Migrants, Blockchain and a better LIFE !

This article is adapted from the original article here

Blockchain technology has aided in overcoming the pain points of many industries.(and at least theoretically for many other industries)

As of 2018, there are 258 million migrants in the world — who moves from one place to another in order to find work or better living conditions. If you are a migrant, or a dependant of a migrant, you’d certainly know the issues faced by the migrants community.

To start with,

Getting access to banking services are hard for migrants. Sometimes they are asked to provide the reference of a local guardian or in other cases, they need to maintain a minimum balance of a heavy opening balance which they cannot afford. The requirements for opening banking account varies form country to country — banks to banks.

Another problem faced by the migrant community is in remittances. Even if migrants manage to maintain a bank account, they need to pay a good deal of money as service charge for sending money back to home.

The current system of remittances are not fair to the migrants. However, hope is lit with the decentralised ledger technology.

Blockchain based financial transfers are cheaper and therefore, more affordable for migrants. For example, using Bitcoin, the transaction charges as seen in traditional MTOs, can be slashed down to 1 percent. Bitcoin-to-Bitcoin transfer offers minimal transfer costs when compared to MTOs. Conversion of bitcoins to local currency will not cause loss in the value of amount the migrants send. This way not more than a penny of their hard earned money is wasted.

Blockchain based applications can provide the same services a bank can offer to a migrant, but in an efficient and cost effective way. For example, instead of waiting days to send money to their home, crypto solutions can do the same in a matter of minutes. There are already few applications available in the market (Like LALA WORLD, BANQU etc)

Blockchain also makes identity verification much easier for migrants with digital IDs.There are several blockchain companies in the market that allow easy access to services and humanitarian assistance for migrants. All they have to do is to have a unique digital ID.

Blockchain technology will make the life of migrants easier by providing them access to basic and most important services that are needed to lead a pleasant life. Mobile banks for the unbanked, low remittance transaction fees and making the identity verification for migrants simple are the solution blockchain give to kill the pain points of migrants.

This article is adapted from the original article here