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FTX, a global cryptocurrency exchange with a market capitalization of $32 billion, will expand its operations in Africa in a few weeks. FTX is doing this in partnership with AZA Finance, a Kenyan company that started in 2013. Elizabeth Rossiello, the founder of AZA Finance, stated that the platform will be launched first in West Africa.
Currently, FTX only has “piecemeal competitors” in Africa but plans to offer its products to a continent with a rapidly growing population and some of the world’s fastest developing economies, according to Sam Bankman-Fried, the company’s CEO.
The Hong Kong-based FTX and AZA, which provide services such as Treasury functions and payments in ten African countries, plan to construct digital infrastructure to link African markets to the global web3 economy. They’ll also introduce African and digital currency pairs and promote non-fungible token trading on the continent.
Both companies hope to profit from Africa’s growing population, which is anticipated to quadruple by 2050, and Africans’ already rapid embrace of digital technologies, despite their limited access to traditional banking services.
AZA Finance, led by CEO and founder Elizabeth Rossiello, is a pioneering force in African fintech, having developed both the first digital currency exchange on the African continent and the first digital currency exchange headed by a woman.
The company provides cutting-edge foreign exchange, payments, and financial services and has grown to ten African markets, completing more than £200 billion in global transactions spanning 115 countries and 300 currency pairings.
Last year, the company grew by acquiring South African payments startup Exchange4Free, making it Africa’s largest non-bank currency exchange provider.
By Abraham Aroloye
