TBD launches tbDEX in LATAM
Unveils tbDEX SDKs to unlock new global payment use cases on tbDEX
Signs strategic partnerships with Bankaya and Conduit to power LATAM cross border payment solutions
TBD, a business from Block focused on creating open and decentralized technologies to connect the financial world, today announced the global availability of tbDEX SDKs. These SDKs offer developers and enterprises the ability to engage on tbDEX, a new interoperability layer and common messaging protocol upon which the next generation of global payments solutions can be built. To advance and explore LATAM cross border payment solutions, TBD has partnered with leading fintech players, including Bankaya and Conduit Financial.
Imagining a new world of global cross border payments
Cross border payments volume in Latin America reached $146 billion in 2022, making it the second region behind South Asia with the highest amount of remittances worldwide, including transactions from individuals and businesses. Despite the massive volume, the industry still faces substantial challenges that limit adoption, including lack of transparency and trust, poor user experiences, slow transaction speeds, and high fees.
“In Latin America, remittances are a lifeline for many families and businesses, but it is still far too expensive and slow for cross border funds to be sent, impacting those sending the least the hardest,” says Mike Brock, CEO of TBD. “tbDEX bridges new technologies with established systems without requiring people to abandon the financial tools they use today to contribute to a more open and accessible payments system.”
An open, decentralized financial system will enable people and institutions to exchange value and transact at significantly lower costs and more inclusively than what traditional financial systems allow. tbDEX was formed as an open source, permissionless protocol out of a desire to enable everyone to participate in this vision for the future.
tbDEX: a new trust and identity layer for digital payments
tbDEX is an open messaging protocol that connects liquidity seekers with providers and equips all participants with a common language for facilitating transactions. Using open source protocols and common standards, it provides developers, enterprises, entrepreneurs, and governments with a universal language to facilitate transactions in a way that's more inclusive, efficient and trustworthy.
Core to tbDEX’s innovation is the creation of a trust protocol for the exchange of value. This makes bitcoin, stablecoins, other digital assets - and even traditional fiat - more useful by creating a standardized way to establish trust and transact through an internet-native value exchange protocol.
tbDEX is architected on Web5 infrastructure, utilizing decentralized technologies such as Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) and Verifiable Credentials (VCs) to securely validate counterparty identity and trust, as well as helping to enable compliance with relevant laws and regulations across global jurisdictions.
TBD partners with Bankaya and Conduit to power cross border payment use cases on tbDEX
To facilitate cross border payments in Latin America on tbDEX, TBD has partnered with Bankaya, a Mexican fintech, and Conduit, an API provider focused on enabling businesses to move money between LatAm and the U.S. at scale.
“We’re delighted to partner with Bankaya and Conduit, two companies that embody Block’s purpose of economic empowerment,” says Emily Chiu, COO of TBD. “These strategic alliances enable the exploration of compelling B2C and B2B use cases on tbDEX – to better serve the challenges of unbanked and underserved individuals as well as businesses across LatAm.”
As one of the fastest growing fintech startups in Mexico, Bankaya is unique in its focus on serving unbanked and underserved populations through tech products, solutions, and platforms. Bankaya currently serves 1.4 million customers through its fintech app, which powers a fully digital savings account, payments of services, a BNPL platform, and additional products that foster financial health and education.
“We believe cross-border transactions will continue to evolve through decentralized finance, and in this sense, tbDEX provides a powerful lever to amplify Bankaya’s mission of expanding financial and digital inclusion,” says Mauricio Cordero, Co-Founder and CEO of Bankaya. “It allows us to connect our previously underserved customers in Mexico to their broader network of friends and family members within the U.S. in a more inclusive way.”
As a participant in the open source tbDEX ecosystem, Conduit intends to explore use cases that include helping businesses send or receive payments in stablecoin in order to overcome the friction of cross-border payments. Conduit currently works with a number of LatAm companies that conduct global cross-border trade.
“As a universal, open source protocol, tbDEX streamlines the integration burden for network participants, without requiring tokens or permission from intermediaries,” said Kirill Gertman, CEO of Conduit. “I see it enabling us to seamlessly facilitate transactions in either local fiat or next-generation rails in more transparent and faster ways than we could over SWIFT or other traditional systems.”
Any potential participants who would like to learn more about tbDEX can visit tbdex.io and connect with the TBD team at tbdex.io/connect.
tbDEX 1.0 SDKs and implementation guides now available
tbDEX SDKs are now available in TypeScript / JavaScript, Kotlin, and Swift – enabling integrations with Web, Android, and iOS applications, respectively. These SDKs enable applications to “speak tbDEX” – connecting liquidity seekers with providers, and equipping all participants with a common language for establishing trust and facilitating transactions.
For developers, adopting the tbDEX protocol unlocks global liquidity for end customers, while avoiding the complexity associated with bespoke API integrations with each and every provider. These SDKs offer a range of functionality, including:
tbDEX SDK: used by participants to construct, sign, and send tbDEX messages
DIDs SDK: used to create and resolve identifiers (DIDs) that represent institutions and participants
Credentials SDK: used to create and verify the Verifiable Credentials (VCs) used to comply with relevant laws and regulations
All tbDEX SDKs are open source and free for anyone to use. To get started, visit tbdex.io/guides and tbdex.io/developers and join one of the upcoming tbDEX workshops.
About TBD
As one of four businesses at Block (fka Square), TBD is focused on creating open and decentralized technologies to connect the financial world. Guided by this vision, TBD is building an open source developer platform and infrastructure that enables everyone to access and participate in the global economy.
About Bankaya
Bankaya is one of the few technology startups in Mexico truly focused on the unbanked and underserved populations through its unique offline customer acquisition strategy and product offering. Bankaya's purpose is to empower everyone with the financial and digital freedom to break through barriers and achieve more.
About Conduit
Conduit Technology, Inc. is a next-generation payments platform enabling businesses in emerging markets to move money faster, cheaper and more transparently than legacy rails. The company annually processes billions in transactions between USD and local currencies in Latin America, with expansion to Africa underway. Founded in the USA in 2021, Conduit is powered by a remote team with members in North America, Europe, Latin America and Africa. To learn more visit conduit.fi.