Aduragbemi Omiyale
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The first blockchain platform for payment processing in Africa will on Friday, December 10, 2021, be launched in Lagos by Appzone Group.
The blockchain payment platform called Zone is designed by Appzone Switch, a subsidiary of Appzone Group, a leading fintech software company on the continent.
The decentralized payment network will allow inter-bank transactions to be processed directly between banks without the involvement of any intermediary.
The launching of the platform will take place at Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island and will have in attendance captains of industry and leaders from the payment, finance and technology spaces.
“We are happy to officially unveil Zone as a decentralized blockchain-based payment infrastructure that enables real-time settlement of fiat transactions, both in-country and out-country while enabling the retail distribution of stable digital currencies including Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) in Africa.
“Because of the impact that the innovation will have on the payment and finance landscape in Africa, we are bringing together industry leaders across the payment, technology, and finance industries to see firsthand how the Zone platform is positioned to power a truly cashless society,” the CEO of Appzone Switch, Mr Uche Elendu, stated.
In addition to core functionality like payments authorisation, and real-time settlement, the team at Appzone Switch are looking to evolve the platform’s digital token for settlement into a stable Pan-African digital currency that is fully compliant, approved by central banks, and backed by a basket of fiat currencies in Africa.
The plan is for Zone to manage stable coin wallets for regular individuals on the same distributed ledger that currently facilitates payment authorization and settlement.
With 10 commercial banks in Nigeria already connected to the network, Zone provides financial services providers with simple APIs for various types of transactions including account-to-account transfers, merchant payments, and cash transactions at ATMs or agent locations.
The platform’s architecture achieves high throughput and record transaction success rates while eliminating typical reconciliation issues that delay refunds to customers where necessary.
