Why is every fintech doing remittance?

A detailed explanation of why fintechs appear to choose the remittance use case (< 5% TAM share) over the other three cross-border payments use cases

There are two types of people in this world.

Those wondering why:

1. new startups choose fintech when other essential industries, like healthtech and edtech, demand attention.

2. fintechs don’t tackle real issues. Rather, they converge on a narrow set of problems, e.g.

   • a faster transfer app vs. more accessible credit-based solutions, or

   • another remittance app vs. enabling seamless business payments to China.

This article is focused on group two.

By asking “Why fintechs don’t tackle real issues?” they are expecting fintechs to deliver “transformative” (10x) solutions.

However, it’s hard for fintechs to do “10x” things because they are in financial services and are constrained by the same regulations and nuances governing the industry. For instance, I can’t help you do a hitch-free outbound to China if the CBN says only banks are allowed. The best I can do is find workarounds that help smooth or hasten an existing process within compliance boundaries.

In his article on why there are no 10x solutio…