Triple Ripple Partnership Allows Stablecoin in Africa

Digital asset infrastructure provider Ripple announces its new USD-backed stablecoin RLUSD that can now be accessed in Africa through three institutions. 

Stablecoin has taken over, as major fintech players have announced using crypto for global expansion. 

Jack McDonald, SVP of Stablecoins at Ripple, says: “RLUSD has quickly become established in enterprise financial use cases, from payments to tokenisation to collateral in both crypto and traditional trading markets. 

"We’re seeing demand for RLUSD from our customers and other key institutional players globally and are excited to now begin distribution in Africa through our local partners.

"We also recently enabled RLUSD in Ripple Payments, extending the breadth of stablecoins available in our cross-border payments solution to better serve our customers in Africa and worldwide.”

Stablecoin: regulations and compliance 

Stablecoins, enabled by blockchain technology, have recently gained traction after the US announced the Genius Act, introducing regulation for stablecoin in the US. 

“This listing reinforces our commitment to providing the most reliable and compliant payment infrastructure across Africa and the emerging markets,” says Chris Maurice, CEO and Co-Founder at Yellow Card. 

“Our customers demand access to stable digital assets that are useful for secure cross-border payments and treasury management. Offering a regulatory-compliant stablecoin like RLUSD is a natural step in our mission to deliver trusted, enterprise-grade solutions.”

Ripple’s global strategy leading to cross-border payments 

Ripple’s partnership with finserv Chipper Cash has so far enabled crypto payments to five million customers across nine African countries.

Ham Serunjogi, Co-Founder & CEO at Chipper Cash, says the “RLUSD is uniquely positioned to drive institutional use of blockchain technology across Africa and broader global markets, including through cross-border payments.” 

Since the announcement of Ripple’s USLD Stablecoin early in the previous year, the company has grown its global presence.

Soon after its announcement in the US, RLUSD was made available on global exchanges such as Archax, a regulated digital asset exchange; Bitso, a Latin American digital asset platform; CoinMENA, a Middle East-focused crypto exchange; MoonPay, a payments infrastructure company and Uphold, a cryptocurrency exchange.

Ripple previously started its expansion of global payments using blockchain technology in the second half of 2024.

Recently, the company has acquired Rail in a push to make stablecoin more accessible.

Before the announcement of its partnership to expand operations in Africa, Ripple partnered with SBI to support stablecoin distribution in Japan. 

Ripple has expanded globally, making use of its worldwide stablecoin position to enable cross-border payments.

“After establishing our partnership with Ripple earlier this year to support faster, cheaper, more efficient cross-border payments into Africa, we were keen to make RLUSD available to our clients as soon as possible,” adds Ham.

Africa’s cross border payments

The cross-border payments market in Africa is currently estimated to be worth US$329bn, with projections to reach US$1bn in 2035. 

The introduction of stablecoin cross-border payments is expected to be part of the reason for this growth, competing with trusted traditional banking transfers which are still ingrained into the community. 

Farzam Ehsani, Co-Founder and CEO of VALR says: “As the largest crypto exchange in Africa, VALR is committed to providing our customers with access to compliant and high-quality digital assets,” 

“The listing of RLUSD reflects our broader strategy to support trusted stablecoin options that serve the evolving needs of both institutional and retail clients seeking a reliable digital dollar for a growing range of use cases.”

According to a recent report from Oui Capital, the expansion of crypto and stablecoin payments could reduce remittance fees by up to 60% compared to traditional banks.