Luis Buenaventura

Hong Kong’s bustling population of 7 million only has about 350,000 migrant workers, but on Sundays, it feels like every single one of them has managed to cram into the same 12 square kilometers of the Central district. Their mission is always the same, send money back home to the Philippines or Indonesia in the most affordable and secure way possible.

When Bitcoin was created in 2009, its most obvious use was for sending money across the planet, as easily as sending an email. The potential benefits for the 230 million migrants all over the world that send US$430 billion in remittances back home each year could be enormous. But beyond all the rhetoric, the practical implementation has yet to be sorted out.