Baxi by Onafriq, a leading payment service provider, FairMoney Microfinance Bank and KongaPay, a licensed mobile money operator have joined other leading banks and fintech on the Zone decentralised payment network.
This development follows Zone’s recent launch of its decentralized PoS payment gateway product – ZonePOS and the strategic partnership with Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) to decentralise Payment Terminal Service Aggregator (PTSA) functions using blockchain technology.
This builds upon the recent onboarding of Africa’s largest and most prominent financial institutions—First Bank, UBA, and Zenith Bank—to Zone’s regulated blockchain network.
The addition of Baxi, FairMoneyand KongaPay, demonstrates the applicability and appeal of Zone’s technology across various segments of the financial services industry, the company said in a statement.
“We are excited to welcome Baxi, FairMoney, and KongaPay to our network. Their integration is an important step in our journey to advance the payment landscape in Africa and beyond,” said Obi Emetarom, CEO and co-founder of Zone, in a statement.
“It underscores the growing trust in our technology and its ability to deliver on our promise of reliable, frictionless, and universally interoperable payment experiences across various financial service verticals,” he said.
“As we continue to expand and enhance our payment network, we remain committed to connecting every monetary store of value and enabling a truly inclusive financial ecosystem,” he added.
According to him, the expansion of Zone’s network, coupled with its recent partnership with NIBSS to enhance PTSA operations using blockchain technology, demonstrates the growing acceptance and transformative potential of regulated blockchain in mainstream finance.
He noted that it will set a new standard for payment processing in Nigeria and potentially across Africa and other emerging markets, promising improved customer experiences and operational efficiency, along with reduced transaction costs, and enhanced financial inclusion.
Zone secured a payment switching and processing license from CBN in 2022, making its payment infrastructure Africa’s first regulated blockchain network for payments.
By integrating with Zone’s regulated blockchain network, Baxi, FairMoney, and KongaPay will significantly enhance their payment processing capabilities, benefiting from- direct transaction routing which helps eliminate intermediaries and reduce failure points, resulting in faster, more reliable and more scalable transaction processing at lower costs.
Also, end-to-end transparency supports automatic reconciliation, which eliminates chargebacks and prevents chargeback fraud and same-day settlement to deliver quicker value for successful transactions to financial institutions and their customers.
