KuvaCash, a startup focused on addressing the current cash crisis in Zimbabwe, has announced that it has secured an ADLA money services license from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ). Powered by Dash, the leading digital currency for payments, KuvaCash is now positioned to launch and scale its money services platform to users in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabweans will have access to the KuvaCash app – a free, downloadable mobile app that allows for seamless peer to peer money transfers, contactless mobile payments, and inexpensive international remittances.
The initial launch will include service agents that will help deploy and maintain the infrastructure on the ground, ensuring physical branches are available for Zimbabweans looking to top up their KuvaCash account or cash out to physical USD.
“I’d like to thank our legal teams on the ground in Zimbabwe and in the UK, as well as our technical requirements team in New York for this historic achievement,” said James Saruchera, CEO of KuvaCash. “It is important to us to legitimately enter Zimbabwe for business with the approval of the regulator, and we plan to take a similar approach to the wider pan-African market.”
The initiative for KuvaCash to become a licensed money services business in Zimbabwe was started in April 2017. In November 2017, KuvaCash obtained funding from Dash’s unique treasury system, which distributes Dash to proposals that are approved by the Dash community. Since the initial funding, KuvaCash has been in negotiations with the RBZ regarding the ADLA license, with the team receiving final approvals this week.
Fernando Gutierrez, CMO of Dash Core Group, said, “KuvaCash has the potential to greatly lower the costs of transactions for Zimbabweans, providing consumers with a store of value and means of payment that is more secure and stable than current alternatives. By lowering the barriers to conducting commerce and savings that citizens face today, Dash and KuvaCash hope to ultimately unlock the economic potential of Zimbabweans, while providing a blueprint for how similarly impacted economies can leverage the potential of Dash and KuvaCash.”
The initial funding of 1,695 Dash, which at the time amounted to $550K USD, was received via Dash Governance By Blockchain (DGBB), a unique feature of the Dash cryptocurrency. The DGBB is a fund that is created with 10% of the coins minted each month and used to help develop the project. This budget totals nearly $3M USD per month at current prices ($485 USD/Dash) and is allocated in a cryptographic voting process to projects that enhance the Dash ecosystem.
“The Dash DGBB funding has allowed us to move forward with an ambitious project to bring a new Dash-based digital money system to Zimbabwe,” said Drako Kerdemelidis, VP Strategy, and Propositions at KuvaCash. “With this funding, we have assembled an elite team of over 20 people from across the globe, across not only technical but also regulatory, legal, and marketing domains. It is a very exciting initiative for all of us.”
KuvaCash will be exhibiting jointly with Dash Core at MoneyConf in Dublin in June, where they will showcase their application and services. They will also be leading a roundtable conference at MoneyX with several payment services and e-commerce companies such as Stripe, Visa, Ikea, and Diageo.