Remittances take priority over aid as Africa turns to stablecoins

Stablecoins have emerged quickly as a faster and cheaper tool for sending money across Africa, with remittances now considered “more important than aid,” former UN under-secretary-general Vera Songwe says.

On Thursday, at a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Songwe emphasized the steep cost of traditional money transfers in the continent, which can reach roughly $6 for every $100 sent, slowing cross-border payments and making them very costly. “Stablecoins are lowering fees and settlement times, allowing people and small businesses to transfer money in minutes, not days,” she said.

Songwe also emphasized the financial security that stablecoins can offer in countries struggling with high inflation. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation has exceeded 20% in “about 12 to 15 countries” across Africa, she noted. With 650 million people on the continent lacking access to a bank account, stablecoins allow users with just a smartphone to save in currencies less vulnerable to inflation.

According to Songwe, stablecoin adoption is strongest in Egypt, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and South Africa, where inflation is high or capital controls are strict. Most transactions are conducted by small- and medium-sized enterprises, showing that stablecoins are increasingly functioning as a tool for broad financial inclusion.

Songwe chairs the Liquidity and Sustainability Facility and is a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. She previously served as executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa.

Stablecoins drive Africa’s digital finance revolution

For a while, Africa has been touted as the region that benefits most from digital assets and blockchain technology. However, activity in the region has been the lowest globally, and blockchain adoption has also failed to blow up as expected.

This is now changing, and stablecoins are at the forefront of this transformation. Africans prioritize utility over speculation, and now, with stablecoins, payments, hedging against local currency depreciation, and cross-border transfers are easier and faster than ever.

Recent reports revealed that Africa leads the stablecoin sector with a 9.3% adoption rate. The report ranked Nigeria first globally, with 25.9 million users, representing 12% of the population.

“Stablecoins have become an increasingly critical tool for Africans seeking more efficient and accessible financial solutions,” the report stated.

Africa’s embrace of stablecoins didn’t happen overnight; it’s been building over the past few years. With the value of most local currencies depreciating—the naira, for instance, has lost 73% of its value against the USD over the past three years—Africans have turned to stablecoins as a hedge. Millions more have been using stablecoins to send and receive funds from overseas.

Crypto adoption accelerates across Africa

Crypto adoption is accelerating across Africa, with national responses increasingly diverging. Sub-Saharan Africa saw more than $205 billion in on-chain transactions between July 2024 and June 2025, a 52% year-over-year increase, ranking it third globally, according to a Chainalysis report.

Some countries are beginning to embrace regulation: In December, Ghana legalized cryptocurrency trading with the passage of the Virtual Asset Service Providers bill, empowering authorities with risk management measures while facilitating crypto activity.

Nigeria enacted rules on January 13 that compel crypto providers to match transactions to users’ tax identification numbers, ushering digital asset activity into the formal tax system.

South Africa has also pointed out crypto assets and stablecoins as rising financial stability risks, even as local adoption continues to expand. As the continent’s crypto landscape evolves, stablecoins look ideally positioned to play a key role in enhancing financial inclusion and accelerating payments, offering a hedge against volatile local currencies.

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