South African money transfer platform, Xago has announced the launch of Xago XUS stablecoin that is pegged to the US dollar in order to enable clients to make deposits or receive payouts in dollars on the Xago platform. 

Xago was founded in 2016 and brands itself as a company that harnesses the power of mobile, retail networks and blockchain technology to transform the payment industry by bypassing traditional payment costs and delays.

 With a focus on empowering people in Africa, Xago enables its business and individual clients to reliably send money quickly on a highly secure and regulation-compliant platform all at a fraction of the cost. 

A recent report by the World Bank Group found that South African remittances had an average cost of 15.05% of the amount sent. This was nearly 10% higher than the global average of 6.04% and formed an important focal point for the Xago business model.

According to Mark Chimside, the Xago CEO and co-founder, South Africa is a prime example of how individuals in Africa are charged the highest international money transfer fees yet African countries are the poorest globally. 

“Xago is committed to developing innovative, faster than-ever-before, low-cost transaction and trading capabilities bringing certainty to our clients at a time when the world is still reeling from the costs of the Covid pandemic,” Mark said. 

The Xago CEO added that XUS is the first of many new stablecoins that will become available on Xago’s platform and the company is proud to enable its clients from all over the world to transact in US dollars.

The company press release highlighted that the XUS stablecoin will allow funds to get to their destination in a matter of hours rather than days at a cost far less than even the global average of around 6%.

Xago also released a new version of its mobile app that will have XUS available and became the first app to incorporate advanced (future generation) neuromorphic computing technologies that simulate facial recognition features to improve client verification and security protocols. 

The new technology puts their mobile app in the security category of those with Three-Factor Authentication (3FA) i.e. a password, possession of a registered device (where security codes can be sent) and a biological security feature (such as the thumbprint or as in this case, the biometric facial recognition). 

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