The Nigeria-based Xend Finance, a global crypto bank, has announced the launch of XendBridge, a crypto payment API, and SwitchWallet, a free public wallet infrastructure.
Xend Finance, which in 2019 took part in the Google Launchpad Africa accelerator and the Binance Incubation Programme, has developed a platform that gives everyone access to the global money market so members can save and invest in stable currencies.
The Xend Finance platform also allows users to create their own credit unions and cooperatives, eliminating traditional middle men, while earning up to 15 per cent annual percentage yield on their savings.
The startup launched its platform publicly late in 2020 after raising US$1.5 million in funding from investors including Binance Labs, Google Developers Launchpad and AU21 Capital, a round it topped up to US$2 million in February 2021.
Since then, it has passed the 100,000 user mark, while the launches of XendBridge and SwitchWallet add to its suite of products available to startups and businesses to access cryptocurrency payment and storage solutions.
XendBridge is a peer-to-peer system that allows businesses to securely transact between fiat and cryptocurrency. Along with being able to access USD and Euros on XendBridge, numerous crypto assets can be transacted, including BTC, ETH, BNB, MATIC, USDT, USDC, BUSD, and more.
SwitchWallet, meanwhile, charges no fees, which is a first for any wallet services being offered in Africa. Both XendBridge and SwitchWallet can easily be plugged into any existing web application to access the Web3 business solutions.
“Previously, blockchain startups that wanted to support fiat in Africa found it very difficult because of the Central Bank restrictions on crypto,” said Ugochukwu Aronu, CEO of Xend Finance.
“We have created a solution that allows any startup to easily do remittances from the U.S. or Europe as well as on-ramp and off-ramp five major local currencies, including Naira, USD, Euro, Ghanaian Cedis and Kenyan Shillings. As for SwitchWallet, startups before have been using foreign wallet services that require difficult KYBs and harsh regulations. Now, startups have their first free wallet infrastructure and one that is built to scale in Africa and meet international KYB standards.”
