According to a source, South African businesses and merchants can now take payments in digital currency thanks to a gateway made recently by Be Mobile Africa, a digital bank. Users of the new gateway can choose to convert incoming cryptocurrencies into South African rand, US dollar, or the Euro. Additionally, users have the choice to keep their cryptocurrency with the online bank.
Itweb reported that the introduction of the digital bank’s crypto gateway coincides with the local banks’ targeting of accounts linked to cryptocurrency. However, the CEO of the digital-only bank, Cédric Jeannot, is quoted in the article outlining the rationale behind the development of the crypto gateway.
The CEO claimed that small-to-medium businesses (SMEs) in Africa have historically found it difficult to make foreign payments. It is expensive and frequently takes days to send or receive money from clients outside of one’s home country.
According to him, more African SMEs are doing business with clients outside of their own markets, particularly other African nations. He added that the payment gateway was revolutionary.
The CEO continued by saying that SMEs using the gateway will also profit from much lower fees. He added that his business is providing SMEs with the opportunity to safeguard capital in “unfavourable economic situations” by exposing them to cryptocurrency.
In September, a South African financial services giant called Nedbank or the Netherlands Bank of South Africa acquired a ‘ village’ in the Metaverse. The bank aimed to present African culture and creativity in its 12 by 12 village in Ubuntuland.
Four million South Africans, or 10% of the population, are bitcoin owners, according to a Finder’s analysis of adoption trends for August 2022. South Africa is ranked eighteenth out of twenty-six nations in terms of the adoption of cryptocurrencies with this ownership rate.
In August, South African Reserve Bank (SARB) stated in new guidelines that banks in the country “may act as a conduit for funds” pertaining to providers of crypto assets and “may play a role in customers wishing to purchase” or “receive payouts in fiat currency” in their bank accounts for the sale of crypto.