Ripple Partner Mercury FX Accepted Into ‘First Cohort’ of a South African Reg...
South Africa’s Inter-governmental Fintech Working Group (IFWG) recently accepted Mercury FX, a UK-based e-money firm, into the first cohort of its regulatory sandbox. The firm, which harnesses the Ripplenet blockchain, says it wants to demonstrate its technology’s ability “to shorten the money transfer window to only minutes.” Fast and Low Remittances Further, Mercury FX, which claims to have piloted the use of this technology in the Philippines and Mexico, says its solution, aided by the XRP token, will enable low-cost cross-border remittances. In addition to....
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The ‘Blockchain and Bitcoin Africa” conference, that took place in Johannesburg on March 3-4, has raised the awareness level of Bitcoin in Africa. In South Africa, the latest developments show that 2016 may become the greatest year so far for the cryptocurrency. Busy year from Kenya to Zimbabwe. Bitcoin users in Africa as a whole have been quite conservative. The level of acceptance of cryptocurrency in Africa has been very low when compared to other parts of the world. Nevertheless, awareness and usership of the cryptocurrency keeps increasing. The year 2016 has seen increased activity....
A South African tax expert, Thomas Lobban, has warned non-tax paying crypto traders that they now face possible jail time if the South African Revenue Services (SARS) decides to lay tax offense charges against them. He adds that this threat of jail time similarly applies to South African crypto traders that use offshore exchange platforms to trade or store their crypto assets. Lack of Guidance Blamed Lobban’s warning follows reports earlier in the year which suggested that changes to South African tax laws may have made it “easier for SARS to secure criminal convictions for....
Blockchain technology proponents are staking claims in Africa, paying special attention to banks. Six African banking institutions are making sure financial tech doesn’t disrupt their businesses by working together to connect their systems with distributed ledgers. Absa & Barclays Africa Testing Multiple Platforms Across the South African Region. One....
Mercury Wallet, a Layer 2 scaling solution for Bitcoin, plans to integrate with the Lightning Network and blind its server.
A group of South African banks have pushed ahead with plans to test blockchain applications in a partnership that has drawn support from key regulators in the country. As reported by local outlets IT Web and MoneyWeb, the project included teams from Standard Chartered, Absa, Rand Merchant Bank, Investec and Nedbank. Supporters of the initiative included the Financial Services Board, a major finance regulator; Strate, the country’s central securities depository; and the South African Reserve Bank. The institutions involved developed and tested a system for issuing syndicated loans via....