Visa’s Michael Berner, group country manager of Southern and Eastern Africa, outlines the future of stablecoins, digital payments, financial inclusion and how AI is fueling the rise of agentic commerce. #visa #agenticai Stablecoins will have a transformational outcome for Africa’s financial services ecosystem, especially for those countries struggling with the availability of foreign currency. So…
Johannesburg — Mastercard and Yellow Card have announced a partnership to expand stablecoin-based payment solutions across Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, including Kenya. The two firms said they will explore the use of stablecoins in cross-border money transfers, business-to-business payments, digital loyalty programmes and treasury management. The partnership will initially focus on markets…
Nairobi — As banks, financial institutions, telecommunications firms and payment service providers (PSPs) increasingly adopt stablecoins as core infrastructure for treasury management and cross-border payments, regulatory defensibility is emerging as a critical priority. A new report indicates that this shift is accelerating a broader transition in Africa’s digital economy–from basic data protection frameworks to active,…
Costfoto | Future Publishing | Getty Images Coinbase received conditional approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to operate as a trust bank, the company said Thursday. If finalized, the crypto exchange will be able to operate payment products in addition to its custody business under federal supervision, Coinbase chief…
Mastercard will buy stablecoin payments infrastructure firm BVNK for up to US$1.8-billion, as the card giant deepens its push into blockchain-based transfers. Increasing regulatory clarity and broader usage of stablecoins have created opportunities for card networks to expand beyond traditional cards into faster, lower-cost digital payment systems. Mastercard and rival Visa are competing to establish…
BVNK co-founder Chris Harmse The use cases for stablecoin adoption are stronger in Africa, where formal banking channels are weaker than in more developed markets. A new report from BVNK and YouGov has found that Africans are more likely to hold, use and want to be paid in stablecoins compared to people in other regions…
Imagine walking into your local store and paying with a cryptocurrency that always equals R1 – no wild swings, no speculation, just self‑sovereign certainty. A digital token that settles faster than today’s banking rails and at a fraction of the cost. That’s the promise of stablecoins – digital assets built for stability in a market…
ZARU’s reserves are independently audited monthly, ensuring transparency and stability for institutional participants. (Image created using GenAI via ChatGPT) A consortium of South African financial and fintech firms has introduced ZAR Universal (ZARU), an institutional-grade stable coin pegged to the South African Rand. According to a statement, ZARU aims to modernise payments and financial infrastructure,…
A partnership between four South African financial institutions has led to the launch of an “institutional-grade” stablecoin pegged to the rand. Dubbed ZAR Universal, or ZARU, the stablecoin will made available to both retail consumers and institutional investors through the alliance between cryptocurrency platform Luno, low-cost trading platform EasyEquities, fintech Lesaka Technologies and Sanlam Specialist…
NALA has partnered with UK-based payments infrastructure provider Noah to launch a cross-border settlement network that allows merchants in Africa and Asia to receive US dollar payments and convert instantly into local currencies using stablecoins. The new network is integrated into NALA’s B2B payments platform, Rafiki, which launched in March 2024. It targets global companies…
