Built by Crypto Natives
The ZARP Stablecoin project was founded in 2019 by Simon Dingle and Kenny Inggs with a clear mission to bring the South African Rand on-chain with radical transparency and real utility.
The ZARP Story
Before most people had heard of stablecoins, we were building one. ZARP began as a conviction that South Africa deserved its own crypto-native financial rails; not dependent on legacy infrastructure, but open, programmable, and available to anyone, no matter where they are or how much money they have. The blockchain doesn't discriminate.
We started with Ethereum, expanded to Polygon, then Base, Solana, and Gnosis Chain. Along the way, we established banking relationships, engaged independent auditors, and built a treasury framework managed by one of Africa's most established asset managers, Old Mutual Wealth.
Today, ZARP is integrated across a growing ecosystem of wallets, exchanges, DeFi protocols, and payment platforms. Every token in circulation is fully backed by cash reserves, independently attested, and verifiable on-chain. Anything you can do with the Rand, you can do better with ZARP.
See our Ecosystem page for examples of what our partners have built with ZARP.
Founders
Simon Dingle
Co-Founder
Author, technologist, and one of the earliest advocates for decentralised finance. Simon has been writing and speaking about cryptocurrency since 2011 with books including In Math We Trust and companies like Luno and Curve. Simon brings deep domain expertise in fintech, crypto, and the intersection of technology and money to the ZARP project.
Kenny Inggs
Co-Founder
Veteran software engineer and architect with decades of experience building core banking and other financial systems at Old Mutual, 22seven, Microsoft, and elsewhere. Kenny leads the architecture and technical development of ZARP Stablecoin, including smart contracts, deployment infrastructure, and multi-chain strategy with systems that bridge the traditional and decentralised worlds of finance.
Timeline
Project Founded
Simon Dingle and Kenny Inggs begin designing a fully collateralised Rand stablecoin — one of the first projects of its kind in Africa.
Company Incorporated
ZARP Stablecoin (Pty) Ltd is formally registered in South Africa. Treasury infrastructure and banking relationships are established.
Public Launch on Ethereum
ZARP goes live as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain. First independent attestation by Kempen Audit confirms full collateralisation.
Multi-Chain Expansion
ZARP deploys on Polygon, dramatically reducing transaction costs and opening up new DeFi integrations. Ecosystem partnerships begin to scale.
Base & Solana
ZARP launches on Base (Coinbase's L2) and Solana, embracing next-generation chains.
Old Mutual Wealth
Old Mutual Wealth comes onboard as the first asset manager in Africa to provide treasury services to ZARP.
Growing Adoption
Major exchange integrations, growing DeFi liquidity, and increasing real-world payment use cases across South Africa. ZARP surpasses 200,000 lifetime transactions.
Stablecoin Standard
ZARP becomes a founding member of the Stablecoin Standard, a global industry body for stablecoin issuers.
The Ecosystem Expands
New wallets, payment apps, and cross-border infrastructure partners join the ZARP ecosystem. The most established Rand stablecoin continues to lead.