IDT Corporation acquires Leaf Global Fintech

By Edlyn Cardoza

IDT Corporation, a global provider of FinTech, cloud communications, and traditional communications services, recently announced that it has acquired Leaf Global Fintech Corporation, a provider of digital wallet services in emerging markets currently serving unbanked customers in Rwanda, Uganda, and Kenya.

“Leaf has built a blockchain-based digital wallet for everyone – including the 2.4 billion people worldwide who use feature phones rather than smartphones – making it easy to securely store and share value within and across borders,” said Shmuel Jonas, CEO of IDT. “We are excited to partner with the Leaf team to help build out their network across Africa and the rest of the world.”

The Leaf Wallet is an innovative mobile platform available on smartphones, feature phones and other mobile devices through the Leaf Wallet apps or by utilizing a USSD interface accessed via a shortcode. The Leaf digital wallet enables customers to store, send, receive, and exchange currencies on their phones domestically and across borders.

“We are thrilled to join IDT and look forward to the opportunity to deploy Leaf globally through IDT’s network,” said Nat Robinson, Leaf’s Co-Founder and CEO. “We now have a tremendous opportunity to expand our service to traders, refugees, migrants, and other largely unbanked populations worldwide with affordable mobile technology.”

The Leaf platform leverages the Stellar network for storing and disseminating transaction data while maintaining value with stablecoins. Stellar is an open-source, decentralized blockchain network that connects global financial infrastructures, and it is optimized for payments and specifically to support cross-border transactions. The Stellar platform enables Leaf to provide affordable, fast, mobile transactions to cost-sensitive populations that require high security and transparency.

“The IDT acquisition validates the groundbreaking work our team has done to deliver a world-class digital wallet to people with and without smartphones in multiple markets,” said Tori Samples, Leaf Co-Founder and CTO. “We are confident that Leaf’s stablecoin approach on Stellar will continue to lower transaction costs and increase accessibility for customers around the world.”