Where the Rands behind ZARsc actually sit
Ask a stablecoin issuer where the money is, and the last thing you want to hear are vague answers, offshore structures and "diversified reserve strategies."
Our answer is specific. The Rand reserves backing ZARsc are held in South Africa, in Rand, in an account at Absa.
Why a major bank matters
“We wanted the boring answer to be true. Where is the money? In Rand, in South Africa, at Absa.”
- Gideon Greaves, Managing Director, Super Money SA (Supercoin)
Banking a Crypto Asset Service Provider is not a formality. It means a major South African bank has done its own due diligence on who we are, how we operate, and how the reserve account functions. That scrutiny is not friction to be avoided. It is part of the architecture. Every serious counterparty between a ZARsc holder and the underlying Rand makes the whole system harder to get wrong.
Why onshore, in Rand
A Rand-backed stablecoin only deserves the name if the backing behaves like Rand. Ours does. The reserves sit onshore, in the currency, inside the South African banking system. Nothing exotic, nothing synthetic, nothing that needs a diagram to explain. When ZARsc moves on-chain, the Rand behind it has not gone anywhere.
How the pieces fit
The reserve account at Absa is one leg of a deliberately simple structure. Absa holds the Rand. Moore's blockchain assurance team independently verifies each month that reserves exceed the ZARsc in circulation, and the signed reports are published every month. Fireblocks secures custody. Chainalysis screens transactions.
None of these firms work for the others. That is the point. Trust built on only one name is a promise. Trust built on independent parties, each doing their own job, checking their own leg of the structure, is a system.
The wider picture
“Providing secure banking services for the reserves that underpin ZARsc is an important part of the overall solution, and we're pleased to play a part in supporting innovation in our markets.” - Rob Downes, Head of Digital Assets, CIB Africa
South Africa's banks and its digital asset builders are often written about as opposites. The reserve relationship behind ZARsc suggests something more useful: the existing banking system and new settlement rails doing what each does best. The bank safeguards the Rand. The rails move its digital counterpart. Neither replaces the other, and holders are better off because both are in the room.
Super Money South Africa is a licensed Crypto Asset Service Provider, FSP 53458, under the FAIS Act 37 of 2002.
