South Africa is slowly turning out to be a fertile ground for its crypto industry to bloom. The country is one of the prime hotspots of Africa’s thriving crypto community. While a huge part of Africa’s population is unbanked, A major part of the South African population has turned towards crypto to find a way around economic complications.

The same can be said for Zimbabwe, another country in the Southern part of Africa. Back In 2009, it abandoned its own national currency and did so after a trillion-dollar note was introduced, after the national currency had braved 10 years of hyperinflation, the rate of which reached as high as 231,000,000 percent in July 2008. Due to such economic conditions, the nation has also seen a rise in the popularity of cryptocurrencies especially Bitcoin.

Inflation is one of the primary reasons why people are looking more into cryptocurrencies with a flawed banking system being the other adversary to financial freedom. Africa is home to a number of technology start-ups and financial services that are disrupting the face of their industries with blockchain.

Amidst fears regarding the lethal Covid-19 virus, both the nations continue to enhance the underlying crypto-economy with fresh new developments.

Binance boosting South Africa

Popular cryptocurrency exchange Binance is set to launch a fiat gateway for South African users. The new gateway would facilitate the deposit of local currency Rand. Company CEO Changpeng Zhao made the announcement one the first day of the Blockchain Africa conference. CZ noted:

“Africa illustrates one of the largest demands and instrumental use cases for cryptocurrency, notably for financial access. According to the World Bank, approximately 66 percent of sub-saharan africans are listed as unbanked. So instead of trying to bank the unbanked, let’s try and Bitcoin the un-Bitcoined.”

Zhao acknowledged the importance of South Africa within the African crypto economy, adding:

“Looking at South African specifically, crypto adoption continues to rise with SA being one of the top five countries in terms of cryptocurrency ownership. Today I’m excited to announce that Binance is launching a South African fiat-to-crypto gateway soon. This will enable South Africans to buy cryptocurrencies with their local bank accounts.”

Furthermore, Binance South Africa country manager, Tanya Knowles added that the Binance Charity Foundation would be donating $1M to support the growth and development of blockchain education in South Africa. Binance will be partnering with local companies in order to deliver effective educational programs to boost the development of the sector in South Africa.

Zimbabwe to regulate crypto companies

Zimbabwe is also on the right track to bolster the development of the crypto infrastructure as The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) is reportedly developing a regulatory sandbox for cryptocurrency companies in the country. According to Josephat Mutepfa, RBZ’s deputy director for financial markets and national payment systems, the regulatory framework would see companies involved with cryptocurrency go through a special regulatory sandbox.

The Sandbox is expected to help banks decide whether a particular company can be allowed to operate independently. Musephat added:

“Once you enter the sandbox you either exist as a bonafide product to enter the market or you are guided to say that you need to partner a bank, a mobile money platform or your product needs to be licensed like a microfinance company.”

The recent decision to regulate cryptocurrencies in the nation is the result of growing popularity among the younger generation, who “are facing challenges of having capital,” according to Musephat.

