Grimes in CoinDesk: Understanding Digital Remittances
William Grimes, Associate Dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, said that digital currencies like Bitcoin could drastically change the way displaced populations send money back home.
Grimes made the argument in a Dec. 3 article in the publication CoinDesk entitled “Boston University Researchers Explore Bitcoin in Conflict Zones.”
From the text of the article:
Organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have also begun looking at blockchain implementations as a means of developing new payment systems for the unbanked.
[A] task force [examining digital remittances] is being led by Daivi Rodima-Taylor and William W Grimes of the [Center for Finance, Law and Policy] CFLP, an interdisciplinary research initiative focused on financial issues. The CFLP recently hosted a panel that explored bitcoin and the blockchain and how they might fit into the broader world of formal and informal remittance flows.
You can read the entire article here.
The panel referred to in the article took place on Nov. 12. It follows on the heels of a report on remittances in regions of beset by strife and turmoil produced by the task force, which is being led by Daivi Rodima-Taylor of the CFLP and African Studies Center and Grimes.
Crypto-currency technologies have a potential to provide convenient and secure financial services to those excluded from the formal financial sector and can be particularly important in conflict-affected contexts, where remittance transfers are limited by institutional inadequacies and regulatory concerns. These topics are particularly important to the longitudinal research of CFLP on migrant remittances in fragile and post-conflict situations.
The speakers included Marco A. Santori (Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP), Chris DeRose (Counterparty), and Joshua Unseth (Alarm Grid). Introductory remarks were by Daivi Rodima-Taylor (BU CFLP), and discussion was moderated by John Beccia (Circle Exchange). The event was part of the CFLP Financial Inclusion seminar series.
Grimes has spent time as a visiting researcher at the Japanese Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Japan, and several universities in Japan and Australia. He has been the recipient of various fellowships and awards over the years, including two Fulbright fellowships and a book-writing grant from the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership. Learn more about him here.
The African Studies Center is an affiliated regional studies center of the Pardee School.