Frequently Asked Questions

A Njangi is a community-based savings system where members contribute funds together in a rotation for the equal benefit of every member. It's also known as ROSCA (Rotating Savings and Credit Association), Tontine, Sou Sou, or by many other cultural names around the world. Njangi On-Chain runs that same tradition with the pot held in escrow rather than by a treasurer, so nobody has to hold everyone else's money.

Getting started is simple: 1) Click 'Login' and sign in with your Google, Facebook or Apple account using zkLogin, 2) Create a new savings circle, or join one from the invite link its organiser sends you, 3) Agree the contribution amount and rotation order with your group, 4) Post your security deposit and start contributing. There is no seed phrase to write down; contributions are paid in USDC or SUI.

Running a circle is free. You pay only the small Sui network transaction fee (usually a few cents) when contributing or receiving a payout, and that goes to the network, not to us. We never take a cut of contributions or payouts. A Premium subscription unlocks coordination features — larger circles, WhatsApp notifications and smart goals — and is paid by the circle admin; see the pricing page for what is included. Your circle's money is never behind a paywall.

Two: USDC and SUI. USDC is a digital dollar, so a circle spread across countries can agree an amount that holds its value. Do not send any other asset, and do not send over any network other than Sui — funds sent another way cannot be recovered.

The circle is the same; what changes is who holds the money and who keeps the record. 1) Nobody holds the pot — each cycle's contributions sit in escrow that only the scheduled recipient can open, 2) the rotation runs to the order your circle agreed rather than to memory, 3) every contribution and payout is on a shared record any member can check, 4) stopping a circle early goes to a member vote, and a stopped circle returns each member's security deposit, and 5) a circle can span countries, so family abroad can take part.

Each cycle's contributions are held by a contract — a set of rules fixed before anyone pays in. It holds the contributions in escrow, releases the pot to the member whose turn it is under the rotation order your circle agreed, records every contribution and payout on chain, and applies the same rules to everyone. The rotation order is set by the circle admin before the circle starts, not drawn at random. During the testnet pilot, Njangi holds the contract's upgrade key so we can fix bugs, and every upgrade is public on the Sui blockchain. Before mainnet, that key moves to a multi-signature account, so no upgrade can happen without several people approving it, and we'll publish our upgrade policy.

The circle admin sets the rotation order, the same way a njangi treasurer traditionally would — by arranging members into positions the group has agreed on. It is not random. What is different from a paper list is that the order is stored on-chain, where any member can check it, and any change to it is recorded as an on-chain event, so nobody can quietly move themselves up the queue. Once the order is set, each cycle pays the member in the next position until everyone has had their turn.

The round waits. The member whose turn it is can collect only once everyone else has paid, and nothing in the app can force a member to pay, so a missed payment can make a payout late or stop it happening at all. That is why a circle works best with people who already trust each other.

zkLogin lets you sign in with your Google, Facebook or Apple account instead of a seed phrase. It uses zero-knowledge proofs, so your wallet is tied to that account without putting your personal information on the public record. That also means your wallet is only as safe as the account you sign in with: protect it with a strong password and two-step verification.

Several things work together: 1) contributions sit in a per-cycle escrow contract rather than with a treasurer, 2) each cycle's recipient is fixed when the round opens, so the pot can only be claimed by that member, 3) you sign every transaction yourself — we hold no key that could sign for you, 4) the rotation order and every payment are recorded on chain for the whole circle to see, and 5) the contract code is public and auditable. What this does not do is remove risk: software can contain bugs, and a member who stops contributing can still leave your payout short. See our risk disclosure for what you are taking on.

Before a circle starts, the admin can remove a member, and that member's security deposit is returned. Once the circle is running, the app has no way to leave it or hand your place to someone else, and nothing can force a member to keep paying; if someone stops, the rounds wait for them. If the whole group wants to stop, the admin can put it to a member vote, and a stopped circle returns each member's security deposit.

Some circles turn on an identity verification requirement — usually because the circle operates in a region where regulations require it, or because the admin wants an extra layer of trust between members. Verification is a one-time check arranged through your circle admin: once you're verified, an attestation is recorded on-chain against your account and your contributions and payouts go through normally until it expires. Njangi On-Chain never sees or stores your identity documents — checks are performed by licensed verification partners, and only the pass/fail attestation touches the blockchain. If you're seeing a verification prompt, ask your circle admin to start your verification.

Your circle's money is not held by us and does not depend on our app being up: it sits in the escrow contract on a public network run by independent validators, and the record stays readable even if this website is unavailable. What this does not do is make your account recoverable if you lose access to the social account you signed in with — sign-in is currently one-way, so keep access to that account.

Create a new circle if you want to invite specific friends or family and set your own amount and schedule. Join a circle when someone you know sends you its invite link: there is no public list of circles to browse, and the organiser approves each member who asks to join.

The contract allows 3 to 20 members. On the Free plan a circle can have up to 3 members; a Premium subscription raises that to the full 20. Smaller circles come round faster but pool a smaller amount each turn; larger circles pool more but mean a longer wait between your turns. Most groups land somewhere in the middle.

Contribution frequency is set when creating or joining a circle. Common options include: weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or quarterly. Most circles use monthly contributions as it aligns with salary cycles and gives everyone predictable payment schedules. The schedule is fixed when the circle is created, and tracked automatically.

Currently, Njangi On-Chain works through your web browser on any device (mobile, tablet, desktop). The interface is fully responsive and works great on mobile browsers. We're planning a dedicated mobile app for iOS and Android in the future, which will offer push notifications and even easier access to your circles.

Rotating savings and credit associations exist in virtually every culture worldwide, each with their own name and traditions: Njangi (Cameroon), Tontine (French-speaking Africa), Sou Sou (Caribbean), ROSCA (Economics), Chama (Kenya), Hui (China), and dozens more. We honor all these traditions; the product runs the rotating format they share.

The app handles the money and the record; the meetings, the meals and the ceremonies stay with your group. You can give your circle the name your group already uses, switch the app between languages including English and French, and a member who collects their pot gets a short celebration on screen.

Yes — this is one of the main reasons the product exists. A circle can include family at home and relatives abroad, so a njangi no longer has to end at a border. A circle can settle in USDC, a digital dollar, so everyone pays the same agreed amount regardless of where they live.

Njangi On-Chain is non-custodial coordination software for savings groups: we never hold, move, or take a cut of member funds. Rules about crypto and about savings groups differ by country, and whether any particular rule applies to you depends on where you live — please check your local law. We are not able to give you legal advice about your situation.