California-based blockchain firm Everest has announced a partnership with BRI Remittance, a unit of Bank Rakyat Indonesia, to boost cross-border transactions across the Indonesia-Europe corridor. One of Everest’s existing projects for remittances is with the Central Bank of Samoa.
Under the agreement, BRI will integrate Everest’s solution with its banking infrastructure to provide cross-border payments, FX settlement, and cash-in/cash-out services.
Established in 2016, Everest offers a digital commerce platform that provides quite a bit of technology infrastructure, including tokenizing money for value exchange, identity verification, and compliance reporting such as Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML).
“BRI Remittance Company’s vision is to be the leading global money service provider. To accomplish this mission, we established joint cooperation with Everest, the leading solution combining KYC, AML, compliance, and digital money movement－all through an integrated blockchain platform,” said Gigieh Perkasa, Executive Director at BRI Remittance.
Everest offers a product suite comprised of three components — EverChain, the transaction system which uses a Layer 2 blockchain on the Ethereum network, EverWallet, a digital currency wallet, and EverID, a digital biometric identity system. It also has the native CRDT token, which is pegged to the US Dollar.
Leveraging smart contracts, users can set conditions for the use of money being transferred so that it can be limited to specific purposes such as paying bills or charging your mobile balance. Users who do not have a smartphone can be KYC’ed and receive money over the Everest platform, which is especially beneficial for the unbanked and underbanked. This leverages the biometric identity feature.
Last year, the Asian Development Bank contracted Everest to build a cross-border payment solution between Samoa, Australia and New Zealand. The company is integrating its platform with the Samoan Central Bank.
The company previously worked with the Cambodian Health Ministry of Kampong Chhnang Province and a local NGO to improve healthcare services in Kampong Chhnang Province.
Indonesia has an existing relationship with Everest, which worked with The Indonesian National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Reduction (TNP2K) using digital identity.
