A payment company supported by African political leaders has launched a blockchain -based market to negotiate local currencies, with the aim of allowing businesses to repatriate their profits more easily and reduce the continent’s dependence on the dollar in regional trade.
The Pan-African payment and regulation system (PADS), a company created by the African Export-Importation Bank (Afrixhbank) and approved by the African union in 2019, publicly launched the exchange this week after having tested it in a one-year pilot program. Papss has teamed up with Interstellar, a blockchain infrastructure company based in Cameroon, to create the exchange.
The demand for the market comes from international companies that make business across Africa and find it difficult to move money, said Papss Director Mike Ogbalu III, who spoke to Semaor on the sidelines of the annual AFREXBANK meeting in Nigeria. The approximately 80 companies that have tested the service include multinational insurance companies operating in several African countries and often cannot access foreign exchange to repatriate their income, Ogbolu told Semaor.
The CEO of Interstellar, Ernest Mbenkum, said that the company planned to activate the purchase and sale of regulated African currency stables – such as the Nigeria CNNG – in exchange in the near future.
