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Solution

Card and credit programmes on rand rails.

Fund, authorise and settle card and credit products in rand on programmable infrastructure. No USD leg on each transaction. No stablecoin of your own to issue and govern.

The operational problem

What the current flow costs you.

Card programmes that settle through a USD stablecoin carry USD/ZAR exposure on every load, spend and credit line. Programmes that settle through bank rails wait for cut-offs and reconcile against statements. Both leave the programme manager holding float in transit and a ledger in the wrong unit.

How ZARP changes the flow

Four steps, in rand, on-chain.

  1. Fund. Your programme account holds ZARP. Loads arrive as rand and stay rand.
  2. Authorise. Your processor authorises the spend as it does today. The settlement leg moves to ZARP.
  3. Settle. Merchant and scheme settlement moves on-chain in seconds, with an immutable record per transaction.
  4. Reconcile. Match the chain record to your ledger. There is no end-of-day file to wait for.

Who it is for

Built for these teams.

Prepaid and debit programmes

Rand-denominated loads and spend with settlement that does not stop at 17:00.

Credit and BNPL programmes

Draw and repay credit lines in rand, with programmable repayment schedules.

Fleet and expense cards

Controlled spend at participating merchants with final settlement per transaction.

Example transaction journey

One transaction, end to end.

  1. A cardholder loads R2,000 by EFT through your onboarding partner. Your programme wallet receives 2,000 ZARP.
  2. The cardholder spends R450 at a merchant. Your processor authorises the spend against the ZARP balance.
  3. Merchant settlement of R450 moves in ZARP on-chain. The record is final in seconds.
  4. Your ledger reconciles the day against the chain. Float in transit is zero.

Instrument 01

What a programme saves at volume.

Set your monthly volume, transaction count and the rail you settle on today. Outputs are illustrative estimates, not quotes.

Settlement cost calculator

SER. NO. ZRP-CALC-001
R 5,000,000
10,000
2.75%
Card acquiring rails1 to 3 days
R 137,500
fees per month at this volume
  • Fees and margin2.75%
  • Settlement1 to 3 business days
  • AvailableBanking hours and cut-offs
  • Float in settlementR 333,333
ZARP railsSeconds, 24/7
R 70,000
fees per month at this volume
  • On/off-ramp (~1%) + network1% + R2 / txn
  • On-chain settlementSeconds, final
  • Available24 / 7 / 365
  • Float in settlementR 0
R 67,500 saved per month At this volume the programme keeps approximately R 810,000 each year and frees R 333,333 of float that sits in settlement today.

Illustrative estimate. Actual costs depend on partner, corridor, volume and applicable fees. Model assumptions: card acquiring at 2.75%, the midpoint of the 2% to 3.5% range typical for South African card acquiring. Bank and corridor averages: World Bank Remittance Prices Worldwide, Q3 2025. ZARP rails: a 0.5% on-ramp fee, a 0.5% off-ramp fee and R2 in network fees per transaction. Float in settlement is monthly volume multiplied by settlement days over 30. Network and partner fees may apply. Not a quote.

Qualified benefits

What you get, and what applies.

Rand in, rand out

Balances and settlement stay in the cardholder's currency. No USD/ZAR drift on loads or spend.

Settlement in seconds, 24/7

On-chain finality at any hour. Network and partner fees may apply.

Programmable controls

Spend limits, schedules and splits live in code, not in batch files.

1:1 redeemable through eligible partners

Approved partners mint and redeem at par with the issuer, subject to partner terms.

Compliance and partner requirements

What onboarding requires.

  • Card issuing, processing and scheme relationships remain your own or your BIN sponsor's.
  • Formal KYB and compliance review with the issuer before mint and redemption access.
  • Exchange control and licensing apply to any cross-border leg of the programme.
  • Cardholder KYC is performed by you or your onboarding partner.

1 ZARP is redeemable 1:1 for rand through eligible partners. Network and partner fees may apply. Access is subject to applicable law, exchange control and partner terms.

Talk to solutions.

Tell us what you are building. Initial qualification takes a few minutes. Formal KYB follows.

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