Mariblock Weekly

🟠 A new South African stablecoin is now live on Luno

Plus: 🌍 Here’s why Flutterwave is enabling stablecoin payments via Polygon

Welcome to Mariblock Weekly! Oge here with your weekly wrap of what’s happening across Africa’s crypto and digital asset space.

- South Africa now has its third rand-backed stablecoin, expanding a growing market for local currency tokens.
- Meanwhile, Flutterwave’s CEO has given more context on why the company teamed up with Polygon; faster, more reliable settlement times stood out.

📌 Don’t miss:
The Catch Up section for other stories you may have missed.

Let’s dive in!

New South African stablecoin goes live on Luno

An image of a five South African rand palced over a 20 rand note. — Credit: Marquardt_Photography/Getty Images

Topline: South Africa has a new rand-backed stablecoin. Super Group, through its subsidiary Super Money, has launched the ZAR Supercoin (ZARSC), now available on Luno. (Details)

The details: Super Money is licensed by the FSCA, and each ZARSC token is backed by rand reserves held at Absa and monitored via Chainalysis Sentinel.

A digital wallet is planned for March 2026, with integrations for fintech apps and P2P transfers.
Early use cases include cheaper payments on Betway, where integration has begun.
ZARSC will launch on Solana, enabling broader trading and potential cross-border use. The team is also pursuing more exchange listings, though current circulation figures aren’t public.

Some context: ZARSC is now the third known rand-pegged stablecoin, joining ZARC and ZARP.

Local stablecoin development is also rising across the continent. Nigeria’s cNGN, for instance, has more than 650 million tokens in circulation across multiple blockchains.

Key quotes: Super Money South Africa said:

“ZAR Supercoin allows users to hold, send and redeem digital rands instantly and securely. It combines the speed and accessibility of blockchain technology with the trust and oversight of regulated finance.”

Zoom out: The rise of local stablecoins reflects growing interest among Africans in using digital assets to hedge inflation and preserve value — an alternative to relying heavily on USD-pegged stablecoins.

South Africa’s Reserve Bank governor recently cautioned that widespread adoption of USD stablecoins could weaken monetary sovereignty.

Here’s why Flutterwave is enabling stablecoin payments via Polygon

Topline: Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga “GB” Agboola discussed the company’s Polygon integration on an X Space hosted by Big Tech This Week’s Fatu Oguche. Faster settlement times were central (Details)

The details: GB says his company is integrating stablecoin payments to give users more flexibility for cross-border transfers.

More business customers now work with partners that prefer settling in stablecoins, so Flutterwave “has to meet them where they are.”
The integration, first announced last October, uses Polygon’s Ethereum L2 rails across 30+ African markets.
A pilot was scheduled to finish by year-end, with broader rollout planned for 2025. The user interface will remain the same regardless of the blockchain backend.

Why Polygon: It lets Flutterwave start small, scale gradually and keep the option of a future native chain open.

Zoom out: Major financial institutions are adopting blockchain for speed and efficiency. Flutterwave joins Western Union, Mastercard and Visa — all of which announced stablecoin initiatives in Africa this year.