Africa Embraces Stablecoins via IOTA to Unlock $70B Pan-Continent Trade Tech
ADAPT is an Africa trade initiative formed by the AfCFTA Secretariat in partnership with the IOTA Foundation, the Tony Blair Institute, and the World Economic Forum. It aims to overhaul cross-border trade across Africa using stablecoins.
The initiative will create a shared open-source digital public infrastructure for the 55 member states of the AfCFTA. This platform will enable instant cross-border payments, verifiable digital trade documents, and interoperable digital identities, with USDT stablecoin underpinning settlements.
The roadmap prioritizes a start in Kenya, Ghana, and a third country likely in North Africa, with plans to expand to all AfCFTA nations by 2035. The goal is to double intra-African trade and unlock $70 billion in new value, including $23.6 billion in annual gains.
Currently, trade faces frictions such as around $25 billion in annual payment transaction fees and a cumbersome paper-based process involving approximately 30 entities and 240 documents per shipment. For example, Kenya previously required 13 systems to verify a consignment.
Pilot results in Kenya and Rwanda demonstrate exporters saving about $400 per month on printing and documentation costs. Manual paperwork has been reduced by up to 60%, and border clearance times have decreased from roughly six hours to about 30 minutes. Kenya processes approximately 100,000 transactions daily on IOTA's ledger.
The regulatory context shows rising oversight of digital currencies and clearer pathways for stablecoins in the US and Hong Kong. This environment could enable Africa to leapfrog legacy financial infrastructure by leveraging stablecoin rails.
ADAPT emphasizes tokenizing physical assets and enabling real-time cross-border payments anchored by stablecoins to encourage adoption beyond volatile crypto cycles.
