African governments license stablecoins amid remittance surge

Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya have adopted licensing and regulatory regimes for exchanges and stablecoin providers after years of warnings and account restrictions. Regulators describe the change as an effort to bring existing digital-asset flows under supervision, enforce compliance and maintain banking links to the market.

On-chain data show rapid growth in regional crypto activity. Between July 2024 and June 2025, Sub-Saharan Africa recorded more than $205 billion in on-chain value, a 52% increase from the prior year; Nigeria accounted for $92.1 billion of that total. Dollar-pegged stablecoins made up about 43% of the region’s crypto volume. Transactions below $10,000 represented more than 8% of regional value, higher than the 6% global share.

When the naira lost value in early 2025, monthly on-chain volume across the region rose toward $25 billion as households and businesses moved into dollar-linked tokens. Regulators and market participants point to stablecoins as a way to access dollars without a US bank account and as a settlement layer that operates at all hours.

Traditional remittance costs remain high. In 2025 the average cost to send money to Sub-Saharan Africa was nearly 8.8% of the amount sent. Of 13 global corridors with costs above 20%, nine originated in the region. Stablecoin transfers can settle in minutes and cost a small fraction of a percent, which reduces intermediaries’ fees for recipients.

Regulatory steps have been specific and recent. Nigeria’s Investments and Securities Act of 2025 classified digital assets as securities and assigned licensing authority to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has opened the market to compliant stablecoin businesses. South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority approved 310 crypto service provider licenses from 533 applications by the end of March 2026. Kenya’s Virtual Asset Service Providers Act took effect in November 2025 and split oversight between the central bank and the capital markets regulator. Nigeria has proposed higher capital requirements for licensed firms.

Officials list expected benefits of licensing as tax visibility, stronger anti-money-laundering controls, consumer protection and renewed willingness by banks to work with registered providers. Regulators also face trade-offs. Greater use of dollar-pegged tokens increases access to dollar-denominated savings and payments while reducing demand for local currency, which can weaken central bank control over the monetary base and lower revenue linked to issuing national currency.

Mobile money systems helped prepare markets for stablecoins. Phone-based payment services familiarized large populations with digital transfers, easing the shift to dollar-linked digital rails. International payments firms have been developing dollar tokens, and recent federal legislation in the United States clarified regulatory coverage for dollar-pegged stablecoins.

The frameworks now in force in Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya aim to integrate digital assets into regulated financial systems and to monitor cross-border flows. Regulators in other developing regions that face high remittance costs, low banking penetration and currency volatility are following these developments as comparable policy models.