An annual international remittance conference will hold a day dedicated to the blockchain and teach attendees about the technology that could potentially disrupt their industry. The International Money Transfer Conference (IMTC) will hold the Blockchain and Remittance Day during their event in Istanbul on May 25th.
The one-day event will be part of a larger conference about remittances in the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Attendees range from executives of large remittance companies to industry analysts to founders of money transfer startups. The special blockchain event is meant to introduce a “range of practical subjects” about new money transfer systems built on top of Ripple and Bitcoin that could be used for remittances.
Much talk has surrounded the enormous potential of blockchain protocols as money transfer and remittances tools even though there were no concrete examples to show, the conference’s website notes. “That has changed in 2015. Companies are being built and will sooner or later become a vital part of new international money transfer systems that can include the traditional remittance companies if they learn, adapt, innovate partner and evolve.”
‘Rebittances’
The conference will feature several Bitcoin speakers, including venture capitalist Eddy Travia, BitOasis co-founder Ola Doudin and YellowPay co-founder David El Achkar. Bitcoin entrepreneur Aaron Koenig will also have a screening of his movie, “Satoshi’s Last Will” and discuss his book, “Bitcoin: Money Without Government.”
IMTC attendees will also be able to pay their fees in bitcoin.
According to the event’s program coordinator Hugo Cuevas-Mohr, the purpose of the event is to educate the attendees about how the blockchain could massively change remittances, a disruption Cuevas-Mohr thinks is not far off.
“The blockchain technology behind bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can be a secure & cost-efficient digital money system that will undoubtedly bring a number of changes to the way we transfer value internationally,” reads the event’s webpage. “Rebittance Companies are moving remittance in a number of corridors. The Ripple Network has already being implemented by Banks & Forex companies in different geographies, and even Western Union is looking at it.
“All these innovations will become a reality in a not-so-distant future,” the website says. “Regulation is slowly making the ecosystem more dependable and safer. Compliance and KYC will be even easier than is today. That is why we at IMTC think that it is important to learn, to listen, to analyze and to create partnerships between the old and the new to find better ways to move forward as an industry. That’s why we developed MTBIT.”
The event is open only to a select group of people, and attendees must be invited.