Last Updated on: 21st November 2023, 08:26 pm

Financial technology, or fintech, has had some of its most substantial growth in the last decade. According to The World Bank, there had been a significant increase in the share of adults using financial accounts, as it rose from 30% between 2011 and 2021 to 71% percent, partly attributing it to fintech developments such as mobile money. In addition, the share of adults making or receiving digital payments grew to 57% in 2021 from 35% in 2014 as per The World Bank Findex data surveys.  

Founded in 2014 by German billionaire Michael Gastauer, Black Banx has been among the key organizations at the forefront of fintech’s growth. The Canada-based fintech has so far earned as much as six million new customers in the first half of 2023 alone, bringing its customer base to well over 28 million.

Global in scope since its establishment since launching to the public in 2015, Black Banx has been operational in over 180 countries. The key regions in which the company has generated its revenue have been the Asia Pacific (APAC) at 33% and Latin America and the Caribbean (LACAR) at 28%. This is closely followed by North America at 21%, and rounded out by the Middle East and Africa, or MEA region, at 12% and Europe, Iceland and Norway 6%.

Entering the World’s Largest Economy

While Black Banx has a substantial presence in North America, Michael Gastauer and company have made it clear that Black Banx has extensive plans to further its focus in the market, particularly the United States.

Easing international money transfers

According to the World Bank, in 2022, the US sent remittances worth US$689 billion to other countries, making it the nation that sends the most remittances in the world. China was next to send the most, but at a significantly distant second at US$176 billion, and followed Saudi Arabia with $78 billion, Germany with $35 billion, and the United Arab Emirates with $34 billion.

Unfortunately, also according to the World Bank, the average cost to send money overseas is roughly six percent of whatever the amount is. With that said, the US$689 billion sent by customers in the U.S. to other countries cost them an estimated $41.24 billion in fees.

This is one of the major aspects in financial services in the U.S. which Black Banx aims to improve substantially upon further entry into the domestic market.

According to Michael Gastauer, “Customers, whether they are in the US or anywhere else, have an increasing need to fulfill more global transactions. Being able to do this in real-time with low fees is simply something established banks, particularly traditional ones, cannot. But digital banking platforms like Black Banx can.”

Offering private and business accounts that can transact in 28 FIAT currencies and 2 crypto currencies, Black Banx will further ease the burden of sending money overseas for U.S. customers by making currency exchanges absolutely free when the recipient is also a Black Banx account.

Addressing the potential crypto gap in the U.S.

The wave of U.S. government enforcement against cryptocurrency companies is beginning to remake the industry domestically.

Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the United States, has opened a business in Bermuda. Gemini, a rival firm based in New York, is seeking a license in the United Arab Emirates. Bittrex, an exchange in Seattle, has shut down its U.S. operations. 

Following years of trying to shape federal regulation in the US, more and more of domestic crypto companies—particularly the exchanges where customers buy and sell digital tokens—are exploring plans to build their businesses in other countries.

While it may be too early to tell how this plays out, one things is for certain: customers with a preference for transacting and growing their wealth via crypto will have dwindling options for the foreseeable future.

Offering crypto currency as a deposit method since 2016 and having a fully fledged crypto currency trading with BTC and ETH as crypto currency in 2018, Black Banx is not shying away from the current crypto challenges emerging in the U.S.

Gastauer sees it being of little benefit to customers, the reason behind Black Banx’s steady success, if they were to limit transactions to traditional currencies just because the U.S. is being a little stringent with its crypto compliance.

“In order for us to best help customers fulfill their hopes and realize their ambitions and help businesses to thrive and, overall contribute to the prosperity of any economy, we must be able to offer as many transaction and currency options as possible. With our commitment to innovation for the sake of keeping up with customers’ evolving banking needs, this means also working with crypto.”

Black Banx’s cryptocurrency proposition has remained among the more unique in fintech, as the company offers our clients autonomy by combining its fully fledged banking platform with the features of a crypto exchange. This effectively has enabled Black Banx customers to use their crypto balance to pay third parties directly, with the recipients receiving payments in their preferred currency.

As 2023 nears its close and Black Banx inevitably earns the patronage of more customers to bring its customer total to well over 30 million private accounts, the company can expectedly begin taking its next steps into the U.S. in as early as the start of 2024.

With the global banking needs of the U.S. market growing and evolving like that of the rest of the world, it can be expected that Black Banx is at the ready, with locally-tailored fintech services and solutions constantly in development.