While Web3 has brought rapid innovation in decentralised finance (DeFi), much of its impact has remained concentrated in the Global North. In emerging markets, particularly across Africa, the financial pain points are more foundational: limited access to stable currencies, high-cost cross-border transactions, lack of credit infrastructure, and minimal access to global investment channels.
Canza Finance is one of the few African-led Web3 projects addressing these core challenges head-on, not with theory, but with practical tools designed for real-world usage.
Canza is building a decentralised infrastructure layer that helps small businesses, OTC traders, and financial agents interact with global finance in a regulated, secure, and blockchain-powered way.
From tokenised foreign exchange and DeFi yield
products to real-world asset (RWA) markets and hedging tools, Canza is taking a multi-pronged approach to fixing the inefficiencies of traditional finance in Africa, starting with Nigeria, and expanding to other emerging economies.
Financial Access with DeFi Rails
Canza’s approach isn’t about breaking systems, it’s about building new ones that actually work for African markets. The current infrastructure is broken for many SMEs and local agents. Traditional banking routes are often exclusionary, FX markets are fragmented, and centralised financial institutions are slow, costly, and vulnerable to policy shocks.
Canza is solving these issues by combining compliant DeFi architecture, stablecoins, OTC liquidity, and tokenised instruments into a single ecosystem that empowers users to:
- Settle trades across borders using on-chain stablecoins
- Access decentralised forex markets without needing banks
- Invest in digitised real-world assets (from land to commodities)
- Hedge against risk from centralised crypto platforms
- Earn yield on idle funds via secure staking pools
Components of the Ecosystem
Let’s unpack the key components of the Canza platform:
- Jara Network
This is Canza’s foundational product, a decentralised infrastructure for OTC trading and settlements. Licensed in the U.S. and Nigeria, Jara enables vetted OTC agents and financial service providers to conduct large volume trades with stablecoin liquidity, smart contract settlement, and compliance baked into the system.
With Jara, local traders can bypass high-fee remittance channels, access better FX rates, and move money internationally in minutes, not days.
- Baki Exchange (DeFi FX Protocol)
Baki is Canza’s decentralised foreign exchange engine. Instead of relying on informal market rates or banks, users can trade currency pairs via automated market makers (AMMs). The exchange supports:
- On-chain naira/stablecoin swaps
- USD-pegged stablecoin liquidity pools
- Institutional-grade access for OTC brokers
- Integration with Canza’s $CNZA token for reduced fees
This is important in volatile FX environments like Nigeria, where black-market rates often dictate real-world pricing.
- RWA Marketplace
The platform is also building a regulated marketplace for tokenised real-world assets. This includes digitised instruments representing:
- Farmland and real estate
- Local infrastructure bonds
- Precious metals and commodities
These assets are fractionalized and made investable through smart contracts, creating new forms of value for retail and institutional investors who’ve traditionally been excluded from such markets.
- CXDS (Centralised Exchange Default Swaps)
In a post-FTX world, risk management is essential. Canza’s CXDS product is a novel hedging mechanism that lets users protect their funds against potential defaults or hacks on centralised exchanges.
This is particularly valuable for African traders who may rely on CEXs due to liquidity limitations but have no fallback if the platform fails.
CANZA Token Economy
The $CNZA token is the native asset powering the Canza ecosystem. But this isn’t just another speculative token, it has multiple layers of utility:
Access token: $CNZA gives users the right to access premium features, participate in OTC pools, and interact with Jara Network tools.
Staking rewards: Holders can stake CNZA to earn a portion of network fees, incentivising long-term participation.
Governance: The token enables decentralised governance, allowing the community to vote on protocol upgrades and integrations.
Liquidity engine: It plays a role in seeding liquidity across Baki FX and RWA marketplaces, helping stabilise the platform’s economics.
The Canza team is also exploring future yield opportunities, where staked CNZA could be used as collateral for credit access or asset financing.
Founder and Team
Canza Finance is led by a team of professionals who deeply understand both the African financial context and decentralised technology:
- Richard Mabia, Co-founder & CEO – A visionary in African fintech, Richard combines technical experience with a practical understanding of regional market gaps.
- Kingsley Kobayashi, Co-founder – A Nigerian-Japanese entrepreneur and investor with a strong footprint in blockchain advocacy and traditional finance.
- Nkechi Nnamani, Head of Operations – Oversees compliance, agent onboarding, and regional rollout across Nigeria and West Africa.
The team also works with regulators in Nigeria, Mauritius, and the U.S. to ensure all products meet global compliance standards, a rarity in the African crypto ecosystem.
A Pan-African Vision in Practice
Canza isn’t just building for Nigeria. The project has a continental vision, aiming to onboard OTC agents, SMEs, and financial startups from Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and Francophone West Africa. The goal is to create a Web3-powered, cross-border finance network that local businesses can depend on, no matter where they operate.
Its early pilot programs in Lagos and Abuja already show traction, with OTC agents using the platform to move liquidity between stablecoins, naira, and dollars more efficiently than traditional banks.
What’s Next for Canza?
The roadmap for 2025 and beyond includes:
- Launching a mobile-first interface for OTC agents and SMEs
- Expanding the Jara protocol to East and Southern Africa
- Tokenizing $10M+ in real-world assets by Q2 2026
- Bridging with Layer 2s and rollups for faster, cheaper FX
- Partnerships with microfinance institutions and regional fintechs
Canza’s long-term vision is to become the financial backend for Africa’s informal economy — enabling anyone with a phone and wallet to trade, invest, and hedge globally.
Closing Thoughts
Canza Finance isn’t playing into cryptocurrency hype. It is focused on real problems, currency instability, capital inaccessibility, remittance inefficiency, and solving them with tools grounded in African realities.
In a continent where over 80% of cross-border transactions are still manual or informal, Canza is quietly laying down the pipes for a decentralised, inclusive financial future, one that doesn’t wait for legacy banks to catch up.
