The African economy needs digital money, and African users have pioneered new ways to use it. But they need tools that go beyond “mobile money” or digital wallets. Faster settlements and lower fees are only the baseline, says Goji Wallet founder Lorien Gamaroff: “The real evolution lies in humanizing the experience.” Goji, due for public beta release later this year, is adding in creator tools and key social features like savings circles and “automated fairness.”
Goji Wallet founder Lorien Gamaroff spoke to CoinGeek about the unique attributes of the African digital economy, how his new venture builds on past experiences with Centbee, and why scalable BSV remains the best backbone for digital money.
First off, when we say “African digital economy,” we’re not just referring to the physical continent of Africa. It’s a worldwide network that relies on seamless trade and remittances, as well as trust circles. Goji wallet will be available in every country with a mobile app store (and where digital assets wallets are allowed).
In Africa, are people actually using digital assets, or “crypto”? Or are these just feel-good hype stories we see in industry media?
“While speculative trading exists, the real momentum is in ‘invisible’ crypto,” Gamaroff told CoinGeek. “Users care less about the underlying tech and more about utility. Stablecoins, in particular, are seeing a massive surge as a hedge against local currency volatility and a tool for cross-border movement.”
User preferences are almost entirely driven by liquidity and stability, he added. People gravitate toward USD-pegged stablecoins for this reason, avoiding the price volatility of the “crypto” market and inflation of local fiat currencies.
These stablecoins are becoming widely accepted. African users “aren’t ‘maximalists’ for any specific coin, they are maximalists for whatever asset is the most accepted and easiest to off-ramp into local money.”
“The primary drivers are remittances and trade, as people look for ways to bypass the high fees and slow speeds of traditional corridors. It is increasingly being used for ‘day-to-day’ business, where small enterprises use digital assets to settle invoices and manage liquidity across borders.”
How Goji wallet is addressing these needs
In a Substack post previewing Goji Wallet’s features, Gamaroff described the project as “the second act of African fintech.” The first act was mobile money, which emerged organically from mobile phone users trading usage points as currency.
Scalable blockchain can improve on that in several ways, with apps designed to handle Africa’s use case scenarios. “African money is communal,” he wrote. Current wallet options are “lone user” tools, which Goji fixes by adding in savings groups, family networks, and social circles.
“We need to move away from the idea of a wallet as a digital vault and toward the idea of a wallet as a social connector. This insight is driving my new direction. As I move on from Centbee, my focus is shifting toward merging the power of blockchain with the natural social fabric of our lives.”
When Goji Wallet launches as a public beta later in 2026, BSV will be the only supported “currency.” But there are plans to integrate stablecoins shortly after, and other blockchain assets as the platform matures. Actual fiat currency balances are also part of the longer-term vision, but they are always the slowest to onboard due to the various regulatory requirements across jurisdictions.
Goji is non-custodial, meaning blockchain asset wallet credentials are stored locally on devices. It will comply with the usual KYC/AML/CFT laws and FATF guidelines wherever they are available, and wherever users need on- or off-ramps to external systems such as billing and gift cards. It’s also necessary for the automated-trust features like creator communities and savings circles.
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What are Savings Circles, and how does Goji Wallet automate them?
As the name suggests, savings circles are groups that pool and save money for communal purposes. They’re used by millions worldwide, Gamaroff said, and have many names: “stokvels” in South Africa, “susu” in West Africa, or “tandas” in Latin America.
A savings circle can include anyone, as long as they trust each other—family members, friends, colleagues. They contribute money into a central “pot” at regular intervals, and the total amount collected is paid out to one of the group’s members on a rotating basis. These individuals use the money for big purchases that benefit the entire group, investments, or school fees. By pooling funds this way, savings circles avoid the need to take out loans or pay interest.
Goji’s “automated fairness” means payout rotation is handled by code, not manual recordkeeping or even human trust. This solves the occasional problems savings circles might have with missed payments, disputes, or mismanagement.
Its records are transparent; everything’s recorded on the blockchain. Every member can see what’s happening. The process is safer for group members because no one person manages the balance or payout processes.
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‘If it feels like banking, you lose the smartphone generation’
Gamaroff co-founded Centbee, a digital wallet app with a similar target audience, but which had to execute a graceful exit from the market earlier this year. All users were able to withdraw their balances, and the company posted regular updates and information as it closed.
“Centbee taught me that technical excellence isn’t enough,” Gamaroff said. “If the user experience feels like ‘banking,’ you lose the smartphone generation. With Goji, I am pivoting from a purely transactional focus to a community-first approach, ensuring that the wallet feels as social and intuitive as the group chats where African life and commerce actually happen.”
Goji Wallet is using BSV blockchain as its foundational protocol “because it is one of the most scalable blockchains available, designed for high throughput while maintaining extremely low transaction costs.”
Its social payments features need BSV’s instant transactions and low fees to work seamlessly. “BSV’s locked protocol and no fixed block size limit provide the reliability and efficiency required for a global consumer application.”
And this circles us back to the notion that BSV works better as “plumbing,” rather than trying to market BSV units as a primary currency. Bitcoin is a complete digital money network, but it works just as well even if users want to transact with more familiar assets.
“For BSV to succeed, it must stop trying to be a ‘currency’ people talk about and start being the ‘plumbing’ that people don’t notice. With Goji, the goal is to use BSV’s micro-transaction capability to power social features and group dynamics that are too expensive to run on any other chain, making the tech a competitive advantage rather than a sales pitch,” Gamaroff said.
“My belief in the BSV blockchain remains as strong as ever.”
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Watch: What Happens When Blockchain Becomes Invisible?
Source: https://coingeek.com/goji-wallet-and-the-social-future-of-money/