African businesses turn to stablecoins to cut payment delays, Kora CEO says

African businesses have increasingly turned to stablecoins over the past five years to address cross-border payment delays, dollar access, and settlement costs, according to Kora CEO Dickson Nsofor.

Dickson Nsofor, CEO of pan-African payment infrastructure platform Kora, told crypto.news that businesses increasingly see stablecoins as a way to resolve payment problems that have complicated trade across African markets.

Drawing on his experience building the company and working with merchants, he identified commercial payments, supplier settlements and cross-border payouts as areas of growing demand. In his account, interest is strongest where businesses face slow transfers, high costs, or difficulty obtaining liquidity.

Stablecoins address supplier payment delays and dollar access

Before founding Kora, Nsofor ran a hardware business in Nigeria, where paying a manufacturer in China could take 10 to 14 days, he recalled. Transfers passed through several correspondent banks, and an error could extend the wait.

For companies trying to trade or expand into another market, he said, receiving and settling money efficiently comes before other financial activity.

“They are solving a practical problem first. Businesses are seeing a way to move and settle value across borders more efficiently, and that creates the foundation for other financial activity.”

According to the payments executive, stablecoins can provide a dollar-based settlement layer for businesses dealing with currency conversion, limited dollar access, and lengthy international transfers.

Within Africa, a payment between two markets may pass through several banks and require two currency conversions, he explained. Using stablecoins can shorten that process and allow payment providers to manage dollar liquidity centrally, converting into local currency when a recipient needs a payout.

For providers, he said, such an arrangement can reduce the need to keep separate pools of money funded in advance across multiple markets.

Nigeria offers one measure of the region’s digital-asset activity. In its September 2025 report, Chainalysis reported that the country received more than $92.1 billion in cryptocurrency value between July 2024 and June 2025. The firm also identified regular multimillion-dollar stablecoin transfers supporting trade, energy and merchant payments between Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Nsofor cited Nigeria’s transaction scale while describing demand, although the Chainalysis country total covers cryptocurrency activity rather than stablecoin payments alone.

Payment savings depend on conversion and local payout systems

On the settlement leg, Nsofor said stablecoins can move value almost instantly and at a fraction of the cost of some traditional cross-border services.

Building conventional payment connections can also take months or years, he explained, because businesses may need banking relationships, settlement arrangements and integrations with local networks in each country.

Once compliance requirements are met, he said, a stablecoin service can offer a simpler route into multiple markets without requiring businesses to build every payment flow themselves. Kora is bringing fiat and stablecoins together within one payment infrastructure, according to its CEO.

Research covered on July 31 provides a more qualified picture of the costs. Banca d’Italia’s stablecoin remittance study tested transfers of 200 USDC across ten corridors connecting Italy with Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates and Japan. Researchers found total costs ranging from 0.30% to almost 9%, with funding, withdrawals and currency conversion accounting for much of the expense.

In the study, South African routes took one or two business days because standard bank transfers slowed the local-currency stages. Routes supported by domestic instant-payment systems could finish in under 20 minutes, according to the researchers.

The authors cautioned that their limited transactions and use of one stablecoin meant the results could not readily be applied to every provider or corridor.

Stablecoins need bank and mobile-money connections

For adoption across mobile wallets, banks and merchants, Nsofor identified interoperability—the ability of different payment systems to connect—as the next requirement.

“Africa doesn’t need stablecoins to replace mobile money, banks or local payment networks. It needs infrastructure that can connect them.”

In practice, he said, providers must convert between tokens and local currencies, manage liquidity and reconcile transactions across separate systems. Even when a stablecoin handles cross-border settlement, the recipient still needs funds delivered into a bank account, mobile wallet or merchant payment system, he explained.

On the regulatory side, the executive said operators need appropriate licenses in each market, customer and business identity checks, anti-money-laundering screening and transaction monitoring.

Compliant conversion between stablecoins and local currencies is another requirement, he added. Nsofor also called for frameworks that would allow regulatory approvals to carry across African markets, helping compliant crypto and stablecoin businesses expand.

Commercial relationships are equally necessary, in his view. Providers need banks, mobile-money operators, liquidity suppliers and payment partners to deliver money through local systems.

For Kora, he described the service as selling “connections,” allowing businesses to reach additional markets through a single infrastructure rather than establishing separate payment arrangements in every country.

US policy and foreign issuers create separate dependencies

Asked whether unsettled US legislation gives African payment companies an advantage, Nsofor said the opportunity depends on adapting stablecoins to African business needs rather than the pace of American rulemaking.

The Senate’s official record shows that the CLARITY Act failed its procedural vote on Sep. 15, with 49 senators supporting cloture on the motion to proceed, 50 opposing it and one absent. The motion required 60 votes and was not a vote on final passage of the market-structure bill.

US-linked payment projects have also pursued African routes. Under a partnership reported on May 7, Bakkt and Zoth proposed US-linked stablecoin payment corridors connecting the United States with South Asia, the Middle East and parts of Africa. According to Zoth’s announcement, the arrangement would place it under the licensing structure of Bakkt Financial Solutions I, LLC, as an authorized agent.

Zoth identified Nigeria among the initial US-linked routes and said Bakkt’s licensing infrastructure included money-transmitter licenses, FinCEN registration and a New York BitLicense.

For African businesses using global tokens, Nsofor warned that dependence on dollar-backed assets and issuers outside the continent introduces risks beyond local payment operations.

In his assessment, reserve backing, redemption, regulation, and continued access can all depend on decisions or conditions outside the African markets where the tokens circulate. He said local providers therefore need infrastructure that allows businesses to use those assets safely, alongside regulatory frameworks for their use.