nTZS White Paper

nTZS is a Tanzanian Shilling-referenced digital token issued on the Base blockchain network. For every nTZS token in circulation, NEDA Labs Limited holds one Tanzanian Shilling (TZS) or an equivalent amount of TZS-denominated reserve assets on behalf of holders, in order to facilitate the frictionless transfer, storage, and redemption of Tanzanian Shilling value using blockchain technology.

nTZS enables holders to send, receive, and store value denominated in Tanzanian Shillings without requiring a traditional bank account, while retaining the ability to redeem tokens for Tanzanian Shillings via mobile money at any time.

Holders of nTZS have the right to redeem their tokens for Tanzanian Shillings at par value (1 nTZS = 1 TZS) at any time, subject to a minimum redemption amount of 5,000 TZS. Redemption is processed via mobile money disbursement to a registered Tanzanian phone number. Conditions and processes for redemption are detailed in Part D of this white paper.

NEDA Labs Limited

NEDA Labs

Private limited company incorporated under the laws of the United Republic of Tanzania.

United Republic of Tanzania

NEDA Labs Limited develops financial technology infrastructure for emerging markets. Its primary product is the nTZS token, a Tanzanian Shilling-referenced digital token, together with an API platform (Wallet-as-a-Service, or WaaS) that enables third-party applications to issue, manage, and redeem nTZS wallets on behalf of their users.

The WaaS platform is provided to partner applications under a Partner Agreement and API key authentication scheme. Partner applications are responsible for the onboarding, identity verification, and compliance of their end users in accordance with applicable Tanzanian law.

NEDA Labs Limited and its management body are not aware of any conflicts of interest between their duties to holders of nTZS and their private interests or other duties that could materially affect the offering of nTZS.

The directors of NEDA Labs Limited hold an economic interest in the company. This interest is disclosed to ensure transparency. No director has a personal financial interest in the reserve assets held to back nTZS that is separate from their interest as shareholders of NEDA Labs Limited.

As of the date of this white paper, NEDA Labs Limited does not issue any other crypto-asset. The company operates exclusively on the Base blockchain network for the nTZS token.

NEDA Labs Limited is a newly established entity. Reserve assets backing nTZS are held in segregated accounts and are not part of the general assets of NEDA Labs Limited. In the event of insolvency, reserve assets are earmarked for the redemption of outstanding nTZS tokens.

nTZS (read: “digital Tanzanian Shilling”)

TZS

nTZS is a fiat-referenced token pegged to the Tanzanian Shilling (TZS), the official currency of the United Republic of Tanzania (ISO 4217: TZS). It is designed to maintain a stable value of 1 nTZS = 1 TZS at all times through a full reserve backing mechanism.

nTZS is an ERC-20 token deployed on the Base blockchain network. It is not a security, equity, debt instrument, or derivative. It confers no voting rights, profit participation rights, or ownership interest in NEDA Labs Limited.

The nTZS smart contract implements the following roles:

• DEFAULT_ADMIN_ROLEAdministrative control over role assignments and contract configuration. Held by NEDA Labs Limited's multi-signature treasury wallet.
• MINTER_ROLEAuthority to mint new nTZS tokens in response to verified TZS deposits. Held by NEDA Labs Limited's minting infrastructure.
• BURNER_ROLEAuthority to burn nTZS tokens on redemption. Held by NEDA Labs Limited's minting infrastructure.
• PAUSER_ROLEAuthority to pause token transfers in an emergency. Held by NEDA Labs Limited.
• FREEZER_ROLEAuthority to freeze individual addresses in cases of suspected fraud or regulatory requirement.

The contract includes a blacklist mechanism to comply with anti-money laundering obligations and a global pause mechanism for emergency situations.

The nTZS token was first offered to the public in March 2026 on the Base mainnet.

March 2026

https://www.ntzs.co.tz

nTZS is offered to the public via the nTZS platform at https://www.ntzs.co.tz and through third-party partner applications that integrate the NEDA Labs WaaS API. Tokens are issued on a one-to-one basis in exchange for Tanzanian Shilling deposits made via the supported payment channels described in Section C.3.

There is no initial coin offering (ICO) or pre-sale of nTZS. Tokens are only minted upon receipt of corresponding TZS deposits and are always redeemable at par.

The supply of nTZS is not fixed. New tokens are minted exclusively in response to verified TZS deposits received by NEDA Labs Limited. Tokens are burned upon redemption. At all times, the total supply of nTZS in circulation is equal to or less than the total amount of TZS reserve assets held by NEDA Labs Limited.

There are no pre-minted tokens, team allocations, or reserve pools. Every nTZS in circulation is backed by a corresponding TZS reserve asset.

nTZS may be acquired through the following channels:

1. Direct deposit: Users deposit Tanzanian Shillings via mobile money (M-Pesa, Airtel Money, Tigo Pesa) through the nTZS platform. Upon confirmation of the deposit, nTZS tokens are minted to the user's wallet address.
2. Partner applications: Third-party applications using the NEDA Labs WaaS API may facilitate nTZS issuance on behalf of their users, subject to completion of applicable identity verification requirements.
3. Peer-to-peer transfer: Existing nTZS holders may transfer tokens directly to any valid Base network address using standard ERC-20 transfer functionality.

This white paper and the nTZS token are subject to the laws of the United Republic of Tanzania. Any dispute arising in connection with nTZS shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of Tanzania, unless otherwise agreed in writing.

Rights of holders:

• The right to hold, transfer, and redeem nTZS tokens at any time, subject to the minimum redemption threshold of 5,000 TZS.
• The right to redeem nTZS at par value (1 nTZS = 1 TZS) via mobile money to a registered Tanzanian phone number.
• The right to transfer nTZS to any valid blockchain address without restriction, subject to the absence of a freeze or blacklist on the sending address.
• The right to submit complaints and access a dispute resolution mechanism as described in Sections D.5 and D.6.

Obligations of holders:

• Holders must not use nTZS for any illegal purpose, including money laundering, terrorist financing, or sanctions evasion.
• Holders who access nTZS through a partner application are subject to the terms and conditions of that partner application, including any identity verification requirements.
• Holders must provide accurate redemption details (phone number, name) to receive mobile money payouts.

NEDA Labs Limited reserves the right to modify the terms governing nTZS, including the minimum redemption amount, supported redemption channels, and fee structure. Material modifications will be communicated to holders via the nTZS website with a minimum of 30 days notice, except where modification is required by law or to protect the security of the reserve.

Holders may redeem nTZS tokens for Tanzanian Shillings at any time via the following process:

1. The holder initiates a withdrawal request via the nTZS platform or a partner application, specifying the amount (minimum 5,000 TZS) and the destination mobile money number.
2. NEDA Labs Limited verifies the holder's on-chain balance and the validity of the redemption request.
3. The corresponding nTZS tokens are burned on the Base blockchain.
4. The equivalent TZS amount is disbursed to the holder's mobile money account within 1 business day.

Redemption requests below 5,000 TZS will not be processed. There is no maximum redemption amount, though requests exceeding 100,000 TZS may require additional identity verification before processing.

Redemption fees, if any, will be disclosed on the nTZS website prior to transaction completion.

The value of nTZS is maintained through the following reserve mechanism:

• For every nTZS token in circulation, NEDA Labs Limited holds one Tanzanian Shilling or equivalent liquid asset in a segregated reserve account.
• Reserve assets are not commingled with NEDA Labs Limited's operational funds.
• Reserve balances are verifiable on-chain by comparing the total supply of nTZS (publicly readable from the smart contract) against reserve attestation reports published periodically by NEDA Labs Limited.

Holders may submit complaints to NEDA Labs Limited by e-mail at hello@ntzs.co.tz. Complaints will be acknowledged within 2 business days and resolved within 10 business days. Where a complaint cannot be resolved within 10 business days, the holder will be notified of the expected timeline for resolution.

Any dispute arising from the holding or redemption of nTZS that cannot be resolved through the complaint procedure described in Section D.5 shall be referred to mediation under the rules of the Tanzania Institute of Arbitrators, and failing resolution, to the courts of Tanzania.

nTZS is issued on Base, a Layer 2 blockchain network developed and operated by Coinbase Technologies Inc. Base is built on the OP Stack and settles transactions to the Ethereum mainnet, inheriting Ethereum's security guarantees through its fraud proof mechanism.

Base was selected as the issuance network for nTZS due to its:

• Low transaction fees (typically below $0.01 per transfer)
• High throughput and fast transaction finality
• Ethereum compatibility and access to existing developer tooling
• Institutional backing and long-term operational commitment from Coinbase

The nTZS smart contract is derived from the OpenZeppelin ERC-20 implementation with the following extensions:

• AccessControlRole-based permissioning system governing mint, burn, pause, freeze, and blacklist operations.
• PausableEmergency pause functionality that halts all token transfers when activated.
• BlacklistAddress-level restriction mechanism for regulatory compliance.
• FreezeAddress-level balance freeze that prevents the transfer of funds from a specific address pending investigation or legal hold.
• WipeAdministrative function permitting the removal of frozen balances in cases of confirmed fraud or court order.

All administrative actions are logged to the blockchain and auditable by any observer.

Minting occurs when a user deposits Tanzanian Shillings via a supported payment channel:

1. The user initiates a deposit via the nTZS platform or a partner application.
2. NEDA Labs Limited's payment processor confirms receipt of the TZS deposit.
3. The minting service calls the mint(address to, uint256 amount) function on the nTZS contract using a wallet holding the MINTER_ROLE.
4. An equivalent number of nTZS tokens are created and credited to the user's wallet address.

Burning occurs when a user initiates a redemption:

1. The user requests a withdrawal via the nTZS platform or a partner application.
2. The platform verifies the user's on-chain balance and redemption details.
3. The burning service calls the burn(address from, uint256 amount) function using a wallet holding the BURNER_ROLE.
4. The corresponding nTZS tokens are destroyed, reducing the total supply.
5. The mobile money disbursement is initiated via NEDA Labs Limited's payout partner.

Wallet architecture:

• Each partner application is issued an isolated HD wallet seed, encrypted using AES-256-GCM and stored in the NEDA Labs database.
• User wallets are derived deterministically from the partner seed using the BIP-44 derivation path m/44'/8453'/0'/0/{walletIndex}.
• Private keys are derived on-demand for transaction signing and are never persisted to disk or database.

Minting infrastructure:

• The MINTER_ROLE and BURNER_ROLE are held by a dedicated server-side wallet used exclusively for mint and burn operations.
• Administrative roles (PAUSER_ROLE, FREEZER_ROLE, DEFAULT_ADMIN_ROLE) are held by a multi-signature treasury wallet requiring multiple signatories for any administrative action.

The nTZS smart contract is based on audited OpenZeppelin contracts. NEDA Labs Limited intends to commission an independent third-party audit of the nTZS smart contract and reserve management procedures. The results of any completed audit will be published on the nTZS website.

nTZS is issued by a Tanzanian company and is primarily intended for use within Tanzania. The regulatory treatment of digital tokens in Tanzania is evolving. NEDA Labs Limited is subject to applicable Tanzanian laws and regulations, including those governing electronic money, payment services, and anti-money laundering obligations.

Changes to the regulatory environment in Tanzania, or the application of regulations in other jurisdictions where nTZS may be held or transferred, may require modifications to the nTZS platform or, in extreme cases, the suspension of nTZS issuance or redemption.

nTZS is issued on Base, a Layer 2 blockchain that settles transactions to Ethereum. Following Ethereum's transition to Proof-of-Stake consensus in September 2022, the energy consumption of Ethereum and its Layer 2 networks has been reduced by approximately 99.95% relative to the prior Proof-of-Work model.

The energy consumption associated with nTZS transactions is negligible relative to traditional financial infrastructure. NEDA Labs Limited does not operate any mining infrastructure and does not contribute to Proof-of-Work energy consumption.

NEDA Labs Limited is committed to operating its infrastructure on renewable energy where available and will assess its carbon footprint as the business scales.