Shyft app alternative for buying and holding USDT
Unigox is a Shyft app alternative for USDT instead of forex: bought from your South African bank account, sent to crypto wallets, sold back to your bank. For Standard Bank's forex wallet, cards or payments abroad, stay with Shyft.
When to stay with Shyft
You need dollars in a bank, not a token
Shyft buys US dollars into a USD wallet at a live rate and pays them to a foreign bank account for a flat $14, up to $75,000 a payment. USDT from Unigox is a stablecoin and goes to crypto wallets, not to banks abroad.
You spend dollars by card
Shyft creates a virtual USD card in the app at once and delivers a physical multicurrency card in 1 to 2 business days for R100 an order. Paying in dollars by either card costs 0.5% of the amount. A Unigox trade ends with USDT in your wallet or rand in your bank account.
You invest offshore with Standard Bank
Shyft trades international shares and ETFs for a fee of 0.1% to 0.4% of the trade, at least $3 or R20, and funds Standard Bank Isle of Man and Jersey accounts from the app. Unigox trades only stablecoins against local money.
Shyft and Unigox for holding dollars bought with rand
| Topic | Shyft | Unigox |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Standard Bank's money app for people living in South Africa or Botswana: rand, US dollar, pound, euro and Australian dollar wallets, cards, payments abroad and share trading. | A marketplace for stablecoins against local money. P2P merchants or payment businesses taking rand sell you USDT or buy it from you, one trade at a time. |
| What your dollars are | US dollars in a USD wallet, bought at a live rate after you accept a declaration. No crypto or stablecoin. | USDT or another stablecoin Unigox lists for rand: a token in your Unigox Wallet, not a dollar bank balance. |
| Paying in rand | Top up the ZAR wallet first: by card for 2.5%, reflecting at once, or by EFT with your Shyft reference, up to three business days from other banks. | No top-up: you pay the seller from your bank account inside the trade, and the USDT comes to you out of the trade's escrow. |
| Back to rand | Sell USD into the ZAR wallet at a live rate, then withdraw to a bank for R35, arriving in 10 minutes to 1 hour. | Sell USDT you hold on Unigox or send in from an exchange or another wallet; the buyer pays rand straight into your bank account. |
| Fees | Forex fee inside the live rate; R35 per rand withdrawal; 2.5% to top up by card. | No separate fee line: the Unigox fee is part of the rand rate you see before you confirm. |
| Moving dollars on | Free to another Shyft user. To a foreign bank: $14, or $10 to Standard Bank Isle of Man or Jersey, up to $75,000 a payment. | Send USDT to an exchange or outside wallet on Tron, TON, Solana or an EVM network such as Ethereum. |
| Regulation | Runs under the licence of The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited, which is an authorised financial service provider (FSP 11287). | Unigox works through two companies: UNIGOX NETWORK CORP. in Canada handles the local-money side and is registered with FINTRAC as a money services business and with the Bank of Canada as a payment service provider; UNIGOX NETWORK CORP. in Panama handles the crypto side, including wallets and escrow. |
UnigoxSwitch from Shyft in three steps
Verify for USDT, not forex
Open a Unigox account and pass the identity check, required before your first trade at any amount.
Buy USDT with rand
Type how much rand to spend, check the rate with the Unigox fee in it, and pay the seller by bank transfer. There is no wallet to top up first.
Hold, send or sell
Keep the USDT in your Unigox Wallet, send it to an exchange or another wallet, or sell it back for rand paid to your bank.
Questions about Shyft app alternatives
What is the Shyft app, and can it hold USDT?
Shyft is Standard Bank's app for buying forex, paying foreign bank accounts, spending by card and investing offshore. Its wallets hold rand, US dollars, pounds, euros and Australian dollars, not crypto. To buy USDT with rand, or sell USDT you earned elsewhere for rand, use a platform such as Unigox.
Shyft app review: who can sign up, and who stands behind it?
Shyft runs under the licence of The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited (FSP 11287). It is open to people aged 18 or older who are South African permanent residents, Botswana residents, or foreign nationals living in South Africa with an active Standard Bank account. Unigox checks your identity before your first trade.
Is USDT on Unigox the same as forex in a Shyft wallet?
No. Shyft's dollars are foreign currency bought from Standard Bank; they pay foreign bank accounts and card purchases. USDT is a stablecoin, a token you can send to crypto wallets and exchanges or sell back for rand. Pick the one that fits where the dollars need to go.
Can I keep Shyft and use Unigox for USDT?
Yes. Shyft takes customers of any South African bank (foreign nationals need a Standard Bank account), and Unigox trades are paid between bank accounts, so one South African bank account serves both. Rand from a USDT sale on Unigox lands there, and an EFT with your Shyft reference moves it on to Shyft.
See what your rand buys in USDT
Check Shyft's live USD rate and the Unigox rate for your rand amount on the same day. One buys bank dollars, the other a stablecoin; the Unigox rate has its fee inside.
Shyft and other names and logos are trademarks of their respective owners. Unigox is not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by them. Information about other companies comes from public sources, mainly the companies' own websites, and each company can change its products and fees at any time.