Zone Payment Network offers a regulated, permissioned layer‑1 blockchain that lets African banks, fintechs, and payment processors route payments directly between each other. The network provides real‑time settlement, automatic reconciliation, and on‑chain enforcement of KYC, AML and exchange‑control rules, while supporting native fiat‑pegged tokens and EVM‑compatible smart contracts for interoperable, low‑latency payment experiences.
Funding
$8.5M raised to dateRaised to date based on public sources. This may differ from the amount the company actually raised and is based only on what is publicly available on the internet.
6O+1Founders
Product
Problem
Financial institutions in Africa face high transaction failure rates, disputes, and fraud due to reliance on centralized, legacy payment infrastructures that lack real-time settlement, automated reconciliation, and regulatory oversight.
Solution
Zone Payment Network provides a regulated, permissioned layer‑1 blockchain that enables direct routing of payments between banks, fintechs, and other financial service providers. The network enforces programmatic compliance with KYC, AML, and exchange‑control rules through smart‑contract based enforcement, while maintaining real‑time settlement and auto‑reconciliation. By leveraging proof‑of‑authority consensus and validator nodes operated by licensed regulators and institutions, Zone delivers high availability, low latency transaction processing and instant liquidity for merchants. The platform also offers native settlement tokens pegged to local fiat or CBDCs, enabling both domestic and cross‑border payments on a single interoperable ledger. Developers can build decentralized finance applications using an EVM‑compatible runtime and integrate legacy systems via API gateways and third‑party bridges.
Target Audience
Primary customers are banks, fintech companies, payment processors, and other regulated financial service providers operating in Africa that require compliant, high‑throughput payment infrastructure.
Features
- Permissioned proof‑of‑authority consensus with validator nodes run by licensed regulators and financial institutions
- Programmatic regulation enforced on‑chain for KYC, AML, exchange‑control and fraud detection
- Real‑time settlement and auto‑reconciliation using native country‑specific tokens pegged to fiat/CBDC
- Direct card routing and token‑wrapped bridges that bypass intermediaries for POS, ATM and online channels
- EVM‑compatible smart‑contract runtime supporting Solidity for rapid dApp development
- API and plugin ecosystem for seamless integration with existing banking and payment systems
- Cross‑border payment capability via a global USD‑pegged settlement token
- Built‑in privacy, reporting and audit features to meet jurisdictional data‑protection requirements