Zone Secures $8.5 Million Seed to Build Decentralized Payment Network
Blockchain payments startup Zone has raised $8.5 million in seed funding to build out its decentralized network and test cross-border settlement capabilities across commercial banks.
Lagos, Nigeria — Decentralized payment infrastructure provider Zone has raised $8.5 million in seed funding. The startup will deploy the fresh capital to build out its proprietary blockchain-based payment network, enabling commercial banks to settle domestic transactions without intermediary switches.
Zone operates a decentralized payments switch that routes transactions directly between commercial banks and fintechs. The company utilizes a peer-to-peer blockchain protocol to automate ATM and POS settlements, charging transaction fees to participating financial institutions.
The seed funding was backed by global blockchain investors and will be used to run pilot cross-border payment networks. Zone is currently onboarding major commercial banks in Nigeria onto its network, aiming to eliminate transaction settlement delays and failed ATM transactions.
The payment switching landscape in Africa is historically dominated by centralized switches like Interswitch and NIBSS. Zone's decentralized protocol offers an alternative, direct-routing switch that reduces infrastructure costs for commercial banks, representing a major technological shift in payment networks.
Zone's seed round validates the thesis that decentralized ledger technology can modernize core clearing infrastructure for traditional banks in Africa. By bypassing centralized switches, Zone enables banks to lower their transaction processing costs and resolve card transaction disputes in real-time. Investors should notice that commercial banks are adopting Zone's protocol not because of crypto hype, but for pure infrastructure efficiency. The risk lies in centralized clearing switches lobbying regulators to restrict decentralized routing protocols.
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