WiPay launches new network, solutions

WiPay celebrated its fifth anniversary with a bang at the AC Hotel in Kingston, Jamaica. The event was spectacular and brought out some of Jamaica’s biggest names in the financial industry – and saw the likes of Shaggy in attendance as well.

WiPay was founded right here in TT by Point Fortin’s very own Aldwyn Wayne.

However, owing to the less than enabling environment for innovation in TT, Wayne was forced to move the headquarters of WiPay out of TT and set up roots in Jamaica in 2021. Since the move, he has also created the Caribbean’s first neo (digital) bank, Colour Bank, which is based in Miami.

The event saw three key solutions launched.

The new Volt Network, the Colour Bank app and the Caribbean's first tokenised credit card.

Let me first break down the Volt Network and the key problems it is solving. This will give you a greater appreciation of the solutions.

The Caribbean is connected in almost every way, but financially disconnected. This region possesses ten unique currencies, but no inter-island settlement in the Caribbean. Transactions originating in TT need to go to a correspondent bank in the US before it settles in another country. But this can be solved.

Introducing the Volt Network. It will connect over 50,000 websites and point-of-sale terminals across the Caribbean and process individual, government and corporation transactions.

WiPay's privately owned network has created a unified settlement network for the Caribbean. This solves one of the greatest financial problems in the Caribbean: cross-border settlement. Each Caribbean country has its own currency that trades primarily with the US dollar. By pegging a digital token to the US dollar, transactions from one country to another can maintain the expected value, because local currencies maintain their value against the US currency.

This digital token, which exists on the Volt network, will facilitate inter-island transactions without the need for correspondent banking. The Volt Network, through its partnership with WiPay, will replace WiPay’s Digital Fiat Solutions, which is used by several governments and private-sector entities across the Caribbean.

The Volt Network can also solve interbank US-dollar settlement by creating a real-time settlement rather than two-five-day wired transfers.

But how does the Volt Network solve this? The digital token is a smart contract built on a proof-of-stake distributed ledger system, in which the owner of the digital token earns a fraction of every transaction.

Volt's Digital token is registered in Grenada, which has just passed legislation to regulate digital currency. This stable token paired with the Volt network will create the Caribbean's first unified currency.

The new Colour Bank app and tokenised card will allow Caribbean businesses to download the app and now allow every business to get paid with credit cards.

Your cell phone will now be turned into a point-of-sale terminal with tap-on-glass technology. Your clients will now be able to take their credit cards and those new Visa debit cards you have and tap on the business's smartphone to pay the business.

Mastercard has partnered with WiPay to launch its new tokenised credit card. What this means for you is that you can now get the Colour Bank Digital Credit Card within the Colour Bank app and you can now also use that digital credit card to pay anybody in the world who accepts Mastercard.

So now when your business is getting paid and it goes to your digital wallet with Colour Bank, you can transfer that money to your Colour Bank Digital Mastercard and use the money immediately.

You can apply for a physical card as well. You will also be available to visit ATMs and withdraw the funds from the digital or physical card. You may have also seen many new terminals around the country that are allowing you to tap rather than inserting your cards: now you are going to be able to tap your phone with your digital credit card at ATMs.

It’s similar to Apple Pay, if you have used Apple Pay before.

You are also able to use the tokenised card inside Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay – that way you can use those apps to make your purchases.

WiPay has also recently expanded into Ghana, Cayman Islands and is also launching WiPay Columbia soon.

The new Colour Bank app and card will be available from December, so stay tuned for the official date.

Financial inclusion is the order of the day. The unbanked and underbanked are finally getting tools that they can now use to be a part of the global economy.

Keron Rose is a digital strategist who works with Caribbean businesses to build their digital presence and monetize their platforms. Learn more at KeronRose.com or check out the Digipreneur FM Podcast available on Apple Podcast/Spotify/Google Podcast.