Circle has teamed up with Sasai Fintech to broaden adoption of the USDC stablecoin across African payment corridors, focusing on remittances, business payments and mobile wallets. The partnership will integrate USDC into Sasai’s payments infrastructure, which supports cross-border transfers, enterprise payments and consumer wallets, aiming to lower costs and speed up settlement times.
Sasai, which operates in multiple African markets, will connect its digital payments services to Circle’s on-chain infrastructure. The firms plan to explore practical USDC use cases via Circle’s full-stack platform as demand for cross-border and mobile-first financial services grows in the region.
Reducing remittance costs is a global priority: the United Nations aims for average fees below 3%, but the World Bank reports many Sub-Saharan African countries still face much higher fees. A June 2025 World Bank report noted Sierra Leone, Uganda, Angola, Botswana and Zambia had average remittance costs above 7% in 2023.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said the company is targeting high-growth payment corridors in emerging markets. Cassava Technologies chairman Strive Masiyiwa said integrating USDC could expand access to digital financial services for both businesses and consumers.
Stablecoin adoption in Africa is rising alongside broader crypto growth. Chainalysis data show Sub-Saharan Africa’s crypto activity climbed 52% in the 12 months through June 2025, with over $205 billion in on-chain value—Nigeria alone accounted for more than $92 billion. Activity is driven by remittances, cross-border payments and hedging against currency volatility.
USDC is the second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization—around $78.6 billion per DefiLlama—behind Tether’s USDT at roughly $184.1 billion. The growth in usage has attracted crypto firms to expand in Africa; for example, Blockchain.com recently entered Ghana after reporting more than 700% growth in brokerage transaction volume in Nigeria.
Regulatory frameworks are emerging: Ghana’s Securities and Exchange Commission approved 11 crypto trading platforms to enter a regulatory sandbox under its Virtual Asset Service Providers Act. Influential voices in the region note the practical role of crypto—former UN under-secretary-general Vera Songwe has said remittances are “more important than aid,” with stablecoins offering faster, lower-cost transfers, and Africa Bitcoin Corporation executive chairman Stafford Masie has observed Bitcoin being used as money in some local economies.
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