Centbee joins South African watchdog’s regulatory sandbox

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Bitcoin wallet Centbee is one of the six firms selected to join a South African watchdog’s regulatory sandbox. The sandbox will provide Centbee with the opportunity to test new products and services that push the boundaries of existing regulations while still under the oversight of the relevant regulators.

The sandbox is operated by the Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group (IFWG), an organization composed of various South African regulators. These include the National Treasury, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority, the South African Reserve Bank and the South African Revenue Service. Its aim is to foster innovation in the fintech sector while advocating for better oversight of financial firms.

The IFWG received applications from over 50 fintech firms to join the sandbox upon launch. However, only six were successful, with Centbee now among them.

Ripple and Bitcoin SV-based Startups Get Added onto the South African Regulatory Sandbox to Test Crypto Assets Regulation: https://t.co/S66Q4gQVyC @FintechHubSA 🇿🇦 @Centbee @mercury_fx_ltd

— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) April 3, 2021

The others are The People’s Fund, a crowd investing platform for SMEs; the Standard Bank of South Africa, which is testing blockchain-powered cross-border funds transfer; Investec Bank, which is building a digital currency custody solution; Xago Technologies and Mercury FX, two startups both building cross-border digital currency-powered funds transfer platforms.

Notably, of the six companies that are part of the sandbox, five are building blockchain and digital currency-based solutions. This show of faith in the industry signifies the rapid growth of the South African digital currency industry, which is now second only to Nigeria in the continent.

Centbee has continued to lead the way in Bitcoin adoption in Africa. The Johannesburg-based company has been building solutions that not only make it easy to adopt Bitcoin, but also solves some of the challenges that have plagued most Africans for decades.

One of these is cross-border transfers. The continent ranks first in fees charged for cross-border funds transfers, in most cases 30 percent higher than the global average. In addition, these transfers are inaccessible for most people.

Centbee’s Minit Money solves these challenges, availing one of the continent’s most cost-effective cross-border funds transfer service. With Bitcoin SV having very low fees—a hundredth of a penny—and real-time transactions, Centbee is changing the lives of thousands of Africans.

The company has also continued to offer new innovative features that makes Bitcoin easy to use of day-to-day needs. Centbee users can purchase airtime and electricity vouchers easily from their phones and withdraw their Bitcoin directly into their bank accounts. They can also pay for their Netflix, music subscriptions, Uber and a host of other services via the Centbee app.

Watch the Centbee briefing by Lorien Gamaroff and Angus Brown at CoinGeek Live: