Row rect Shape Decorative svg added to bottom Trust to Transformation: The Role of Custody in Africa’s Digital Investment Maturity Absa | Corporate and Investment Banking > Insights and Events > Trust to Transformation: The Role of Custody in Africa’s Digital Investment Maturity Rob Downes | Juanetta Furusa-Matelakengisa Senior Product Manager, Carbon Banking at Absa | Head of Digital Assets, Corporate Investment Banking Africa at ABSA SHARE Insights from a recent research project commissioned by Absa have framed the way for what Africa must do to prepare for a future where cryptocurrency is part of our everyday lives. The Absa Africa Digital Assets Insights 2025, compiled by researchers at Krutham, is the first African multi-country study of its kind. Examining five markets – South Africa, Botswana, Mauritius, Kenya and Ghana – this research reveals how Africans perceive and engage with digital assets and proposes what role financial institutions should play to enable a banking environment which is safe, adequately regulated and inclusive. While these countries display distinct differences, it’s clear they also share common threads that capture the diversity of Africa’s financial, regulatory and technological environments. Data from previous studies on emerging markets or the Global South focused mostly on Asia, South America and sometimes Nigeria, as Africa’s biggest market for digital assets. But Absa wanted a current, relevant and uniquely African perspective to inform how we go about preparing for the shift to digital assets here on our continent. We were encouraged that the results revealed an optimism and thirst for knowledge about digital assets. The research found that people want to learn more about cryptocurrency, so that they feel comfortable to engage with it when the time is right. We believe that banks have a significant responsibility to educate consumers not only on what cryptocurrency can do for them, but also to create awareness of the associated risks, and how to manage them. The trust deficit However, issues of scepticism and mistrust in fintechs and crypto exchanges also emerged from the data. People are concerned that scams and fraud could affect their use of digital assets, and many put greater trust in using traditional financial institutions. We found interesting nuances across the markets we studied in this respect. With the very mobile nature of their financial culture in Kenya - and their huge adoption of mobile money - Kenyans trust their fintech market and their exchanges significantly, whereas clients from South Africa, Botswana, Mauritius and Ghana still prefer their banks to help them with these needs. Regulatory uncertainty drives doubt It’s crucial that regulators in every market set clear boundaries on acceptable and unacceptable use, to address the grey areas around exchange control and capital flows. It’s important to stress that we believe regulators have mostly been moving in the right direction in the markets we operate in, but it’s evident that businesses and consumers want total clarity before they really start adopting digital assets on a big scale. The research data shows that businesses and consumers see good opportunities if they can get reassurance on the speed of transactions, the price benefits and the transparency benefit of using digital assets and stablecoins, particularly for cross border transactions. But, they’re nervous about doing something against regulations, that they perhaps didn’t fully understand. As soon as areas that are causing this angst are addressed, banks can move into the market and businesses will start using cryptocurrencies more actively. While there will be nuances in the regulations each country puts in place, banks will understand these and we’ll be able to deliver compliant products, which will help alleviate clients’ concerns about staying within the boundaries of what’s allowed. Custody is really the cornerstone of the digital assets proposition - whether that’s securing digital assets that we take to market to our clients or securing assets like Bitcoin. We can’t overstate the role digital custody plays in enabling trust, compliance, and risk management for institutional investors exploring digital assets in Africa. Encouragingly, the Absa Africa Digital Assets Insights 2025 showed positive trends around current investor expectations and readiness levels for engaging with digital investment products. We know that in the last five years, the performance of some large market cap cryptocurrencies has skyrocketed, some by as much as ten thousand percent. Understandably, people here also want a piece of this action, and to be able to include them as part of their balanced portfolio approach. Our findings show strategic opportunities for Africa to leapfrog into a mature digital investment ecosystem. Banks, regulators, and market participants – individually and collaboratively – must build this trust-driven digital infrastructure. What comes next? Financial Institutions should play a guiding role to help demystify digital assets, by explaining the jargon and systems, and interpreting the data for our clients. Inclusive banking means we have to be aware that digital divides risk putting some ahead of others. Trusted banks must reinforce the security element already inherent in our organisations. We can reassure clients that because we are established, ethical and regulated, and we operate with transparency, accountability and security in platforms, clients’ assets will be protected As Africa’s digital assets landscape evolves and matures, and digital assets become more mainstream, people will start to adopt them organically. They’ll want to, because they meet the needs they have, whether it’s part of their investment portfolio or to buy a fraction of a share in Space-X for example on a tokenised exchange. And, they may not even realise they’re using blockchain technology to do this. Banks must also do the work to figure out the methods they’ll use to integrate digital assets into how financial ecosystems work. No one can disregard that a generational shift is coming in how we interact with money. Banks must start acting now to begin to inculcate faith in the financial integrity of digital assets to create confidence for their clients to navigate the new way we will all ultimately interact with money. There’s no doubt that the future, with the innovation and technology that will be applied to a digital assets’ framework, will be a global experience. And, with the support of established, trusted financial institutions, Africa has every potential to be a valuable, key contributor to that. Juanetta Furusa-Matelakengisa is a Senior Product Manager, Carbon Banking at Absa. Rob Downes is the Head of Digital Assets, Corporate Investment Banking Africa at ABSA. Download the full Absa Africa Digital Assets Insights 2025 Rob Downes | Juanetta Furusa-MatelakengisaSenior Product Manager, Carbon Banking at Absa | Head of Digital Assets, Corporate Investment Banking Africa at ABSA https://cib.absa.africa/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/file_example_MP3_700KB.mp3 Related Articles RISK MANAGEMENT In the Race for Faster Cross-Border Payments, Speed Is Not the Only Issue International payments are the connective tissue of the global economy – enabling trade, investment, and capital mobility across borders. Yet despite their central role in the financial system, they remain stubbornly expensive and complex, creating real friction in the flow of capital and affecting everything from multinational supply chains to individual remittances. 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