Addis Ababa, 18 August 2026 (ECA) - In commemoration of World Fintech Day, the UN 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.”
Africa’s payment landscape remains highly fragmented, with high remittance costs and constrained intra-African trade settlement, even as digital asset frameworks advance rapidly across the continent. Building on 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, the webinar brought together experts from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, CGAP, Yellow Card, Ripple, the Capital Markets Authority of Uganda, the Bank of Ghana, and the Financial Services Commission of Mauritius to examine market developments, regulatory approaches and opportunities for greater regional cooperation.
Opening the dialogue, Afework Temtime, Economic Affairs Officerof the United Nations Economic Commission for Africahighlighted the rapid growth of digital asset use across the continent. “Africa is no longer simply exploring digital assets. The continent has more than 54 million digital asset users, with Nigeria alone estimated to have around 25.9 million users,”he noted, underscoring the growing relevance of digital assets to Africa’s financial landscape.
Roman Proskalovich, of the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance presented recent research on the global tokenised money ecosystem, noting that tokenized money instruments exceeded US$300 billion in 2025, with fiat tokens accounting for more than US$250 billion. The research identified interoperability and regulatory alignment as key challenges, while highlighting programmability as an important enabler of emerging use cases.
Industry perspectives from Gillian Darko, Group Vice President of Strategy of Yellow Card and Abdallah Mukalled, Senior Policy Manager of Ripple highlighted the growing use of stablecoins in Africa for cross-border payments, intra-African transfers and treasury management. The discussion also highlighted practical applications in Kenya, including stablecoin-enabled disaster relief insurance, while noting the potential for further applications across Uganda and other African markets. While US dollar-denominated stablecoins currently dominate the market, the discussion also explored the potential of local-currency stablecoins to support domestic markets while addressing considerations around monetary and regulatory sovereignty.
The speakers also highlighted barriers to responsible adoption, including regulatory uncertainty, infrastructure gaps, trust, liquidity and access to effective on- and off-ramps. Speakers emphasized that stablecoins can complement existing payment systems, including mobile money, and that solutions need to be designed around Africa’s diverse financial and regulatory contexts.
Regulatory perspectives were provided by Denis Kizito, Director Market Supervision of Uganda’s Capital Markets Authority, Tahiru Alhassan, Digital Assets Head of the Bank of Ghana, and Visham Khoosy, Senior Analyst of the Financial Services Commission of Mauritius. Their interventions highlighted different national approaches to virtual assets and stablecoins, while underscoring shared priorities around consumer protection, financial stability, regulatory clarity and monetary sovereignty. The discussion emphasized that regulatory convergence does not require identical legislation, but can be advanced through compatible regulatory outcomes, supervisory cooperation and coordinated approaches to cross-border innovation.
Ivo Jeník, Senior Financial Sector Specialist of Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) further highlighted the importance of strengthening data and research on the tokenised money ecosystem, including opportunities for regulatory passporting and regional approaches to digital monetary infrastructure.
The dialogue concluded with recommendations for Africa to strengthen regulatory cooperation, develop compatible regulatory approaches, improve supervisory coordination and support cross-border pilots and innovation. Speakers also emphasized the need for stronger data and continued collaboration among regulators, central banks, industry and research institutions to ensure that tokenised money and stablecoins contribute to more efficient cross-border payments and inclusive digital financial systems across the continent.
More info: Tokenised Money and Stablecoins in Africa
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Economic Commission for Africa
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