Making the rand programmable

Rand-based stablecoin ZARP has seen increasing adoption, including major cryptocurrency exchange Bybit using it when South Africans deposit funds to buy cryptocurrency on its platform.

Co-founded by Simon Dingle and Kenny Inggs in 2021, ZARP is a bank-approved, fully backed, audited stablecoin for the South African Rand.

Old Mutual Private Wealth manages ZARP’s cash reserves, and it announced in November last year that it injected “substantial” liquidity into the stablecoin together with Inves Capital.

ZARP also joined a global industry body, The Stablecoin Standard, in November.

Asked about the significance of a major exchange like Bybit adopting ZARP, Dingle was unpretentious.

“I don’t know how significant it is,” he said.

Bybit is the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume in the world. Only Binance is bigger.

“The beautiful thing about ZARP is that anyone can use it without needing our assistance or permission. It exists on open networks like Ethereum and Solana and is always available.”

Dingle explained that ZARP represents the value of the Rand in open networks where money is programmable.

“Everything from payments to trading happens cheaper, faster, and more fairly with stablecoins like ZARP,” he said.

“It’s also available 24/7, outside of banking hours and over weekends, enabling anybody who uses money to do things when it suits them, on their own terms.”

He said that for business owners and developers, this allows them to automate “money things” in a way that can’t be done with traditional banking systems.

We also asked Dingle about his views on the utility of a rand-based stablecoin given the weakness of South Africa’s currency.

Many people are looking at cryptocurrency as a way to hedge against inflation and the weakening of their fiat currencies, like the Rand.

“I personally take a long term view on local economics and am very positive about South Africa,” Dingle said.

“But ZARP represents rand value on the blockchain on a one-to-one basis no matter how strong or weak the currency is perceived to be.”

Dingle explained that some global market participants benefit from the Rand losing value against other currencies.

“Business continues and thrives, and ZARP is here to unlock new opportunities that weren’t possible before, regardless of currency volatility,” he said.

We also asked for details on whether they have applied for a crypto asset service provider (CASP) licence under the Financial Sector Conduct Authority’s new rules.

The regulator revealed in November last year that it received 128 applications for crypto asset service provider licences.

“ZARP Stablecoin is part of a group structure that has applied for CASP licensing where appropriate to our various businesses,” Dingle said.

“Old Mutual Wealth manages our treasury for ZARP, but is not directly involved in our licensing arrangements.”

Last year, Dingle explained that regulatory clarity in South Africa has enabled new business opportunities for crypto asset service providers.

They believe that stablecoins are the beating heart of this new financial system.

“ZARP gives the rand superpowers, upgrading it to be compatible with the new world of programmable money and enabling new use cases that redefine markets and improve financial inclusion,” he said.

Article thumbnail image generated with Google Gemini using a prompt for a programmable money concept, and altered to remove dollar symbol.