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East Africa and some parts of Asia have had mobile money solutions like this for over a decade. They are so ubiquitous in those parts of the world that many people don't even bother to open bank accounts any more.

The rest of the world is still working on "fintech"... They don't like to talk or hear about M-Pesa. So each time they do, it's a bit of a shocker.

According to 60 Minutes, competing big banks have blocked m-pesa type services in many countries.

The US television show "60 Minutes" aired a story on M-Pesa last night; that could be what is spurring the interest today.

I know this is not new but I sow it yesterday on a spanish finance show, so coincidence the same day it was shown in both countries.

An article from 2014 at bloomberg talking about it:

http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-06-05/safaricoms-m...

PR run.

People seem to like posting bitcoin articles even though that was started years ago, too.