Introduction

The global economic industry is in the middle of a substantial revolution. Given that we are in the digital era, cryptocurrencies are at the heart of this evolution. Services continue to shift to be digital therefore it has become businesses’ obligation to nurture inclusion and maximize customer satisfaction. The drive towards digital transformation has encouraged innovation in the e-commerce industry to grow and develop as an instantaneous cross-border, cross-currency staple in all economies. The existence of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology has further enhanced the modernization by allowing merchants, consumers, and other participants to enjoy transparency, decentralized, tamper-proof low-charge transactions.

E-commerce has been impressively expanding rapidly in Africa and is going to continue doing so in the coming years. According to Statista, the number of digital purchasers continues to increase each year. Analysis has indicated an increase to about 478 million, by 2024. In addition, according to the in-depth analysis carried out by the PwC and Strategy Department, cashless transactions volume will triple by 2030.

In this whitepaper, we propose CryptoBank Africa, a novel decentralized payment Application Programming Interface (API) for online marketplace which serves as a payment gateway that gives consumers/buyers the privilege to make payments with cryptocurrency. CryptoBank Africa aims to provide a sustainable way that allows the merchants to receive their payment in local fiat currency with no pressure, by building a trusted peer-to-peer infrastructure. CryptoBank aims to be the leading cryptocurrency payment gateway in Africa and beyond, and a pioneer in the design of modern finance. This will be done by offering instant transactions and immediate crypto-to-cash settlements for the merchant. We have also introduced an offline payment method with a USSD code and no hidden fees involved. Last but not least, we plan to build the first multi-purpose decentralized Application which will serve as a home for multiple cryptocurrency tools (applications/decentralized applications).