{"id":187664,"date":"2021-02-24T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-24T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/hedera-makes-inroads-in-africa-as-standard-bank-group-becomes-node-operator\/"},"modified":"2021-02-24T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-02-24T11:00:00","slug":"hedera-makes-inroads-in-africa-as-standard-bank-group-becomes-node-operator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/hedera-makes-inroads-in-africa-as-standard-bank-group-becomes-node-operator\/","title":{"rendered":"# Hedera makes inroads in Africa as Standard Bank Group becomes node operator"},"content":{"rendered":"

“# Hedera makes inroads in Africa as Standard Bank Group becomes node operator <\/strong>”
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Standard Bank Group \u2014 Africa\u2019s largest bank by assets \u2014 has partnered with enterprise-grade distributed ledger technology<\/a> project Hedera Hashgraph.<\/p>\n

According to a joint announcement, the African banking giant now joins other major corporations like Google, LG, and IBM as a member of the Hedera Governing Council.<\/p>\n

Standard Bank will also become a Hedera node operator, the first in Africa with a focus on utilizing DLT to ease bottlenecks in cross-border trade on the continent.<\/p>\n

Across Africa, innovations in domestic payment rails have created faster and efficient transaction systems. However, this advancement is yet to translate to the cross-border payment transaction scene with stablecoins already identified as having the potential to solve these issues.<\/p>\n

For Ian Putter, head of DLT and blockchain at Standard Bank Group, the partnership with Hedera is part of the bank\u2019s focus on utilizing decentralized technology to improve cross-border trade in Africa.<\/p>\n

Putter told Cointelegraph that the bank views DLT as a viable base-layer for supporting cross-border in Africa and also connect the continent to partners in major markets like China, adding:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have completed [proofs of concept] have solutions in production and are partnering with these parties to scale and exploit these cross-border trade solutions. A key focus for us is to continue exploration and experimentation with this technology as it rapidly evolves, through partnerships and leveraging existing solutions to speed up implementation and scaling.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Putter highlighted the growing interest in central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, as a pointer to the potential for DLT-based technology to disrupt the global business process.<\/p>\n

According to Hedera CEO Mance Harmon, Africa is poised to occupy a leading role in DLT utilization, telling Cointelegraph:<\/p>\n

\u201cWith services like M-Pesa already widely used, we see a willingness for African companies to embrace new technologies like blockchain and distributed ledger technology to meet the changing needs of their customers. In addition to financial services\/DeFi, we also see strong interest from companies in the region in leveraging DLT for use cases in healthcare, energy management, identity, and supply chains.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n