Overview
As Africa’s digital financial ecosystem continues to evolve, tokenised money and stablecoins are emerging as important areas of discussion for the future of payments, financial infrastructure and digital monetary systems.
Against this backdrop, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), in collaboration with the Africa Fintech Network (AFN), Financial Innovation for Impact (Fii), and the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF), convened a high-level webinar on “Tokenised Money and Stablecoins in Africa: Cross-border Payments, Local-Currency Stablecoins, and Regulatory Pathways for the Continent’s Digital Monetary Future.”
Held in commemoration of World Fintech Day, the webinar brought together policymakers, regulators, financial-sector specialists, technology and fintech companies, researchers and development practitioners to examine the evolving role of tokenised money and stablecoins in Africa.
The discussion focused on a central question: How can Africa harness emerging forms of digital money to improve cross-border payments and financial efficiency while safeguarding financial stability, consumer protection, monetary sovereignty and regulatory integrity?
The dialogue drew on recent research into the global tokenised money ecosystem and the African stablecoin landscape, the CCAF and Fii report, Tokenised Money: Use Cases, Interoperability and Regulation, and the AIR, CGAP and DCI paper, Stablecoins in Africa: Translating Global Principles into Local Regulatory Practice.
Objectives
The webinar aimed to:
- Examine the current development and use cases of tokenised money and stablecoins in Africa.
- Explore the potential of stablecoins to support cross-border payments and regional financial integration.
- Discuss opportunities and considerations surrounding local-currency stablecoins.
- Share emerging regulatory approaches from African jurisdictions.
- Identify barriers to responsible adoption, including infrastructure, liquidity, regulatory clarity and consumer protection.
- Explore opportunities for greater regulatory cooperation and regional alignment.
- Identify priorities for further research and policy dialogue on Africa’s digital monetary future.
Key Discussion Areas
- Tokenised Money Adoption and Its Impact
- Infrastructure and Regulation
- Regulatory Alignment and Regional Integration
Moderator:
Hugo Coelho, Head of Digital Policy and Regulation, Fii and CCAF
Featured Speakers:
Denis Kizito, Director, Market Supervision, Capital Markets Authority of Uganda
Tahiru Alhassan, Digital Assets Head, Bank of Ghana
Gillian Darko, Group Vice President of Strategy, Yellow Card
Abdallah Mukalled, Senior Policy Manager, Ripple
Ivo Jeník, Senior Financial Sector Specialist, CGAP
Visham Khoosy, Senior Analyst, FSC Mauritius
Roman Proskalovich, Lead, Emergent Money Systems (EMS), Fii and CCAF
Related Resources
Tokenised Money: Use Cases, Interoperability and Regulation
Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance and Financial Innovation for Impact.
Read the report
Stablecoins in Africa: Translating Global Principles into Local Regulatory Practice
AIR, CGAP and DCI.
Read the report
Watch the Webinar
Full webinar recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWEUQgKff3w