Binance has today announced Bundle, a social payments app for cash and crypto in Nigeria founded by Yele Bademosi, a former director at Binance Labs.
Bundle, backed by Binance, allows users to request, send and receive cash or crypto from their peers. Users can buy, sell and store digital currencies such as BNB, BTC and ETHas well as deposit/withdraw digital currencies and local fiat currencies; starting with NGN (Nigeria Naira).
According to Yele Bademosi, “We built Bundle with the digitally native African user in mind. They are social, online and connected across geographical boundaries. They prefer their financial services delivered digitally via mobile apps as opposed to visiting brick and mortar bank branches.”
These transactions can be processed via various payment channels such as cards, bank transfer, and Mobile Money as well as safely stored in Bundle’s SmartWallet.
About 40 percent of banked Africansprefer to use digital channels for banking transactions and use advanced financial tools. Africa as a whole has the largest youngest population in the world with a median age of 19 and more than 1 billion people expected to be born over the next 30 years.Bundle aims to serve this young, digitally savvy and majority demographic that will lead Africa’s new and promising digital economy.
Despite its boundless human and economic potential, the Binance and Bundle team believe that Africa faces formidable socio-economic challenges such as access to financial services and hyperinflation that require bold, innovative and alternative solutions. Bundle is one of them.
Bundle’s product vision is to evolve into a super-app with a native digital wallet that supports crypto and cash – one that becomes a tech essential to everyday life for Africans and the world.
“We believe Africa has several characteristics that make it a prime geographical location for the realization of the full potential of digital currencies, blockchain, and its applications. Currently, only 1.4 million people out of 1.2 billion people in Africa use crypto today. This is a worthwhile mission because making the blockchain ecosystem more accessible unlocks economic opportunity on and for the continent,”says Bundle Chief Technical Officer, Taiwo Orilogbon.
Bundle will initially launch with 0 fees however KYC verification and fiat deposit and withdrawal limits apply*. The Bundle Android app is currently availableand the iOS app will be available in the coming weeks. Bundle does not currently support a desktop version.
Bundle plans to support over 30 African countries by the end of the year, creating a simplified fiat on/off ramp for crypto on the continent. Bundle’s mission is to make economic freedom and prosperity a reality for all Africans; and aims to drive crypto adoption on the continent by making it more fun, easy to use and inclusive for Africans whilst creating more daily use cases for it.
In September 2019, Bundle closed a successful pre-seed fundraise – raising $450k from Binance, the global blockchain company behind the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume and users, and various African investors.
However, while Bundle is the first of many projects incubated within the Binance ecosystem, Bundle operates as an independent entity from Binance. In the past, Binance has either invested in companies via Binance Labs or provided grants via Binance X. Bundle is backed by Binance with other African investors – including PAVE investments.
