Flutterwave, Africa’s largest payments infrastructure startup, is taking another decisive step in reshaping how money moves across the continent. The company has partnered with blockchain infrastructure provider Turnkey and AI-powered global banking platform Nuvion to introduce stablecoin africa balances for merchants and users across its platform.
The new capability allows Flutterwave users to hold and transact seamlessly in stablecoins such as USDC and USDT, alongside traditional currencies like the US dollar ($) and the naira (₦), all within embedded wallets integrated directly into Flutterwave’s products, including stablecoin africa options.
While stablecoins have long hovered on the fringes of Africa’s financial system, Flutterwave’s move signals a deliberate shift toward positioning them as a core layer of payments infrastructure, particularly for businesses operating across borders where settlement delays, currency volatility, and high fees remain persistent challenges in the context of stablecoin africa.
Stablecoins as Infrastructure, Not Experiment
The Rise of Stablecoin Africa
According to Flutterwave, the launch forms part of a broader strategy to reduce friction in cross-border commerce by offering businesses more efficient alternatives to traditional banking rails.
“To accelerate business growth in Africa, we must make it safe, easy, and affordable for businesses to accept all forms of regulated payment methods, including stablecoin, from a global customer base,” said Nkem Abuah, Lead for Remittances & Stablecoin Partnerships at Flutterwave.
For African merchants serving global customers, access to dollar-backed stablecoins offers a way to preserve value, settle transactions faster, and bypass the limitations of correspondent banking systems that often slow payments or inflate costs.
Reducing Dependence on Legacy Banking Rails
Flutterwave’s embrace of stablecoins is not new, but the latest rollout marks a deeper integration into its core payments stack. In October 2025, the company partnered with Polygon Labs, adopting Polygon as its default network for cross-border stablecoin settlements — a move that underscored its intent to build scalable, blockchain-based settlement infrastructure.
The new embedded wallet functionality further reduces Flutterwave’s reliance on external financial intermediaries, allowing the company to gain greater control over transaction flows, settlement speed, and user experience.
This strategy aligns with Flutterwave’s broader push to internalise critical layers of its payments infrastructure. In 2025, the company acquired Mono, a Nigerian open banking startup, strengthening its access to financial data and account connectivity. Together, these moves point to a payments giant increasingly focused on owning its rails end-to-end.
How the Partnership Works
Under the new integration, Turnkey provides the secure wallet infrastructure that enables Flutterwave to offer embedded stablecoin wallets to merchants and users. Nuvion, meanwhile, acts as the bridge between fiat and stablecoin rails, using its AI-powered banking platform to allow seamless movement between currencies.
Flutterwave describes the resulting system as verifiable, secure, and programmable, combining blockchain-native infrastructure with traditional currency access — a hybrid model that reflects the realities of Africa’s payments landscape.
“We share Flutterwave’s belief that stablecoins offer an incredibly efficient way to accelerate payments and put more money directly into the hands of business owners rather than intermediaries,” said Bryce Ferguson, CEO and co-founder of Turnkey.
With this integration, Flutterwave joins a growing list of global payments and crypto-native companies — including Polymarket, Axiom, and Alchemy — that rely on Turnkey’s blockchain infrastructure. The partnership follows Turnkey’s $30 million Series B funding round in June 2025, raised to expand its team and scale adoption.
A Phased Rollout With Broader Implications
Access to Flutterwave’s stablecoin balances will initially be rolled out to a select group of merchants, with plans to expand availability across its wider merchant base later in the year. While limited at launch, the implications are significant: embedded stablecoin wallets could reshape how African businesses receive international payments, manage currency exposure, and reinvest capital.
As global regulators increasingly scrutinise digital assets, Flutterwave’s focus on regulated stablecoins and infrastructure-led partnerships suggests a cautious but confident approach — one that treats stablecoins not as speculative instruments, but as practical tools for commerce.
For Flutterwave, the message is clear: the future of African payments may not lie solely in traditional banking systems, but in programmable, borderless financial rails designed for a continent that does business globally.
