In this podcast, Elizabeth Rossiello, CEO, AZA Finance, formerly BitPesa, talks early beginnings in the crypto space and discusses the use of bitcoin and crypto on the African continent.
Started in October 2013, Rossiello started and built out BitPesa out of Kenya before expanding into other African countries like Nigeria and Senegal, and the UK.
SEE ALSO: AZA Finance Officially Launches After Securing The First-Ever Remittance License From Bank of Uganda
In this discussion, Rossielo touches on the following areas:
- Use of bitcoin in remittance
- Building the AZA Finance hybrid fintech using blockchain technology
- Early beginnings of BitPesa
- The regulatory landscape in Africa
- How cryptocurrencies are used in Africa
Speaking about the use of cryptocurrencies, Rossielo said:
“Being a market maker is the best. Where we need to work with partners, it makes sense to use bitcoin:
- Where is no liquidity we can provide
- When we wanna try out a new market
- Sometimes the regulation for payments is worse than for digital currencies
These are some of the reasons why we use bitcoin for a middle currency.
In addition to that, we also sell bitcoin as a currency.”
~ Elizabeth Rossielo, CEO, AZA Finance
Rossielo provides great insights into regulation in Africa and how they were able to successfully navigate this emerging market in order to build a successful crypto and payments company serving a number of African countries.
In 2020, AZA Finance has done over $21 million in revenue and moved over $1 billion dollars, which is remarkable for a company that started just 7 years ago on the rails of the early bitcoin era back in 2013 in the emerging markets of Africa, specifically Kenya.
RECOMMENDED READING: BitPesa Founder Apppointed Co-Chair of Global Blockchain Council by WEF
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