Cape Crypto, a new player in SA’s booming crypto-currency market, has introduced a mobile app, to enable users to buy and sell Bitcoin via the platform.
The Cape Town-based Bitcoin trading platform was launched in November by Leon Kowalski, a former product manager at South African-founded crypto-currency Luno.
It made its debut with what it bills as the “lowest trade fees in SA, plus the fastest sign-up time, as buyers do not need to verify their identity before they start buying Bitcoin”.
The 100% South African-owned company says that during its soft launch phase (the first six months), it has garnered around 2000 active users and it is already handling over R100 million in monthly volumes.
The new mobile app, currently only available on the Android app store, also allows users to deposit and withdraw their funds in rands and Bitcoin. It provides complete identity verification and enables two-factor authentication, according to the company.
Kowalski, CEO of Cape Crypto, says the focus of the app has been on the essentials, and making it easy for anyone to sign up and start buying Bitcoin.
“We wanted to ensure we got to market as soon as possible, and that’s why we have prioritised Android first as we have seen the majority of our customers use Android devices. But our iOS app release will be following in the next few weeks, as well as biometrics to make things even more simple and easy,” he explains.
It’s been a roller-coaster six-month period in the world of crypto-currencies – prices have boomed, then fallen, and millions more people have become aware of the new potential, and pitfalls, of crypto-currency trading, which is moving ever closer to the mainstream.
Kowalski says his vision is to help all South Africans realise crypto-currency's full potential.
Cape Crypto has seen organic growth since launch, despite not having invested in any marketing efforts, until now – following the release of the new app, he notes.
The company says one of its distinguishing factors is that as a home-grown company, it only targets South African-based users.
“Cape Crypto has been hard at work building a new service geared at the South African market, and now we are thrilled to announce the release of the Android app, and there are a few more services dropping in the next couple of weeks as well,” it notes.
Kowalski has a software development, technology, management and start-up background going back many years.
He founded his first company straight out of college 15 years ago − an IT services company servicing SMEs, which he ran for three years.
His first exposure to Bitcoin was in 2012, and he says he has been actively involved in the crypto-currency space since then.
From there, he stepped into freelance software development, which allowed him to explore different markets around the world.
While working in Sydney, Australia, Kowalski dedicated his full time to the field of product management and development. He spent six years working at various start-ups across Sydney before returning to Cape Town.
In 2018, Luno brought Kowalski onto the product management team to focus on multiple aspects of the customer-facing product.
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