BlockTower, the issuer of the rand-backed stablecoin ZARU, said on Thursday that Luno has listed ZARU/USDT and ZARU/USDC trading pairs on its exchange, putting the rand on a continuous order book against the world’s two largest dollar stablecoins. Three days earlier, national treasury and the South African Reserve Bank published a draft manual that would…
Onafriq, Africa’s largest payments network, has partnered with leading stablecoin infrastructure provider, Privy, to strengthen its digital asset infrastructure and drive the development of stablecoin-enabled payment services for businesses across its network. The partnership will enable Onafriq to create and manage embedded digital asset solutions for its partners and, in time, institutional clients where regulation…
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,…
