Flutterwave, Nigeria’s largest fintech firm, is growing a cross-border fee platform powered by stablecoins, highlighting the rising function of blockchain expertise in streamlining funds throughout Africa.
The corporate is partnering with Polygon Labs to launch the service throughout its 34-country community, Bloomberg reported Thursday. Polygon’s blockchain infrastructure, constructed to offer scalable, quicker and cheaper transactions on Ethereum, can be used to boost settlement velocity and effectivity.
Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga Agboola stated the transfer might remodel the movement of funds throughout the continent, enabling companies and customers to bypass the excessive prices and delays that always plague conventional fee programs.
“Stablecoin adoption will drive extra flows into Africa,” Agboola stated, including that the initiative “has the potential to 10x the volumes we’re presently doing.”
The cross-border fee initiative comes amid a surge in stablecoin adoption throughout Africa. As Cointelegraph not too long ago reported, tokens similar to USDt (USDT) and USDC (USDC) are more and more being utilized by locals to hedge towards inflation and navigate ongoing forex instability.
Associated: Sensible hints at stablecoin ambitions with new digital-asset product lead search
Stablecoins acquire floor as a less expensive remittance different
There are a number of sensible causes stablecoins are gaining traction throughout Africa. Past serving as a hedge towards forex devaluation, they’re rising as highly effective remittance instruments in a area the place cash transfers play an important function in family revenue and native economies.
In response to a 2024 Chainalysis report, sending a $200 remittance from Sub-Saharan Africa is roughly 60% cheaper when utilizing stablecoins in contrast with conventional, fiat-based switch strategies.
Chainalysis knowledge additionally confirmed that Sub-Saharan Africa recorded a surge in month-to-month onchain transaction volumes in March 2025, regardless of different main areas experiencing declines. The uptick coincided with sharp forex devaluations in Nigeria, the continent’s most populous nation, with stablecoins and Bitcoin (BTC) accounting for many of the exercise.
Adoption is accelerating as extra international locations throughout the area, together with Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and South Africa, transfer towards clearer and extra supportive crypto rules.
Associated: Nations throughout Africa approve new crypto legal guidelines as adoption grows
