FINTECH AFRICA | NALA, One of Africa’s Leading Fintechs with Over 1 Million Active Users, is Building an On-Off-Ramp for Stablecoins

NALA, currently one of the most successful fintechs across Africa, has disclosed that it is building infrastructure for on-and-offramp for stablecoins and fiat conversions for its customers.

While announcing record revenue for its payment platform, Rafiki, NALA CEO, Benjamin Fernandes, said the company will soon enable its customers to settle in local currency or stablecoins – all through one API.

“I believe infra for on and off ramp for stablecoins and fiat will become 10x more valuable for licensed providers like Rafiki.com in the market over the next 5 years.” – CEO, NALA

Rafiki is a payment platform by NALA which enhances its remittance services across Africa. The platform powers NALA’s consumer remittance app and also global businesses looking to make direct payments into recipient’s mobile money wallets or bank accounts across Africa.

Founded in 2018, NALA has seen significant growth over the years demonstrating demand for its service offering.

By 2019, NALA had gained significant traction, attracting over 250, 000 users within its first year.

In 2020, the startup raised $1 million and introduced features such as bill payments, airtime purchases, and ability to send money internationally. By the end of that year, NALA’s user base had grown to over 500,000 and the app was processing millions of dollars in transactions monthly.

In 2022, NALA transitioned into a digital banking platform by introducing functionalities such as savings accounts, microloans, and investment options. In the same year, it raised $10 million to expand across different African countries.

As of 2024, NALA boars over 1 million active users. At the same time, the fintech raised $40 million in Series A following 10x revenue growth.

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Over recent years, NALA has acquired multiple licenses across different African jurisdictions and partnered with licensed and regulated financial institutions, further expanding its reach and impact.

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The latest announcement by NALA points to a similar trend across Africa where more established fintechs are looking at integrating and offering stablecoin solutions in order to reduce costs to consumers while also remaining competitive.

Yellow Card, Flutterwave, Onafriq: Why Africa’s Fintech Sector is Turning to Stablecoins

While announcing its collaboration with Polygoin as an infrastructure partner for stablecoin payments across Africa, Flutterwave, one of the largest and leading non-bank fintechs in Africa, expressed similar confidence in stablecoins.

“Stablecoin adoption will drive more flows into Africa and has the potential to 10x the volumes we are currently doing.” – Olugbenga Agboola, CEO, Flutterwave

The African fintech said:

“For Flutterwave, the next phase of fintech in Africa will be to enable businesses and consumers to transact in stablecoins seamlessly. This vision aims to reduce friction for entrepreneurs, power cross-border payments, and secure remittances for a new generation.”

As regulations across Africa get more defined, we can expect to see more licensed and regulated fintechs integrate and launch stablecoin and digital asset offerings as the next phase in their developments.

Stay tuned to BitKE on stablecoin developments across Africa.

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