Nigeria
The Investments and Securities Act 2025, signed on March 31, 2025, included virtual and digital assets in the definition of securities and placed digital asset service providers, operators and exchanges under SEC oversight. The first approvals-in-principle under the ARIP programme went to Quidax and Busha on August 29, 2024. The Central Bank of Nigeria, in guidelines of December 22, 2023, allowed banks to open accounts for licensed VASPs, reversing its 2021 restriction, while keeping the ban on banks holding crypto-assets themselves. In June 2026 the central bank unveiled its Payments System Vision 2028: licensing of fiat-backed stablecoins, regulator observer nodes, daily reserve attestations and a requirement to hold part of the reserves of foreign-currency stablecoins with approved Nigerian custodians; the eNaira is repositioned as infrastructure for government disbursements. The naira stablecoin cNGN, issued by WrappedCBDC Ltd (branded the Africa Stablecoin Consortium), launched on local exchanges on February 3, 2025 under the SEC's regulatory incubation. Per Chainalysis, Nigeria received $92.1 billion in on-chain value between July 2024 and June 2025, 45% of the regional total.
Kenya and East Africa
The Virtual Asset Service Providers Act 2025 was signed in October 2025 and came into force on November 4, 2025: the Central Bank of Kenya regulates stablecoin issuers, payment processors and fiat conversion services, while the Capital Markets Authority covers exchanges, brokers and token issuance; the transition period runs to November 4, 2026. The VASP Regulations 2026, with dedicated stablecoin issuer rules, were gazetted on July 24, 2026. The Finance Act 2025 repealed the 3% digital asset tax on gross value and replaced it from July 1, 2025 with a 10% excise duty on platform fees. The base rail is M-Pesa: in the financial year to March 2026 the system moved KSh 41.7 trillion across 46.4 billion transactions. Tanzania and Uganda are preparing their own frameworks: the Bank of Tanzania said in July 2026 that its rules were in the final stages, and the Bank of Uganda published principles for a future regime in December 2025. Ethiopia maintains its ban on crypto transactions while ranking third in the region by on-chain value.
South Africa, Ghana and other jurisdictions
South Africa declared crypto-assets a financial product in October 2022; by December 12, 2025 the FSCA had approved 300 crypto asset service provider licences out of 512 applications. The Reserve Bank, in a joint communication of May 28, 2026, determined that crypto-assets including stablecoins used for domestic payments fall outside the National Payment System Act and are neither money nor legal tender; the IFWG diagnostic counted six rand stablecoin arrangements in 2025, all non-bank. Draft capital flow management regulations (April 2026) bring crypto-assets into the cross-border regime. Rand coins: ZARP (reserves at Old Mutual Wealth) and ZARsc, launched on September 18, 2026 by the FSCA-licensed issuer Supercoin with reserves at Absa and Fireblocks custody. Ghana enacted the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act 2025 (Act 1154), assented on December 30, 2025, with the Bank of Ghana as licensing authority; in September 2026 the regulator is developing stablecoin licensing, including cedi-backed tokens. Mauritius has regulated VASPs under the VAITOS Act since February 2022, and on August 13, 2026 the FSC issued guidance notes on stablecoins: full reserves, redemption within five days, monthly attestations, no algorithmic or yield-bearing stablecoins. Egypt maintains its ban (Law 194/2020); Morocco is considering Draft Bill 42.25 (November 2025) with Bank Al-Maghrib overseeing stablecoins.
Mobile money and regional rails
Per the GSMA's 2026 report, Sub-Saharan Africa had 347 million active mobile money accounts (about 60% of the global total) and $1.4 trillion in transactions in 2025. The Onafriq hub connects about 1 billion mobile wallets and 500 million bank accounts in 43 countries; PAPSS (Afreximbank) links 24 central banks and about 200 financial institutions in 30 countries. Stablecoin infrastructure plugs into these rails: Kotani Pay operates via USSD and APIs to mobile money, HoneyCoin via mobile money and banks in 15 countries, and Fonbnk converts prepaid airtime into stablecoins. Global networks anchor themselves through partnerships: Circle Payments Network launched in April 2025 with Flutterwave, Yellow Card and Onafriq among its design partners; Tether invested in Shiga Digital (June 2025) and Kotani Pay (October 2025); Ripple distributes RLUSD through Chipper Cash, VALR and Yellow Card and provides custody to Absa.
Providers
| Company | Type | Headquarters / markets | Role and status as of September 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yellow Card | 3 | US; operations across Africa | Licences and registrations in 22 jurisdictions (FSCA in South Africa, NBFIRA in Botswana, Bank of Zambia, Bank of Ghana, Nigeria SEC approval-in-principle and others); over $10B processed; $40M (August 2026, SC Ventures, Sony, Polychain); Circle Payments Network, Visa and Ripple partner |
| Kotani Pay | 3 | Nairobi | API between stablecoins and mobile money, payouts via USSD; FSCA licence (South Africa); Tether strategic investment (October 2025); DCSPay payout partnership (September 2026) |
| Onafriq (ex-MFS Africa) | 4 | 43 African countries | Mobile money interoperability hub; USDC settlement with Circle (April 2025); Privy wallets for a B2B stablecoin product (July 2026) |
| Flutterwave | 1 | San Francisco / Lagos | Polygon as default chain for cross-border stablecoin payments (October 2025); Circle Payments Network partner; stablecoin balances with Turnkey (January 2026) |
| HoneyCoin | 1 / 3 | Nairobi | $4.9M seed (August 2025, Flourish); ramps, collections and payouts via mobile money and banks in 15 countries; Tether collaboration on USDT (December 2025) |
| Juicyway | 3 | Lagos | $3M pre-seed (December 2024, P1 Ventures); $1.3B processed by the time it left stealth |
| Waza | 1 | Nigeria / Ghana | Founded January 2023 (YC); $8M (August 2024, including venture debt); B2B trade payments |
| Accrue / Cashramp | 3 | Nigeria | Last-mile agent network in 15+ countries; $1.58M seed (January 2025); Accrue Business (July 2026) |
| Cedar Money | 1 / 3 | Alexandria, Virginia | $9.9M seed (January 2025, QED); MSB in the US and Canada; NGN, KES, ZAR, GHS and XOF corridors for importers |
| Paycrest | 3 | US / Nigeria | Decentralised off-ramp with escrowed settlement; $404K pre-seed (January 2026) |
| Shiga Digital | 1 / 7 | Dubai (DIFC); 10 African countries | On-chain banking for businesses; Tether strategic investment (June 2025) |
| Blockops Network | 7 | Nigeria | Stablecoin operations layer for fintechs and banks; Antler pre-seed (August 2026); early stage |
| Busha, Quidax | 3 | Nigeria | First SEC approvals-in-principle (August 2024); Busha was first to list cNGN |
| VALR, Luno, OVEX | 3 | South Africa | Licensed venues; ZARsc listings; VALR is a Ripple RLUSD partner |
| Supercoin (ZARsc) | 2 | South Africa | Rand stablecoin on Solana since September 18, 2026; FSCA licence, reserves at Absa, Fireblocks custody |
| WrappedCBDC (cNGN) | 2 | Nigeria | Naira stablecoin under SEC regulatory incubation since February 2025 |
| Fonbnk | 3 | Africa (19 markets) | Converts airtime and mobile money into stablecoins; integrations with MiniPay, MetaMask, Trust Wallet |
| Bitnob | 3 / 5 | Nigeria | USDT/USDC wallets, card issuing, payout API to 12+ countries; over $4.6B processed |
| NALA / Rafiki | 1 | Nairobi, London, Amsterdam | Payout and collection API; US registration, UK EMD agent, PSP licences in Uganda (December 2025) |
| Chipper Cash | 3 / 5 | US; Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa | 5M+ users, virtual Visa cards; Ripple RLUSD partner |
What to watch
- The first licences under Kenya's VASP Act before the end of the transition period on November 4, 2026.
- Stablecoin licensing by the Central Bank of Nigeria under Payments System Vision 2028 and full registration of the ARIP cohort.
- The IFWG discussion paper on rand stablecoins and South Africa's capital flow management regulations.
- The Bank of Ghana's stablecoin regime, including cedi-backed tokens.
- Further investments by Tether, Circle and Ripple in African ramps and acquisitions of regional providers.