The inaugural edition of the Africa Stablecoin Summit 2025, was supported by Tether, the largest company in the digital asset industry, VISA, and Telcoin and it successfully brought together more than 300 high-level leaders from across Africa and beyond to
explore how stablecoins can strengthen the continent’s financial systems, trade, and economic resilience.
The two-day summit, themed “Harnessing Stablecoins for Africa’s Economic Resilience,” convened central banks, regulators, commercial banks, fintech innovators, stablecoin issuers, development partners, and blockchain infrastructure firms. Attendees included representatives from the governments and central banks of Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, and South Africa, alongside delegates from the United Nations, Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and other leading ecosystem stakeholders.
Recent data underscores the fast-growing role of stablecoins in Africa’s digital economy. Stablecoins accounted for 43% of crypto transaction volume in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2024, according to an industry report by Yellow Card, with Nigeria; the continent’s largest
stablecoin market, recording nearly USD 22 billion in transactions between July 2023 and June 2024. A blog by the Center for Global Development further notes that stablecoins already represent about 6.7% of GDP in Africa and the Middle East in terms of international
stablecoin flows in 2024.
With over USD 300 billion in stablecoin transactions estimated to be flowing through African markets annually, the summit spotlighted their transformative potential in addressing currency volatility, fragmented payment systems, and high remittance costs. The agenda featured keynotes from global and African financial leaders, including Shahebaz Khan (Senior Vice President, Head of Commercial and Money Movement Solutions, VISA CEMEA), and Hon. Kimani Kuria (Chairperson, Finance and National Planning
Committee, Kenya National Assembly) Sessions covered regulation, interoperability, infrastructure, and real-world adoption
across fintech and enterprise.
Key highlights included:
● Regulators’ Roundtable on forging a Pan-African stablecoin regulatory framework.
● Stablecoins at Work panel showcasing practical use cases in fintech, trade, and SMEs.
● Policy deep-dives into South Africa’s Project Khokha and lessons from the U.S. GENIUS Act.
● Developer and startup sessions on building Africa’s stablecoin infrastructure.
● Town Hall Session: Charting the Road to Scale – From Fragmentation to Pan-African Rails.
Shahebaz Khan, Senior Vice President, Head of Commercial and Money Movement Solutions CEMEA at Visa. Visa’s global network has long been the engine for how the world pays and gets paid. As money itself evolves, we’re extending that same trusted infrastructure to the next frontier: stablecoins. By pairing stablecoins with Visa’s world-class technology stack, we see tremendous potential to modernize global money movement – making payments faster, more accessible, and more secure for everyone. Whether it’s seamless remittances for consumers or enhanced liquidity for businesses, Visa is committed to bridging new digital currencies with our trusted network, turning innovation into everyday value. “ Paul Neuner, CEO Telcoin, “The promise of stablecoin and what that could really mean to telecom, it is a message that we’ve been preaching for a long time, which is the internet of money where there’s just stablecoin floating and directly transacting from consumer to merchant, the telcos can play a very large role in running the internet ofmoney just like they
run the normal internet today”
For more information, visit www.africastablecoinsummit.io
