Crypto payments giant Ripple has partnered with fintech Onafriq for cross-border payments between Africa and the rest of the world.
The deal would facilitate crypto-enabled cross-border payments between 27 African countries and markets including the UK, Australia, and the Gulf. Per the company press release, Onafriq utilizes Ripple’s blockchain payments technology to establish three new payment corridors.
Onafriq would establish alliances with customers of PayAngel in the U.K., Pyypl in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and Zazi Transfer in Australia. The company made the announcement on Wednesday at Swell, Ripple’s annual conference, in Dubai.
Dare Okoudjou, CEO at Onafriq, noted that the company aims to “make borders matter less” in terms of payments.
“These connections enable fast, secure and low-cost remittances at scale between Africa and the rest of the world. It represents a bold step for our crypto-strategy to leverage blockchain to amplify our impact on people and businesses.”
Onafriq is a leading mobile payments fintech in Africa, recently rebranded from MFS Africa. The rebranding mirrors Onafriq’s evolution to expand its services beyond mobile finance to become a versatile omnichannel platform, it noted.
Leveraging Ripple’s technology, Onafriq is eliminating traditional pain points in payments such as lengthy transfer times, unreliability and excessive cost. Further, the partnership brings more efficient, and cost-effective international remittances to Africa, aiming to accelerate financial inclusion across the continent.
“We are particularly excited to expand the reach of our solution into Africa thanks to our Onafriq partnership,” said Aaron Sears, SVP, Global Customer Success at Ripple.
Meanwhile, the XRP token spiked this week, driven by the approval of the token by the Dubai Financial Services Authority. Ripple recently announced its involvement in a central bank digital currency (CBDC) project with the National Bank of Georgia (NBG).
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