Stablecoins are becoming part of the infrastructure used to move money across African borders, but the blockchain transfer is only one part of the payment.
The harder problem is connecting different currencies, banking systems and payment networks across jurisdictions.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) identified foreign exchange access, payment infrastructure and interoperability with domestic financial systems as constraints on cross-border stablecoin payments.
This is because a transaction still needs foreign exchange liquidity, local currency settlement, regulated providers and a way to move funds into the recipient’s financial system.
Yousend, a cross-border remittance platform for African immigrants in the UK and Canada, provides one example of how a fintech firm is building these connections around stablecoin settlements between the two nations and African ones.
The Currency Gap Between Europe and Africa
Côte d’Ivoire, for example, is one of the EU’s major trading partners in West Africa, with cocoa and cocoa products among the region’s main exports to Europe. Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria and Ghana together account for more than 60% of EU imports of cocoa and cocoa products. Total EU trade with West Africa also reached €68 billion in 2025, while trade with Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana reached €22 billion, according to the European Commission.
A European buyer paying an Ivorian cocoa supplier would be moving between euros and XOF, with the payment passing through financial institutions that operate under different currencies and regulatory systems.
However, if they used a stablecoin as the settlement layer, the payment would move from euros into a stablecoin, across the blockchain, then into XOF before reaching the supplier’s Ivorian bank or payment account.
In such a case, the stablecoin provides a common settlement asset between the two currencies. But the final payment still depends on access to XOF liquidity, foreign exchange providers and local payment systems.
Yousend uses a similar structure for its remittances, with the company saying that it converts a sender’s currency into USDT or USDC, before transferring it across the blockchain and then converting it into the recipient’s local currency.
The blockchain therefore handles one part of the transaction, while banks, payment institutions, FX providers and other local partners handle the conversion and payout.
Liquidity Still Determines the Cost
Stablecoins can move between wallets without waiting for traditional banking settlement windows, but they do not create liquidity in local currency markets.
A European buyer could convert EUR into USDC and send it to an African recipient, but the USDC still needs to be converted into the recipient’s local currency. Furthermore, if there are limited market makers, liquidity providers or payment institutions able to make that conversion, larger transactions can face wider spreads or take longer to settle.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) found the same issue in its recent study of stablecoins and international trade, noting that the cost of a stablecoin payment depends on acquiring the asset, converting it into local currency, meeting regulatory requirements and accessing secure on and off-ramps.
The speed of blockchain settlement therefore does not determine the speed or cost of the full payment. A stablecoin can move between wallets almost immediately while the recipient waits for an FX conversion, compliance check or local payout.
Yousend announced in July that it added EUR as a wallet currency and introduced XAF payouts in countries like Cameroon and XOF settlements in Côte d’Ivoire.
The payment providers expansion into these pairs shows the various connections required to facilitate stablecoin transfers to the region, with each new corridor needing access to the relevant currency, liquidity sources and payment networks.
Navigating the Regulatory Friction
Regulation is another constraint on these corridors. In Europe, MiCA sets out requirements for stablecoin issuers around licensing, capital and compliance that can add to the cost of providing euro backed liquidity.
In Côte d’Ivoire, payment services are regulated by the BCEAO and payment institutions must be approved to operate, with the regulator licensing only nine payment institutions in the country. In Cameroon, payment services operate under the CEMAC framework, with rules overseen by regional institutions including BEAC and COBAC.
For stablecoin payment corridors, providers need regulated payment partners, local currency liquidity and compliance systems that meet the rules in each market, which can affect how easily they are converted into local money and the cost of moving funds through the corridor.
Expanding Towards Trade Payments
Remittances are one of the clearest applications because the transaction involves sending money from one person in one currency to another who receives local currency.
Trade payments, meanwhile, involve more moving parts like invoices, foreign exchange, compliance checks, payment terms, bank relationships and sometimes trade finance.
The IMF already has documented evidence of African businesses that use stablecoins for cross-border transactions such as payments to overseas suppliers. Additionally, the WTO has identified business to business payments as an emerging area, although it notes that real economy stablecoin payments remain small compared with activity inside crypto markets.
The existing trade relationship between Europe and Africa provides a potential base for these transactions to take place. West Africa, for instance, exports fuels, food products, cocoa and other agricultural goods to the EU, while European companies supply the region with machinery, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and other manufactured products. The payments supporting those flows also already move through multiple currencies and financial institutions.
A European company paying an African supplier could use a stablecoin as the settlement asset between the two currencies without replacing the rest of the financial system.
Stablecoins would reduce the number of direct currency relationships involved in a payment by providing a common settlement asset between markets.
But they would still need foreign exchange and access to local banking access. The buyer would also require a compliant way to acquire the stablecoin, while the supplier would need a regulated route to convert it into local currency and receive the funds.
This makes the financial layer around the blockchain just as important as the settlement asset itself. Stablecoins can move value between the two sides, but banks, payment institutions, liquidity providers and compliance systems still determine how that value enters the local economy.
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