A Mexican Crypto Startup Wants to Make Cash Remittances Cheaper

Even as cryptocurrencies have skyrocketed in price, there’s always been the question of what they can really be used for. One of the stronger use cases is remittances—the cross-border cash transfers that have long been dominated by the likes of Western Union Co. and MoneyGram International Inc. Intuitively, a technology that allows one person to send money to another without an intermediary could make remittances quicker and cheaper.

There are still huge barriers, from the wild volatility of many cryptocurrencies to the complexities of buying them in one country and then converting them back to traditional cash in another. Bitso, a Mexico City-based crypto trading platform, says it’s making a dent. It estimates it’s helping money transmitters move around 2.5% of the more than $40 billion in remittances flowing across the border from the U.S. to Mexico annually.