Hong Kong-based remittance service Bitspark was the winner at the Innotribe Startup Challenge, the semi-final in a series of FinTech innovation competitions hosted by SWIFT.
It was voted as the winner by 200+ reported attendees after presenting an early version of its remittance platform for both Money Transfer Operators (MTOs) and individuals.
The startup will head to SWIFT's International Banking Operations Seminar (Sibos) in October, to be held this year in Singapore. There, it will compete for the final prize in front of an expected 9,000 attendees.
Bitspark started out offering an assortment of bitcoin-powered services: remittances, an exchange, merchant integration and loans. Recently, it closed its exchange and has focused entirely on its remittances platform.
The platform is one of several to use bitcoin as a backbone for transferring money, potentially bringing down the cost by several percent.
The Innotribe Challenge was launched by SWIFT to "Bridge the gap between the Fintech startup ecosystem, and the financial community, bringing early insights into innovations that could disrupt current business models and create opportunities for new ones."
This year's Sibos conference will also feature a session on "The Future of Money." As in 2014's edition, this year's will explore how Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies can potentially disrupt the world of finance from several angles.
