Absa Becomes First African Bank to Offer Digital-Asset Custody

Absa, the Johannesburg-headquartered bank, has become the first bank in Africa to offer digital-asset custody services. This move is aimed at tapping into a market estimated at about $1.5 billion. The bank has received approval from South African regulators for the service, which currently supports Bitcoin, XRP Ledger, Ethereum, and USDC.

Absa's head of digital assets, Rob Downes, stated that the bank expects to extend this service to other client segments in South Africa in due course. He also mentioned that they are working on bringing the solution to other African presence countries, pending regulatory approvals.

The South African Reserve Bank estimates that crypto assets under custody at the nation's three biggest licensed service providers more than doubled to R25.3 billion ($1.5 billion) by the end of 2024 from less than R10 billion at the start of 2023.