Nigeria’s Zone to launch blockchain remittances in 2025

Zone, a Nigerian company that offers blockchain-powered payment infrastructure, will launch remittance services in 2025, a new report has revealed.

Founded in 2008 and formerly known as Appzone, the company provided fintech software services to banks and other financial companies. In late 2022, it announced a shift in priorities, splitting into Zone and Qore, the first focusing on blockchain payments while the latter focused on cloud-based software services.

CEO Obi Emetarom said blockchain remittances are up next, with the company planning to launch the new services in 2025.

Emetarom said Zone’s new product would solve three major remittance challenges—liquidity, distribution, and licensing. With financial services being among the most stringently regulated, remittance providers must jump through hoops to access new markets. Managing liquidity in several different currencies can be pretty challenging, too.

Zone said it can solve all these challenges. The company is licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as a payments switch and is connected to over a dozen banks, making distribution easy. With its blockchain settlement being instant, liquidity isn’t a big challenge either.

“And in terms of licensing, we already have a switching license, and our roadmap is to ensure that we have all the licenses that we need to operate in different markets,” Emetarom told a local news outlet.

Nigeria is Africa’s blockchain hotspot. The country is guided by a National Blockchain Policy launched last year to push for adoption in public and private entities. The government is also working on creating awareness of blockchain utility, with some government departments undertaking educational initiatives to impart blockchain skills to millions of young Nigerians. They have also partnered with global entities like nChain and the BSV Association to push the agenda.

However, blockchain has yet to take root in the Nigerian financial space. Zone has been one of the success cases; its blockchain-based payments network that directly connects financial service providers processed over $1 million daily last year, the CEO revealed.

Watch: A new era of remittance