South Africa’s Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group (IFWG) announced the first cohort for its regulatory sandbox which includes Bitcoin SV (BSV) fintech company, Centbee. It is the first BSV business to be included in the South African regulator’s sandbox.
The regulatory sandbox provides market innovators with an opportunity to test new products and services that push the boundaries of existing regulation under the responsible supervision of relevant regulators.
The IFWG includes participation from National Treasury, the Financial Intelligence Centre, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority, the National Credit Regulator, the South African Reserve Bank, the South African Revenue Service, and the Competition Commission.
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Centbee’s cross-border remittance app, Minit Money, was selected to participate to test the regulatory treatment of cryptocurrency assets for low-value cross-border remittances between South Africa and Ghana.
Angus Brown, co-CEO of Centbee said, “We are proud to be the first Bitcoin SV business globally to work closely with financial sector regulators in South Africa and are delighted to be selected for South Africa’s first regulatory sandbox.”
Minit Money enables foreigners living in South Africa to send money back to their homes in Africa at a low cost. Registration is easy to do via an innovative mobile app, and money is cleared in the receiver’s bank or mobile money account within minutes. Money can be loaded at any of over 100,000 retail outlets across the country.
Remittances worldwide amount to over a hundred billion dollars per year, and are the lifeline that emigrants use to support their loved ones back home. Millions of mothers, grandparents and family members rely on these to pay school fees and rent and buy groceries.
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Emigrants often struggle to access financial services in their new country, and cross-border remittances in Africa are the most expensive in the world. Significant venture capital has recently flowed into fintech remittance businesses, which are addressing this problem.
Centbee is using Bitcoin SV as the blockchain underpinning its offering as transactions cost a penny, it processes thousands of transactions per second, and is a reliable open-source protocol.
Brown concludes, “Centbee through Minit Money is demonstrating how Bitcoin SV solves real-world problems that affect many millions of people.”
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