South Africa has a new rand-pegged stablecoin. Called ZAR Supercoin, the stablecoin is “purpose-built for South Africa and the wider African market”, according to its backer, New York-listed Super Group.

ZAR Supercoin’s backer is a company called Super Money SA, a subsidiary of Super Group, the parent of online betting platform Betway, and is licensed by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority and fully backed by rand reserves held in “segregated accounts” at Absa.

“ZAR Supercoin allows users to hold, send and redeem digital rands instantly and securely,” Super Money SA said in a statement on Thursday. “It combines the speed and accessibility of blockchain technology with the trust and oversight of regulated finance.”

Each ZAR Supercoin is redeemable 1:1 for rand.

Super Money SA MD Warren Ross said the new stablecoin is “designed to bring the power of digital money and blockchain into everyday South African life”.

The company said ZAR Supercoin offers institutional credibility, bank-backed stability and regulatory compliance (in line with “know your customer”, “know your business” and anti-money laundering rules).

An upcoming Supercoin digital wallet will offer “seamless fintech integrations, peer-to-peer transfers and value-added service purchases”. According to Super Group’s third-quarter financial results, published earlier this month, the digital wallet will be released in the first quarter of next year with Betway South Africa as the launch acceptance merchant.

Digital wallet

ZAR Supercoin will initially be tradeable on Luno, a cryptocurrency exchange, and “upon the launch of the digital wallet, will be accepted by a growing network of merchants and fintech partners for payments, remittances and top-ups”.

“Additional exchange listings are planned as adoption grows,” it said.

ZAR Supercoin will be deployed on the Solana blockchain, using the Fireblocks Tokenization Engine to mint, burn and manage the entire smart contract lifecycle, with Fireblocks wallet infrastructure ensuring secure custody and storage of the stablecoin, it added.