Global payments giant Visa has announced a strategic partnership with Aquanow to extend its stablecoin‑based settlement infrastructure across the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) region — a move with major implications for African financial institutions.
Under the collaboration, Aquanow’s digital‑asset infrastructure will be integrated into Visa’s existing payments stack, allowing issuers and acquirers on the Visa network to settle transactions using approved stablecoins such as USD Coin (USDC), instead of traditional fiat‑based bank rails.
While swiping cards at a counter appears like an instantaneous transaction, the actual movement of funds between banks can take days due to reliance on legacy correspondent banking networks. The collaboration with Aquanow introduces a digital alternative where fiat currency is converted to stablecoins, cutting layers of intermediaries and costs, and reducing settlement timelines.
According to Visa, the stablecoin‑based rails have already seen activity reaching what corresponds to a $2.5 billion annualised settlement volume, underscoring growing demand for digital‑asset infrastructure among payment operators. Phil Sham, CEO of Aquanow, said the partnership will unlock new avenues for financial institutions to participate in the digital economy — offering “the speed and transparency of the internet” for fund transfers.
For countries like Nigeria and others across Africa with large remittance flows, dollar‑demand economies, or where access to correspondent banking may be limited, stablecoin settlement offers a compelling new infrastructure — one that could reshape cross‑border payments, trade finance, and payouts for global freelancers, businesses or diaspora remittances.
In sum, the Visa–Aquanow partnership represents a major step toward modernising the back‑end rails of money movement across Africa, potentially helping accelerate the region’s digital finance transformation.
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