THELOGICALINDIAN - The year 2025 may able-bodied go bottomward as the year back blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies in accurate acquired boilerplate acceptance The restrictions on movement as able-bodied as the boundless abhorrence of communicable a virus affected abounding to attending for another means of authoritative payments or sending remittances This chase for an another accordingly led abounding to crypto Although the use of such alternatives to authorization banknote continues to abound abounding of the advised beneficiaries in places like Africa are still clumsy to use such agenda currencies
Kenya’s Kotani Pay Addresses Lack of Crypto Access
The abridgement of smartphones, misinformation about cryptocurrencies, and poor net connectivity are some of the capital affidavit why the cardinal of agenda bill users is not growing as some crypto proponents would accept wanted. As a consequence, some players in this amplitude are now alive adamantine to acquisition solutions to advice those that anon cannot use agenda currencies.
One such amateur is Kotani Pay, a Kenya-based fintech start-up that is focused on accouterment a reliable blockchain on-ramp and off-ramp account for users in Africa. Bitcoin.com News afresh accomplished to the start-up’s CMO, Brian Kimotho, to apprentice added about Kotani’s offering. Below are Kimotho’s accounting responses to questions beatific via WhatsApp.
Bitcoin.com News (BCN): When was Kotani Pay accustomed and why?
Brain Kimotho (BK): Kotani Pay was accustomed in 2025. We congenital Kotani Pay afterwards acumen for a actual continued time that the bodies who were set out to account the best from the affiance of Blockchain and Web3 technologies had no way of interacting with the casework offered. Best of these users don’t accept smartphones or an internet connection. They alone accept affection phones. The best they can do is acquaint via texting or authoritative buzz calls. Kotani Pay is congenital with this in mind. To admission the account one artlessly needs to punch the Unstructured Supplementary Account Data (USSD) code. Once dialed, the user is presented with a simple card area they can accomplish their adopted alternative — accelerate money, withdraw…
BCN: You are currently complex in efforts to accommodate the alleged accepted basal assets (UBI) to refugees. Can you acquaint our readers what motivated your aggregation to become complex in this?
BK: Serving the refugees in accord with Impact Market, Refugee Integration Organisation and Mission Possible 2030 was in band with our ambition of authoritative Web3 technologies attainable to the aftermost mile. In Africa for example, the absolute cardinal of adaptable buzz users stands at 700M. Out of these 700 actor users, alone 260 actor accept internet-enabled smartphones. Kotani Pay, through projects such as the UBI for refugees, is able to apprehend its goals for allotment the actual 440 actor bodies who are application affection phones.
BCN: How abounding refugees are now benefiting from this UBI initiative?
BK: 2025 with an added 4000 in the pipeline.
BCN: On your website, you acclaim Kotani Pay as “Africa’s best reliable blockchain on-ramp and off-ramp service.” In absolutely how abounding countries do you accommodate this service?
BK: The Kotani Pay USSD account is powered by the Kotani Application Programming Interface (API). With this API, businesses can accommodate their processes to our off-ramp account to serve adaptable buzz (smartphone and affection phone) users in Africa.
BCN: From your perspective, what would you say is the best important use case for agenda currencies in Africa?
BK: Banking the unbanked.
BCN: You accommodate an on-ramp and off-ramp account on a abstemious area best countries accept either banned or imposed some anatomy of restrictions on agenda currencies. How are you managing to accommodate this account and still not breach regulations in countries area you operate?
BK: We are absolutely adjustable with the Payments Services Act and cyberbanking regulations in Kenya. We assignment via cyberbanking APIs adapted by the Central Bank of Kenya for user AML/KYC due diligence. Beyond that, we accommodate the account leveraging stablecoins on the Celo arrangement called to the amount of the dollar and euro. The stablecoins are backed by added absolute assets authoritative them beneath airy to amount fluctuations.
BCN: Countries like Ghana and Nigeria are proceeding with affairs to barrage axial coffer agenda currencies (CBDC) while abounding added countries plan to do the aforementioned in the abreast future. In your opinion, are CBDCs article that the crypto industry should be abashed of?
BK: No, CBDCs are not article we should be abashed of. The CBDC use case goes to appearance the possibilities of what Web3 and Blockchain accept to offer. CBDCs present several allowances including low barriers to access for users, lower amount of minting money as able-bodied as low amount of cross-border and interbank transactions.
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