Project Khokha 1 & 2 (2018, 2021–22)
South Africa's central bank (SARB) ran two real, well-documented interbank blockchain pilots — not with Ripple, but on Ethereum-based Quorum with ConsenSys and PwC as technical partners. Phase 1 (2018) tokenized the rand for wholesale interbank settlement across seven banks — Absa, Capitec, Discovery, FirstRand, Investec, Nedbank, and Standard Bank — processing 70,000 test transactions in under two hours. Phase 2 (2021–22) extended this into a wholesale CBDC and tokenized-debenture trial with Absa, FirstRand, Nedbank, Standard Bank, and the JSE.
Absa × Ripple custody (Oct 2025)
Absa Bank partnered with Ripple in October 2025 to launch institutional-grade digital asset custody — Ripple's first major custody partnership on the African continent, building on Ripple's earlier support for payments provider Chipper Cash and its RLUSD stablecoin rollout across African markets.
Project Dunbar (BIS, 2021 to 2022)
The South African Reserve Bank took part in the BIS Innovation Hub’s Project Dunbar with the central banks of Australia, Malaysia and Singapore, testing a shared platform for several central bank digital currencies. It is separate from the SARB’s own Project Khokha. See the Bank Projects topic for the BIS and HSBC projects.
Absa × Hyperledger Foundation (Feb 2022)
Absa joined the Hyperledger Foundation — the Linux Foundation's open enterprise-blockchain ecosystem — to broaden its in-house blockchain expertise and standards knowledge.
Absa's blockchain digital ID proposal (Sept 2021)
Absa proposed a blockchain-based national digital ID for South Africa, arguing it could curb identity theft, cut down on personal-data abuse, and make it easier for citizens to access financial services.
Standard Bank × Hedera (Feb 2021)
Standard Bank Group, the largest bank in Africa by assets, joined the Hedera Governing Council and established the continent's first Hedera network node, aimed at digitizing slow, opaque cross-border trade settlement between multiple parties.
