During the winter of 2017 in South Africa, a family was casually
discussing the future of the country’s ecommerce business. But in the
process, some important topics came up.
The discussion
graduated to brainstorming stage, and the idea of creating a
cryptocurrency not only for their country but for all African countries,
was conceptualised.
A digital coin was born and named
Safcoin. It is an e-commerce crypto payment gateway that offers free
transactions to merchants, and was launched on July 1, 2019.
The
digital currency is among those that are targeting Africa where Kenya,
Botswana and South Africa are listed by cryptocurrency monitoring sites
as the leading markets on the continent.
Neil Ferreira
became the chief executive, his brother Tony Ferreira, the chief
operating officer and his wife Michela Ferreira, the chief
communications officer of the company.
The trio have come up with an African cryptocurrency that has
been merged with e-commerce to help small businesses and individual
traders excel in the Fourth Industrial Revolution while enjoying the
power of blockchain technology.
“We will soon launch an
exclusive crypto market place where African micro jobs and small
businesses can all be listed and combined.
“When we
created Safcoin, we had a vision to disrupt the market with a digital
currency, wallet, and exchange platform that was developed by Africans,
for Africans,” said CEO Neil Ferreira when he spoke to Business Daily.
The
whole idea around Safcoin is to eliminate the middleman who make online
trading costly, and are mostly located outside Africa, and this coin
seeks to give the continent crypto autonomy in digital payments.
Although
Africa experiences similar challenges to developed markets, like
financial instability, economic downturns, with a large portion of the
population being excluded from formal financial systems, it has to deal
with hefty shockwaves in fintech.
But how different is it from global cryptos like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple?
“Safcoin
is an exclusive Africa crypto; our focus is solely on Africa, to be a
payment digital coin on the e-commerce industry and also giving crypto
traders a chance to trade on our exclusive African exchange, sending
remittances on a peer-to-peer platform without charges,” says Mr
Feffeira.
The crypto aims to be a digital ecosystem for
the 1.3 billion people in Africa, connecting emerging markets to the
world of mobile commerce, boosting financial inclusion and non-cash
remittances.
“We have 11,000 members, we have only
launched our African US dollar exchange on July 1 and will now be
focusing on trading in all African currencies.”
Safcoins
can be purchased or traded on the Safcoin exchange with low fees, USD
to SAF (SAFCOIN), USD to BTC (Bitcoin) and BTC to SAF trading pairs.
Sending Safcoins to anyone is free.
The team says it is
already following KYC (know your customer) control procedures to ensure
that the Safcoin eco-system remains a friendly and safe environment for
its users and free from money laundering or terrorist financing
activities.
Users can store their Safcoin and Bitcoin
using the Safcoin mobile wallet. They can buy or trade crypto-currency,
stay up to date with the latest news — all on the palm of their hand.
About
Africa’s preparedness for cryptocurrency, the innovator says that
although Ghana, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe have recorded double-digit
inflation, they are listed among the main crypto markets on the
continent by gobitcoin.io.
The cryptocurrency
monitoring website also lists Botswana, Kenya and South Africa among the
top markets in Africa, while Uganda gets a special attention for its
growing adoption of cryptocurrency.
“We wouldn’t be
surprised if other countries with double-digit inflation like Sudan,
Egypt, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia, also appear on that list soon,”
he remarks.
Cryptocurrency adoption is clearly growing
in Africa and by 2020, according to the GSM Association, Africa will
have 725 million mobile subscribers, literally putting the tools needed
to access the cryptocurrency ecosystem at people’s fingertips.
The
founders have 30 years’ experience in software development, e-commerce,
search engine optimization, online marketing, graphic design, printing
and web development.
Cryptocurrency has the power to
drastically reduce financial bottlenecks and will help individuals in
Africa to participate in economies outside their immediate communities.
This means that they can now connect with fellow Africans easily and
help their small business grow, send non-cash remittance and become
financially included.
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