Africa Fintech Summit chooses FiveWest as its crypto payments partner

As a Financial Service Provider, FiveWest OTC Desk (PTY) Ltd. is an authorised Financial Service Provider (FSP no. 51619) as well as a registered accountable institution with the FIC and holds a Payment Systems Operator license from the Payment Association of South Africa.

FiveWest provides hedging capabilities for Forex positions arising from business activities in foreign markets. They provide retailers and institutions with a seamless payment gateway service that enables customers to pay with Crypto Assets (CAs). The CAs are instantly converted and settled in FIAT or Stablecoins.

FiveWest’s proprietary software ensures transaction transparency and reporting, as well as the technology required to ensure CA positions are always hedged. FiveWest Systems maintains its integrity and confidence to assist regulatory authorities in providing adequate consumer protection and aiding law enforcement agencies in the prevention of criminal activity.

As a conscientious financial services provider, FiveWest complies with all KYC and AML best practices, with additional due diligence on large transactions.

For the first time ever, the Africa Fintech Summit will be accepting cryptos as a form of payment for tickets and sponsorship, and the organisers have settled on FiveWest’s Crypto Payment Gateway to achieve this objective.

“For the past couple of weeks, we have been working hard on the launch of our Crypto Payment Gateway at the Africa Fintech Summit taking place on 2–4 November 2022 in Cape Town,” says FiveWest co-founder Pierre van Helden, and it has been warming to see the reception of this development."

AFTS is the premier global initiative dedicated to the growth of the African fintech ecosystem, and we’ve never been prouder to do great work with an ecosystem builder like the Africa Fintech Summit. Hosted twice a year, in Washington, D.Ceach April during the World Bank/IFC annual meeting week and in a different African city each November (most recently Lagos, Addis Ababa, and Cairo). AFTS is a unique space where innovative ideas are debated, investments mobilised, partnership deals signed, and collaborations formed across sectors and geographies, the event represents a frontier network for FiveWest to premier future forward financial technologies.

“The intellectual property for this crypto payment gateway has been developed in-house at our head office here in Cape Town, with a focus on Africa,” adds van Helden. “To succeed in the crypto payment gateway space, it is not enough to have superior software, one also needs liquidity partners in place to settle instantly in the countries where one is operating. FiveWest has done this through our OTC (Over-the-Counter) Trading Desk. We also have sophisticated hedging software for crypto assets built into our payments gateway to ensure we are never exposed to market volatility.”

A payments gateway accepting transactions in crypto assets must be secure, fast, and reliable — even under the most trying circumstances. The FiveWest payments gateway ticks all these boxes says van Helden, and is finding rapid adoption across the African continent. Digital payment gateways of the kind developed by FiveWest will play a crucial role in the acceleration of African economic development.

Numerous surveys point to the vast potential for crypto growth in Africa 68% of all Africans were unbanked in 2017, while crypto adoption rates are exploding across the continent as Africans seek to bypass the banks and hedge themselves against weak local currencies. Cryptos are also seen as a secure way of transacting. Africans are increasingly aware that blockchain remittance is cheaper than using the traditional banking system, and many are already comfortable using cryptocurrency apps.

The cost of remitting relatively small amounts via the banks averages 12% according to the World Bank, versus just a fraction of a percent if using gateways like that provided by FiveWest. At the current rate of crypto development, it is not a matter of if but when they will be globally accepted as a payment method. A recent Deloitte’s survey results showed that 75% of retailers plan to accept cryptocurrency payments within the next two years.

An even more recent study by Deloitte found that up to 40% of customers who pay with crypto are new customers of the company, and their purchase amounts are twice those of credit card users. Digital payment methods have played an integral role in growing a country’s economy. The convenience of digital payments through the blockchain will increase the volume of payments and reduce costs. Blockchain payments are peer-to-peer with no chance of a person’s data being used for fraud.

“Remittances and instant transfers are the use case for which the blockchain will be remembered. It is arguably the most democratising technology ever developed, next to the internet itself, as it brings financial services and convenience within reach of virtually every person on Earth,” says van Helden.