A quick intro to rand-backed stablecoins
You cannot make headway in the world of artificial intelligence (AI) and technology without a new age payment and settlement solution. So, while all and sundry focused on economic and financial market outlook presentations early 2026, a handful of local financial institutions busied themselves in steering South Africa into the cryptocurrency and stablecoin realm.
Near real-time processing
A joint announcement by Easy Equities, Lesaka and Luno, supported by asset-liability management from Sanlam Specialised Asset Management, confirmed the launch of ZAR Universal (ZARU), a rand-backed stablecoin aimed squarely at institutional use cases. They promised “a new institutional-grade stablecoin pegged to the value of the South African rand” and “designed to modernise payment and financial infrastructure”. Over time, they expect both institutional and retail users to be able to transact at the speed of the internet, processing payments and settlements in near real time.
The partners were clear that ZARU was designed to sit comfortably within South Africa’s existing financial system. Jacques Le Roux, CEO of Sanlam Financial Markets, said the initiative had the potential to “significantly contribute to financial inclusion” by connecting traditional financial markets to the world of blockchain. And James Lanigan, CEO of Luno, described ZARU as “a crucial milestone for South Africa’s digital economy.” The stablecoin aims to make everyday payments and money transfers faster and cheaper, supported by secure reserves.
For Easy Equities, the emphasis was on accessibility. “We are providing South Africans with a fast, trusted and low-cost way to seamlessly participate in the future of finance while keeping the rand at the centre of it,” said Charles Savage, CEO of Purple Group. Lesaka executive chair Ali Mazanderani echoed the infrastructure theme, saying that ZARU was “well positioned to accelerate the speed and reduce the cost of rand payments, benefitting consumers, businesses and society as a whole”.
The tokenisation trend
Tokenisation and ZARU were ‘top of mind’ during a recent webinar featuring Charles Savage, CEO of Purple Group, under the theme ‘Building venture-scale fintech in Africa’. But before exploring where stablecoins might fit into South Africa’s financial future, it is worth clarifying some basic definitions.
At its simplest, a cryptocurrency is a digital asset native to a blockchain network. Bitcoin is the most well-known example. It is not backed by a government or a pool of underlying assets, and its value is determined by supply and demand. That makes it volatile by design and poorly suited to everyday pricing or settlement.
A blockchain is the underlying technology that enables cryptocurrencies and stablecoins to exist. It is a distributed ledger that records transactions across a network of computers, making them difficult to alter retrospectively. It helps to think of blockchain as infrastructure rather than a product; it can support everything from payments and asset ownership records to contracts and settlement systems.
A stablecoin sits between these two concepts. As Savage explained during the webinar, it runs on the same underlying technology set as bitcoin, but with a crucial difference of being backed by the currency that it purports to be. In ZARU’s case, every digital token issued is matched by an equivalent amount of rand-denominated assets held in custody. The objective is to represent existing money, the rand, on faster, always-on digital rails. So, while cryptocurrencies like bitcoin behave as speculative assets, stablecoins are designed to behave like cash. The primary risks shift away from price volatility towards governance.
Seeking sensible use cases
Savage commented on the frictions embedded in existing payments and settlements systems, particularly when money has to move across institutions, borders or time zones. “Even digital fiat tends to move relatively slowly,” Savage said. In the stablecoin context, value can move without being constrained by banking hours, settlement cut-offs or multi-day clearing cycles. Savage described money as the foundational layer, arguing that making it more efficient filtered through to all dependent transactions.
Adoption will occur first where stablecoins remove clear and measurable friction. Savage singled out cross-border remittances as an obvious starting point, noting that the spreads on remittances remain too high. Beyond payments, stablecoins will contribute to the longer-term evolution of financial markets. They are a prerequisite for broader tokenisation, where assets such as equities, funds and property are represented digitally and settled instantly.
“We believe that every single financial instrument that we consume today, from shares to unit trusts to ETFs to property, will fundamentally be tokenised,” Savage said. “But it will only be tokenised once we successfully adopt stablecoin, which is the first leg to this.”
The partners in the ZARU ecosystem are not creating a new currency, but enabling existing fiat money to function more efficiently in a digital environment. This is why governance and reserve management feature so prominently in the ZARU discussion. Crucially, the consortium is not presenting ZARU as a closed system; ZARUAARU Networks has opened the project to qualifying participants, inviting additional financial institutions to join the ecosystem and help scale on-ramps, off-ramps and real-world use cases.
An enabling regulatory framework
Regulation, often viewed as the primary barrier to crypto adoption, was presented by Savage as an enabling factor rather than an obstacle. He described South Africa’s approach as pragmatic and adaptive. “For the first time in my career, regulation has taken a fast-follow approach,” Savage said. “Regulators are watching where traction occurs and then responding with supportive frameworks.” This approach allows credible operators to innovate under supervision.
The institutional-first rollout of ZARU reflects that regulatory posture. At launch, access is limited to qualifying institutional participants, with retail availability planned only once governance and operational resilience are proven.
Financial advisers need to keep a close eye on stablecoin developments. You will have to monitor how stablecoins integrate into payment systems, investment platforms and cross-border flows before considering their relevance in advice contexts. Even at the outset, it is clear that ZARU is not an investment product. Client questions about the stablecoin will likely be conceptual, considering how stablecoins differ from cryptocurrencies, why they exist, and what problems they are intended to solve.
Seeking real-world utility
The appropriate framing is that a rand-backed stablecoin is designed to behave like cash, not like a speculative asset. Put differently, ZARU will behave like a fiat currency, in this case the rand, and not a cryptocurrency, bitcoin. Savage struck a cautious but confident note on the pace of change in stablecoins and tokenisation, suggesting that success would come from building systems anchored in real-world utility.
ZARU does not settle the debate around stablecoins in South Africa. It does, however, move that debate into the mainstream, anchored in regulated institutions, clearer accountability and a practical focus on payments and settlement. Whether it ultimately succeeds will depend on adoption, which in turn will hinge on how well it fits into the everyday financial lives of businesses and consumers.
Writer’s thoughts:
The ZARU launch represents a potential shift in payments and settlement infrastructure, with implications for efficiency across the financial system. How should advisers address this rand-backed stablecoin with clients, if at all? Please comment below, interact with us on X at @fanews_online or email us your thoughts [email protected].
