EthSwitch, the national switch operator, has received an 8.34 million dollar grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for the expansion of its digital payment system. The grant will be part of an investment required to implement an EthSwitch project that aims to provide instant payment, payment gateway and shared wallet services to digital finance and payment services providers. The project requires a total investment of 15 million dollars. "Through this grant, the foundation aims to support EthSwitch in its effort to avail an inclusive payment scheme that will unlock all use cases across multiple payment instruments and channels, including government to people payment programs to reach last-mile communities,” said Haddis Tadesse, the Foundation's country director. Earlier this year, EthSwitch also received a grant of 2.33 million dollars from the African Development Bank’s Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility for the same project. The switch operator launched its person-to-person interbank transfer system last month. The system transacted over 45,000 transfers with a value of 481.8 million Br last month.

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