DigitalX, a blockchain-based software solutions company, recently announced that it has joined forces with Latin American telecom giant Telefónica to market its money transfer and remittance app, AirPocket, across Latin America.

AirPocket is Telefonica’s first vendor selected in the United States. Telefonica will market the AirPocket app to its customers, who have 232 million connected devices, across Latin America and Mexico, offering potential connections to those customers’ friends and relatives across North America. 

The strategic agreement allows consumers in the U.S. and Canada to use AirPocket to transfer funds directly into mobile phone accounts of users on the Telefónica network in Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Uruguay. Additional countries will be added as part of the broader roll out, the company said.  

“The Telefónica partnership is transformational for our company, and I am not only talking from a revenue opportunity perspective. The fact is, this deal puts our emerging technology company on the global stage and cements our position as a first mover in providing a blockchain application of commercial scale,” said Zhenya Tsvetnenko, DigitalX executive chairman and founder, as quoted by The Australian. “This is a major milestone in the commercialisation of our technology as it opens a very lucrative market for DigitalX given the large Latin American population working in the US.”

Research shows smartphone usage in Latin America is forecast to increase by 58% to 245.6 million in 2019, signaling a tremendous growth opportunity for AirPocket. The app offers a cheaper, more secure and faster alternative to traditional money transfer companies and banks. It essentially allows anyone to act as a small Western Union outlet. DigitalX’s software will also allow an individual and merchant with a smartphone and free cash to create their own business and become a remittance broker. 

AirPocket is one of the first international bill payments solutions, and claims to have much lower fees as compared to Western Union. It has more security as it is based on blockchain technology, which is being seen as huge way by the banking and legal industries to conduct value transfers online. The AirPocket app is available in the App Store and on Google Play.