A lot many money transfer operators, small and large are looking towards going digital. Not just going digital, but also are wondering on how to get on the bandwagon of all things crypto. The following article or video, whatever you prefer, explains the five essential steps (in my opinion) that will enable you to get started with cryptocurrency for your money transfer business.
Educate Yourself
Use crypto. Get a wallet (more on that later), understand how the transfers works. How to look up a transfer on the blockchain, how much money is taken for the transfer, understand simple terms like gas money, confirmations, etc.
Learn the difference between regulars cryptocurrency coins and stable-coins, how are they different. Which stable coins are put out by whom. Go to Google, type the name of the stable coin and click on news and read a few articles. Do your research.
There are plenty of YouTube channels. Look for ones with many many videos, like say over 200-300 videos, that is the channel you most likely would like to follow. Someone who is consistently putting out videos. Also, read, whilst YouTube is the way to do ‘accelerated learning’ I would highly recommend you read say 10-12 articles a day.
Head over to Coin Telegraph or Coin Desk and read articles. This will really get your understanding going.
Exchanges & Wallets
Register with a few exchanges, Binance, Huobi, Bitflyer, Bitstamp, Coinbase, Kraken, Luno, etc. maybe there is a regional exchange in your locale.
The goal is to be able to trade (buy/sell) cryptocurrency and see how easy/difficult it is for you to transfer the money from fiat to crypto and vice versa. How much it costs you to maintain such a transaction on these platforms.
The goal is to buy/sell here and not resort to day-trading or speculative trading. You will be tempted to do so, but please do not divulge into that.
NEVER sign up for any exchange without using Two-Factor Authentication. And remember, NEVER to load more than say $250-500 in your account. There are many scammers, who use social engineering, to try to trick you into getting access to your account, and if you successfully fall prey to this, then your exposure would be very limited.
Get different wallets like Blockchain.com (highly recommended), Mycelium, BRD (formerly BreadWallet), Edge Wallet (highly recommended), etc.
Load money into them, exchange value between wallets, learn how to setup the secret passwords and how to restore wallets.
Experiment with different coins, exchanges, methods. Learn to understand about liquidity, how long it takes to load money or cash out, what the limits are, if they offer institutions accounts, do you get discounts on volume trading, etc.
The more you play, the more you will understand.
Bank Account
Get a separate bank account.
For Crypto related activities of your company, do NOT use you current bank account.
Start small. Very small.
May like $100 to $500 a day and see how it goes.
Also perhaps start with a state for which you may have a money transmitter license that does not require an MTL for cryptocurrency. If there is a need to inform your regulator, do so. Let them know you will be doing a pilot that does NOT involve real customers, or limited customers which you will back up with funds, should the transactions go wrong, it is always good to maintain a thick file of communication with your regulator. it is a great CYA – cover your ass strategy.
Compliance & Training
Enroll and talk to people who specialize in compliance with respect to crypto. Two companies come to mind (no affiliation), one is The AML Shop (in Canada) and the other is Elliptic.
Understanding compliance in the crypto world is different from understanding compliance in the fiat world. Your compliance program, and the tools and systems you use to maintain that compliance manual and enforce it would need to change. You also would need to get additional training for you and your staff for the crypto side of things as far as AML and CFT training is concerned.
Document, Strategize & Go-Live!
The whole goal is to understand the ecosystem and for that, do not rely on your memory. Use things like Force-Field Analysis, Lean Canvas Template, and the SWOT Analysis tables to better understand for yourself and your team the pros/cons of crypto in your business.
The most your team gets involved, the better it is. Do not attempt ‘singular’ learning or try to be the captain of the ship where you are the only one on board. You will have lots of trouble getting your co-workers to come on board later on. Get them involved equally from day one and you will benefit.
Put a go to market strategy on paper. Commit to it. If you need help in having it reviewed, talk to me, I will be happy to listen and casually review it.
Theory is fine, but go-live is what matters.
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This page was last updated on July 24, 2023.
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