# Cross-Border Finance **Why Finance**? Blockchains enable many marketplaces but banking services are the *native use*. Consensus protocols are creating new economies with tokens and trading. Smart contracts are serving as a platform for collectibles and gambling. These early use cases are driven by the core value of blockchain: providing exchange and liquidity infrastructure for financial transactions. Harmony focuses on broader *financial products* as they are [well validated with Ethereum](https://harmony.one/defi-data) and ready for mass adoption. **Why Cross-Border?** Open platforms work locally but global users are the *most underserved*. Finance products within one country are already [highly efficient and protected](https://www.saveonsend.com/blog/money-transfer-china/). On the other hand, purely on-chain #DeFi solutions without onramp gateways or local distribution have limited impact in real-word economies. Harmony focuses on bridging high-growth economies in countries such as China and India, hence #*CrossFi* for cross-border finance. Harmony remains an infrastructure layer; our local partners serve customers with country-specific products and compliance. {% embed url="" %} **Why Harmony?** Not only fast and secure, Harmony is *decentralized* and guarantees *privacy*. Ethereum’s short-term pains are [scalability and security](https://harmony.one/keynote), which Harmony has solved with sharding and proof-of-stake. The long-term value of open platforms is decentralization, which Harmony has committed to with thousands of nodes and [*open development*](https://medium.com/polkadot-network/polkadot-2019-year-in-review-8c852ef42668). [Private transactions](https://blog.coinbase.com/what-will-happen-to-cryptocurrency-in-the-2020s-d93746744a8f), similar to secure HTTP for the Internet, are essential to businesses and corporations. However, governments mandate audits and compliance. Harmony solves this dilemma by bringing *auditable privacy* to production. **How?** We are customer obsessed but must identify the *right customers* and *external values*. The market [is divided](https://medium.com/proofofcapital/remittance-market-primer-and-landscape-3213c2c81771) into serving consumers or businesses: c2c (cash remittance), c2b (ecommerce billing), [b2c (*employee payroll*)](http://blog.eladgil.com/2020/01/products-i-wish-existed-2020-edition.html) and b2b (marketplace payout). Platform protocols seek rent but must inject capital from *off the chain* as revenue. The values Harmony provides for customers, beyond open settlement, are forex *quotes* and peer-to-peer *liquidity***.** Stablecoins and forward contracts can *manage fluctuations* in fiat currencies; private matching can pool together local reserves like trades with over-the-counter (OTC). --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.harmony.one/home/general/ecosystem/cross-border-finance.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.