Blockchain Ecosystem to Give Unbanked Access to Financial Services in Developing Countries

A new blockchain-based ecosystem is vowing to help 490 million unbanked and underbanked people across Southeast Asia access modern financial services.

According to TraXion, only 54 percent of adults in developing countries have access to a bank account. This is even more keenly felt in the Philippines, where 80 percent of families are unbanked or underbanked. Across the country, credit cards have a penetration rate of just 3 percent.

The platform is hoping to create “fair and easy access” to a suite of services including low-cost remittances, savings accounts, cashless payments, peer-to-peer lending and insurance. It believes that opening the door to regulated financial services has the potential to rescue up to $42 billion from what it calls “the grey market.”

TraXion says its token “brings the benefits of blockchain to everyday people, without needing to understand the underlying technology.” It wants to provide a flawless service through channels that Filipinos are familiar with, meaning customers would not require any technical know-how to enjoy the full use of the platform.

A suite of six services

The company has broken down its offering into six different services — some of which are already up and running.

TraXionPay.com allows merchants to send and receive payments using 20 different methods. Meanwhile, the TraXion Wallet is designed to enable remittance payments and donations — enabling users to transfer cryptocurrencies and fiat money with ease. Some of the other services on offer include Azzurance — an insurance platform offering car, fire, property and travel insurance — and BayaniHealth — which provides “flexible, tier-based healthcare packages.” Rounding off the collection is GavaGives.com, which has been billed as “the Philippines’ most popular crowdfunding platform.”

Beta testing on its platform for payments and remittances is already under way, with the company adding, “We have up to one million maritime entrepreneurs, 600,000 convenience stores and two fruit plantations just waiting to sign up.”

TraXion argues that, currently, international transactions in developing countries are extremely inefficient — a problem exacerbated by the large number of migrants who work in the Philippines.

It says that payments through its platform would be borderless and considerably cheaper than some of its rivals — and claims fees of between one and five percent represent a saving of up to 80 percent for customers. Payments would also be processed in seconds instead of days, in part because of their agentless nature, and are truly scalable — meaning that the system can be used for purchasing small, everyday essentials as well as transferring thousands of dollars. All the transactions handled through its platform are immutably recorded on a blockchain, making them auditable.

Although TraXion is focusing its attention on one region to begin with, the company says it has the ability to “quickly expand anywhere.”

“Making finance fair and accessible”

The chief executive of TraXion, Ann Cuisia-Lindayag, has 20 years of experience in IT and founded GaraGives. She said, “We are passionate about social impact and dedicated to creating a financial solution for the common good.” The company says it has a proven track record and a clear vision to empower the nonprofit sector.

TraXion’s presale began on May 1, 2018, and it will conclude on July 30. A total of 45 million TXN tokens are being offered during this phase. Its crowdsale will run from August 1-31.

It has already created a development hub that’s designed to create blockchain solutions for financial institutions — helping to generate revenue. Once the token sale is complete, the company’s focus will turn to enhancing the functionality of the TraXion wallet — and enhancing its existing platform with smart contracts. A crypto trading feature supporting major cryptocurrencies is expected to be introduced by the end of the year.