Bantu collaborates with Visa to foster regional financial inclusion

Visa, a global leader in digital payments, is collaborating with the Bantu Blockchain Foundation (Bantu), custodians of the Bantu Blockchain network infrastructure, to connect its digital asset-linked Visa cards to the Bantu Network Token (XBN). XBN is a utility token developed by Bantu to facilitate fast and secure transactions on the Bantu blockchain.

This integration is expected to directly boost Africa’s gig economy by significantly reducing current friction and interoperability challenges when making payments within the continent.

This collaboration will be supported by a major Pan-African bank and leading Visa banking identification number (BIN) sponsor and will open up opportunities for increased economic activities in Africa, starting with Zambia, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and six other countries.

Transactions for all digital assets issued on the Bantu blockchain using Bantu’s XBN tokens settle in two to four seconds for significantly lower network fees.

Visa will be issuing virtual cards in conjunction with a BIN sponsor bank and enabler for the BantuPay wallet — the ecosystem wallet of the Bantu blockchain — to help ease the digital asset-to-fiat on-off ramping process. This means that every verified BantuPay user will have access to Visa cards powered by XBN tokens.

In addition to virtual card integration with the BantuPay wallet, Bantu aims to airdrop $1billion worth of its XBN utility token during the next five years to support financial education.