Eyeing expansion in Africa’s cross-border digital payment industry, card payments giant Visa, mobile money platform M-Pesa, and cross-border payments company Onafriq have chosen the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as a testing ground for linking mobile money with stablecoins.
The three ventures have piloted a system that settles mobile money top-ups using stablecoins, cryptocurrencies whose value is pegged to assets such as fiat currencies or precious metals.
As per the visa, the initiative is designed to bridge local mobile money systems with cross-border payment networks, addressing one of the biggest limitations of mobile money despite its rapid growth across Africa.
The timing of the pilot project is perfect, as according to telecom advocacy and lobbying organization GSMA, sub-Saharan Africa processed USD 1.4 trillion in mobile money transactions in 2025, up 26% from 2024. Transaction volumes reached 96 billion, a 16% increase over the previous year.
Visa’s senior vice president and head of solutions, Godfrey Sullivan, said mobile money had transformed domestic payments across Africa but remained constrained when it came to cross-border transactions.
“Mobile money has done a tremendous job and been widely adopted domestically in many markets. However, cross-border remittance challenges are still significant and are yet to be solved. I think stablecoins present an opportunity and will be adopted by banks, fintechs, and mobile network operators,” he said.
As per Sullivan, the DRC pilot has already demonstrated how stablecoins could operate behind the scenes without changing the customer experience.
“There is a use case that we have in DR Congo where we are settling M-Pesa mobile money top-ups with stablecoins through a partnership with Onafriq. We have launched a proposition called VisaPay, and, as you top up your M-Pesa wallet, the transaction is settled in stablecoins in the background,” the senior official remarked.
The DRC, known for its low ratio of financial inclusion, offers a favorable environment for testing new payment technologies. According to Financial Sector Deepening Africa (FSD Africa), only 30% of adults have access to formal financial services, compared with 84% in Kenya and 76% in Tanzania. The country is also looking to shift from a cash-based economy to the one powered by digital payment technologies, including stablecoins.
Visa said that as intra-African trade and regional integration deepen, banks, fintechs, and mobile network operators will increasingly need payment infrastructure that reduces the cost and friction of cross-border transactions.
“We will see banks, fintechs, and mobile network operators adopting stablecoins to solve challenges associated with cross-border payments, remittances, and business-to-business payments because existing solutions have not really cracked these problems yet,” Sullivan noted.
Africa remains the world’s largest mobile money market, accounting for 67% of the global value of mobile money transactions and 74% of transaction volumes in 2025.
By contributing 66% of transaction volumes and 58% of transaction value across the continent, East Africa dominates the sector.
Apart from its rapid ascendancy as the world’s largest mobile money market, Africa is also emerging as one of the most promising frontiers for fintech innovation due to tailwinds like rapid digital adoption, a mobile-first population, and a growing need for accessible financial services.