversations across different financial sectors.” Says Kyle Hauptfleisch, “We provide all the functionality required to build your own cryptocurrency backed financial institution, be that for personal or commercial use, as well accounts backed by real, independent wallets. That means there is no centralised holding of user’s funds or rather no centralised point of failure, and users are free to use other wallet providers if they want to.” BVNK’s multi-tenant SaaS offering is aimed at enabling developers and businesses to build financial utility and provide relevant solutions for their communities.

“Our mission is to provide progressive financial solutions, and the fastest way to make an impact is to enable businesses that are already providing financial products to easily and quickly improve.” explains Redelinghuys, “This is why we are primarily a B2B business.”

The consumer applications are powered by BVNK’s API library. Hauptfleisch concludes, “We wanted to kill two birds with one stone: show businesses what is possible and provide a truly easy way for Africans to access Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.”