Using Blockchain Technology in Providing Mobile Financial Services to Alleviate Financial Exclusion in South Africa

This paper gives insight into the perceived potential of Blockchain Technology (BCT) in the mobile financial services sector in South Africa. The majority of impoverished individuals do not have banking accounts owing to factors such as paperwork restrictions, high-cost banking fees, and distrust in financial institutions, deceptive adverts, and high interest rates among others. Blockchain technology offers the potential to alleviate poverty-related financial exclusion and to integrate the unbanked individuals into the financial system. Through semi-structured interviews, this study examines the perceived use of Blockchain technology, particularly in the mobile financial services sector. Experts developing mobile services in the banking sector were interviewed. BCT-based financial services may eliminate the need for intermediation, which results in exorbitant costs. BCT may also provide previously unbanked people without proper identification documents with a digital identity. Mobile phones support the installation of blockchain-based applications that enable unbanked individuals with smartphones to have access to the financial system and conduct transactions.