Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has spearheaded a $12.9 million funding round for ZAR, a fintech startup founded in 2024 by Sebastian Scholl and Brandon Timinsky, aimed at expanding the use of dollar-backed stablecoins in Pakistan and other emerging markets. This brings ZAR's total funding to $20 million since its inception, with participation from investors including Dragonfly Capital, VanEck Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, and Endeavor Catalyst.
ZAR's innovative model allows users to convert cash into stablecoins at local stores, phone kiosks, and money agents by scanning a QR code and receiving digital assets in a mobile wallet linked to a globally accepted Visa card. This approach requires no blockchain knowledge, facilitating adoption among the over 100 million unbanked citizens in Pakistan, out of a population of 240 million. The pilot in Pakistan leverages the country's regulatory progress, including the Virtual Assets Ordinance and the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), which has created a favorable environment for digital assets.
If successful, ZAR plans to replicate this model in Africa by 2026, targeting other countries with high unbanked populations like Indonesia, Nigeria, and Argentina. The initiative aligns with broader trends in stablecoin adoption, as highlighted in a16z's State of Crypto 2025 report, which notes that stablecoin transactions surpassed $46 trillion in the past year—nearly triple Visa's volume—with a market cap of $308.25 billion and monthly transactions reaching $1.25 trillion in September 2025. USDT dominates this space, accounting for nearly 60% of stablecoin usage, indicating its central role in real-world economic transactions beyond speculative trading.
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