Ripple teams up with Onafriq to power international digital asset-enabled payments to and from Africa
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Ripple recently revealed that it is joining up with Onafriq, formerly known as MFS Africa. The company intends to use its technology and RippleNet network to power digital asset-enabled cross-border payments between African nations and a number of other countries around the world.
Ripple and Onafriq team up
According to new reports, the partnership will allow Onafriq access to Ripple’s crypto-enabled payments technology, which it can use to open up three additional payments corridors, connecting African countries with the rest of the world.
The technology will allow customers of the UK’s PayAngel, Australia’s Zazi Transfer, and Gulf Cooperation Council’s Pyypl to send remittance and business payments to recipients in 27 different countries. These nations belong to Onafriq’s pan-African network.
The companies have commented on the partnership, stating that it will enable them to bring more efficient, faster, cost-effective international money transfers to Africa. This will directly lead to speeding up financial inclusion across the continent, and its numerous nations.
Meanwhile, Onafriq’s CEO, Dare Okoudjou, stated that the company’s mission is to make borders matter less when it comes to payments, including those to and from Africa, but also those within the continent. The partnership with Ripple is what will make this goal possible, and advance Onafriq’s efforts to achieve it.
The partnership is about to revolutionize payments in Africa
Ripple’s SVP of Global Customer Success, Aaron Sears, also commented on the move, stating that Ripple has supported crypto-enabled cross-border payments to individuals and businesses for a number of years now. However, the company is particularly excited to expand the reach of its solution into Africa, thanks to the new partnership.
“Connecting our partners PayAngel, Pyppl and Zazi Transfer with Onafriq over Ripple Payments will bring the benefits of faster and more cost-effective cross-border payments to individuals seeking to send money into Africa from around the globe,” he added.
Onafriq was the best choice for Ripple to partner with due to the fact that it has the largest mobile money movement footprint on the continent. This comes at a time when mobile money is a major driver of financial inclusion. In fact, it has revolutionized access to financial services across Africa. More than that, the fintech’s payment hub connects over 500 million mobile wallets in 40 African nations, while at the same time, it operates across more than 1300 payment corridors.
Commenting on this, Okoudjou noted: “These connections are set to enable fast, secure and low-cost remittances at scale between Africa and the rest of the world, and represent a bold first step for our crypto strategy to leverage blockchain technologies to amplify our impact on people and businesses on the continent.”
