Cryptocurrency exchange igot, which has recently stopped fradulent activities worth AUD $1.2 million, completed the acquisition of remittance services company TagPesa.
Australian bitcoin exchange igot has managed to stop frauds, amounting to AUD $1.2 million, over the last six months by applying its manual verification process.
The company has recently faced complaints concerning delays in money withdrawals, according to the co-founder Rick Day.
Day explains that delays were caused by the process of verification, which cannot be finished within few minutes. The manual verifications are imposed on “high risk” profiles in order to comply with AML and KYC obligations.
igot is aimed at eliminating the risk of criminal activities and frauds. “That to us is high risk and we will need to take our time to thoroughly review their documentations and other information provided,” Day said.
Additionally, he noted that there is a large number of frauds with the use of BPAY electronic bill payment platform.
“BPAY frauds are very high and when a customer is based overseas and sends us a BPAY from an Australian bank, the system automatically flags it for fraud. We conduct video verification (one off) and may require further verification from users. Unfortunately, people get quite angry about this verification process. Compliance is a very important step and we ask our users not to get impatient,” Day stated.
In the meantime, igot has announced it bought Kenya-based cryptocurrency exchange and remittance services provider, called TagPesa. The company has also integrated with M-Pesa, Kenya’s mobile payment system, which will enable customers to withdraw and deposit local currency directly from their bank accounts or M-Pesa wallets.
The exchange was designed to provide people with a simple way of selling and buying the digital currency all over the world. igot’s services are now available in more than 40 countries in European Union, the Middle East and Africa.
“Over 2.5 million Kenyan emigrants around the world send money home to their families. igot aims to make these transactions as easy, fast and convenient as possible,” said Rick Day in a press release.
“In 2014, remittance inflows to Kenya increased by USD 137 million or (11 percent) to USD 1,428.5 billion. The average remittance transaction costs the emigrant sender between 5 percent and 9 percent. With a flat 1 percent transaction fee, we expect to get a lot more traction as Bitcoin becomes more ubiquitous,” he also said.
igot’s users will not be charged with any fees for making the digital currency transfers, which are totally free. Besides, the company provides high level of transparency for its customers, who are always aware of the exact cost of each transaction. Furthermore, customer’s data is always kept private and 95% of digital currency information is stored in offline vaults.
Such services as igot are likely to be widely utilized by people around the globe in face of the growing use of mobile devices, primarily in emerging countries, and high prices on international money transfers.
Opened in 2013, igot has turned into one of the leading bitcoin firms operating within the global remittance market. According to the company, its core mission is to make bitcoin available to as many people as possible.
This year, the company is planning further expansion by entering Mexican and North American markets. Its services are already used by customers in Germany, Dubai, India, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore and others.
Polina is an undergraduate student at Belarusian State Economic University (BSEU) where she is studying at the faculty of International Business Communication for a degree specializing in Intercultural Communication. In her spare time she enjoys drawing, music and travelling.
