2025 is coming to an end, faster than some of us had anticipated. Old age. But one thing is clear: Africa is building the digital money playbook in real time, in ways that matter to everyone. From the streets of Lagos to the markets of Nairobi, from Accra to Johannesburg, millions of Africans are interacting with money in new ways everyday.
Let’s break down what defined 2025 and, more importantly, what it means for 2026.
The numbers that tell our story
$205 billion. That’s how much on-chain value Sub-Saharan Africa processed between July 2024 and June 2025—a staggering 52% jump from the previous year. We’re now the world’s third-fastest growing crypto region, trailing only Asia-Pacific and Latin America.
But here’s what makes Africa different: while other regions chase speculative gains, we’re using digital money to solve real problems. Over 43 million Africans now engage with digital assets, not for trading thrills, but for practical financial survival.
The Regulatory Awakening: From Chaos to Clarity
Nigeria: from limbo to legal framing
March 25, 2025, marked a turning point. President Bola Tinubu signed the Investments and Securities Act into law, officially recognizing virtual assets as securities. After years of uncertainty—including the infamous 2021 ban on bank transactions with crypto exchanges—Nigeria moved from a grey market to a fully codified regulatory framework.
The message was unmistakable: crypto is too big to ban, so we’re going to regulate it properly.
Kenya: the big leap to licensing
Kenya finally went beyond regulation talks to finally executing it. October 2025 saw the Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) Act become law, introducing comprehensive licensing requirements and splitting oversight between the Central Bank of Kenya (for stablecoins) and the Capital Markets Authority (for exchanges).
With an estimated 6 million Kenyans—roughly 10% of the population—already using crypto, the government recognized reality and built guardrails around it instead of pretending it didn’t exist.
Ghana: “register first, licence later”
Ghana began mandatory registration for crypto exchanges and stablecoin issuers in July 2025 (deadline 15 Aug 2025)—clearly signalling that licensing frameworks are coming, and regulators want visibility now..
South Africa: less drama, more supervision
South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority, being way ahead of the pack, approved 248 Crypto Asset Service Provider licenses by December 2024 while declining nine applications. The regulator took a consultative approach, engaging directly with applicants and conducting on-site inspections for exchanges and custodial services. Licensed CASPs faced a June 2025 deadline to pass regulatory examinations, signaling that licensing alone wasn’t enough—competency and compliance standards matter.
The 2025 pattern: Africa’s major economies aligned around one principle in 2025. You can’t ban innovation that millions are already using, you can only regulate, supervise, and enforce.
Stablecoins: The Silent Infrastructure Layer
While Bitcoin grabbed headlines, stablecoins quietly became Africa’s most transformative crypto technology.
The devaluation playbook (again)
When Nigeria’s naira crashed again in March 2025, something remarkable happened. Monthly crypto transaction volume in Sub-Saharan Africa spiked to nearly $25 billion—an outlier month when most global regions saw declines. Dollar-pegged stablecoins became the immediate hedge for millions facing currency devaluation.
Cross-Border trade is getting a digital upgrade: ADAPT
November 2025 brought the African Continental Free Trade Area’s most ambitious project yet: the Africa Digital Access and Public Infrastructure for Trade (ADAPT) initiative. Partnering with IOTA Foundation, the Tony Blair Institute, and the World Economic Forum, ADAPT aims to digitize trade across all 55 AfCFTA nations using USDT as the settlement layer.
The potential? Doubling intra-African trade, unlocking $70 billion in value, and generating $23.6 billion in annual economic gains. By using stablecoins for instant settlement, the initiative could slash trade finance costs by 50% and cut border delays by more than half.
Stablecoins inside “traditional” payment flows
In April 2025, pan-African payments gateway Onafriq partnered with Circle to enable cross-border payments using USDC. This was among the many other partnerships implementing stablecoin into traditional digital payment flows across the continent. For the average trader sending money to suppliers across the world, payments now settle in minutes instead of days, at a fraction of traditional remittance costs.
Mobile Money: The Foundation That Keeps Growing
While crypto was louder, mobile money is everyday life.
The platform evolution
Mobile money in Africa is no longer just about sending money anymore. In 2025, platforms evolved into comprehensive financial ecosystems:
- M-Pesa beyond bill payments, savings accounts, loans, BNPL services, virtual cards, and insurance; M-Pesa unveiled Ziidi that turns daily transactions into savings and also lets customers invest in a money market fund.
- MTN MoMo made great strides in e-commerce, lending, and remittances
- PalmPay reached tens of millions of Nigerian users with app-based wallets
Ethiopia’s mobile money usage surged following 2023’s regulatory reforms. Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia saw substantial growth as platforms moved beyond basic transfers to offer micro-lending and insurance.
Super apps grow up
One of 2025’s defining trends was the maturation of “super apps”—all-in-one platforms offering payments, loans, insurance, e-commerce, and even social messaging. In November 2025, Safaricom launched Daraja 3.0, strengthening its ability to house Mini Apps within M-PESA which is now a platform where users can book travel, purchase movie tickets, and access third-party services without leaving the app. Orange’s Max it super-app served over 20 million users across multiple African countries, providing e-commerce, digital content, ticketing, and financial services in one platform. Gozem continued expanding across West and Central Africa, combining transportation, delivery, e-commerce, and financial services tailored to regional needs. These apps are creating entire financial ecosystems where users rarely need to leave the platform.
Payment sovereignty becomes a real theme
Behind the scenes, Africa’s payment infrastructure modernized dramatically. The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) launched PAPSSCARD in June 2025—the continent’s first Pan-African card scheme.
What 2026 Holds: Five Trends to Watch
1. Regulatory enforcement becomes the differentiator
Countries with clear crypto regulations will attract institutional capital, talent, and infrastructure. Those still dithering will fall behind. Expect more African nations to follow Nigeria and Kenya’s lead in establishing comprehensive frameworks.
2. Stablecoins move from “user behaviour” to “institutional infrastructure”
ADAPT’s rollout will be worth watching. If successful in early-adopter countries, it could transform how African businesses trade across borders. Look for more regional platforms integrating stablecoin settlement by mid-2026.
3. AI in fintech becomes less hype, more risk-control
AI investments in African fintech could become a big deal, with economists estimating a total of $97 billion annual spending in the global financial services sector by 2027, revolutionizing fraud prevention, customer service, and risk management.
4. Cross-border payments get seamless
With platforms like LemFi, Nala, and Grey enabling African freelancers and businesses to access global banking, expect 2026 to see further consolidation and expansion. The African remote workforce powering the world’s digital economy needs seamless payment infrastructure. Entrepreneurs are building it.
5. Mobile money becomes the distribution layer for “everything finance”
Expect 2026 to see financial services embedded directly into transportation apps, agricultural platforms, and e-commerce sites. Savings, investments, insurance, credit, merchant tools and more delivered through the wallets people already use daily.
The Real Story Is Still The People
Here’s what mainstream crypto coverage misses about Africa: this isn’t about lambos and laser eyes. It’s about the hairdresser in Lagos accepting QR payments so she doesn’t have to carry cash home at night. It’s about the farmer in Rwanda accessing trade finance at half the usual cost. It’s about the freelance developer in Nairobi getting paid instantly from European clients without losing 15% to remittance fees.
2025 continues to prove that Africa’s digital money revolution is built on solving actual problems that affect millions of people daily.
Account ownership in Sub-Saharan Africa rose from 49% to 58% between 2017 and 2024. Mobile money account ownership climbed to 40%. In countries that launched instant payment systems, account ownership grew by 37% compared to 14% in countries without them.
These numbers represent market vendors tracking daily sales digitally. Mothers saving for their children’s education. Small business owners building credit histories for the first time.
Looking Forward: The African Century of Finance?
As we step into 2026, Africa sits at a unique intersection: young population (median age 19.7 years), rising internet access, mobile-first infrastructure, and a culture that embraces innovation out of necessity.
The continent processed over $205 billion in crypto transactions, hosts over 1,000 fintech companies, and continues seeing 52% year-over-year growth in digital finance adoption.
But more importantly, Africa is reimagining and reconstructing financial infrastructure from the ground up. Days of copying Western models are long gone. We’re building systems that work for our realities—systems where mobile phones matter more than bank branches, where community trust networks enable lending, where instant settlements make more sense than three-day bank transfers.
The Challenge Ahead
Challenges remain: infrastructure gaps in rural areas, regulatory harmonization across borders, cybersecurity threats, and the persistent digital divide. But 2025 showed us that Africa’s digital finance ecosystem has the resilience, creativity, and entrepreneurial energy to tackle these obstacles.
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