The African crypto scene is well recognized and has attracted lots of investors and founders both local and foreign. Nigeria in West Africa has the highest rate of crypto adoption in the continent and the second highest in the world.
Other African countries like Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, and Egypt also have high rates of crypto adoption.
There are varieties of crypto products that have been built across the African space.
They range from Exchanges, Payment Processors, Wallets, and Crypto-focused Venture Capital funds focused on funding crypto projects in the continent.
This range of products serves various niches in the African market and all operate together to make up the African crypto infrastructure.
The list of African-owned or based Web3 projects continues to increase as various innovators find ways to use blockchain technology to fix some of the biggest issues on the continent and the rest of the globe. In this article, we will be focusing on a specific niche of products in the African crypto space.
We will be looking at the Top 4 Web 3 projects focused on payment in Africa. Some of them are owned by Africans while some are by foreign investors.
Rezo Money
Rezo Money is leveraging blockchain technologies to connect Africa and its diaspora to global trades through digital currencies.
- The platform helps African consumers access digital currencies store, spend, or transfer anytime and anywhere.
- The platform offers an API that serves as a gateway for businesses looking to tap into the potential of African consumers.
- Rezo Money makes it easy to Send airtime, data and pay the bills of loved ones in Africa using traditional methods or crypto.
- The platform also runs a robust CSR recently partnering with Tether.io to introduce blockchain to 500 students at the Kofi Annan University in Guinea Conakry
Afropass
Afropass by Afropolitan is a web application that makes international payments easier. The crypto platform allows users to pay at multiple restaurants and lifestyle events with local currencies and stablecoins.
- For now, the platform only supports Circle’s USDC with the hope of integrating Tether USDT as soon as possible.
- In 2023 alone, Afropolitan has partnered with over 38 events happening across the holiday season in Lagos, Nigeria, and Accra, Ghana.
- Afropolitan the parent project started as the first Pan-African Network state with a mission to help 1 billion Africans and become an important player in crypto adoption in the continent.
- Afropolitan is powered by Ethereum and Afropass facilitates payments across choice locations in the continent using stablecoins.
Valr
Valr is a South African-based exchange that pivoted into the payments category as well.
- The South African-based exchange partnered with Pick n Pay to make cryptocurrency payments available in over 1,500 stores in the country, representing the largest crypto integration for a brick-and-mortar store chain on the continent.
- Aside from its partnership with Pick and Pay, Valr also partnered with Visa to issue payment cards, allowing users to spend their cryptocurrency globally.
- Embracing the volatile nature of trading and providing more innovative options for investors, Valr launched the world’s first Bitcoin and USDT futures paired against the South African rand (ZAR) with plans to list more perpetual futures contracts in the coming months.
- Valr’s contribution to Retail business and daily payments in Africa cannot be overstated given its two significant partnerships with Pick and Pay and Visa.
Apex Pay
Apex Pay is an African-focused high-utility app that offers a range of services from Payments to Gift card conversion.
- Apex pay powers daily payments seamlessly and users can purchase data, buy Airtime, Pay for electricity, and even fund their betting accounts.
- The Platform also offers users the opportunity to convert their gift cards to their local currencies. Assuming a user receives a gift card from a friend abroad and doesn’t want to use it to purchase items online.
- The User can simply use Apex Pay to convert the gift card to cash.
- Apex pay is only available in Nigeria and Ghana for the moment.
What to Know
- Payment remains a major challenge in the African space as a large swathe of the continent remains unbanked. Fintech companies have been dishing out products to tackle the challenge of payment in the country with very success stories.
- Outside crypto, Payment Giants like Paystack and Flutter Wave are holding the mantle as some of the best examples of what a payment processing company should be.
- Stablecoins remain prevalent in the African space as two of the crypto platforms on our list accept stablecoins ahead of other crypto assets.