Quidax, the first digital assets exchange to hold a provisional licence from Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission, has scaled its stablecoin payment infrastructure to cover more than 21 countries and 14 currencies, enabling startups, fintechs, and global enterprises to move value seamlessly across Africa and key international markets.
The Cost of Africa’s Border Tax
Cross-border payments remain one of the most expensive frictions facing African businesses. Africa loses an estimated $5 billion annually to cross-border payment fees and inefficiencies. A payment moving between two African cities often routes through a correspondent bank outside the continent, a journey that can take up to 7 days and costs up to 13% of the transaction value, more than twice the global average of 6%.
How the Infrastructure Works
Quidax’s infrastructure settles cross-border payments in under 48 hours with no correspondent bank involved, at a cost below the global average and in line with the G20 and UN Sustainable Development Goal target of 5%. The system runs on a combination of an orderbook exchange, an OTC desk, and white-label stablecoin and digital asset APIs, built to let businesses move money without directly handling blockchain infrastructure themselves.
The rails support USDT, XAUT, USAT, and other leading stablecoins, as well as 14 local and international currencies including the naira, the Ghanaian cedi, the Central African and West African CFA francs, and the US dollar. XAUT is a gold-backed token, while USAT is a newer Tether-issued dollar stablecoin.
Coverage Across Nine African Markets and Beyond
The infrastructure supports key African markets including Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Africa, Ethiopia, Cameroon, and Côte d’Ivoire, and extends beyond the continent to Canada, China, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the USA, and several European countries. That spread gives the network reach across four continents, connecting African businesses directly to major trading partners and diaspora remittance corridors without routing through third-party banking hubs.
Part of a Broader Shift in African Fintech
Quidax’s expansion fits a wider pattern taking shape across the continent’s fintech sector. Stablecoins, whose value is typically pegged to fiat currencies like the US dollar, have increasingly become the preferred settlement layer for businesses moving money across borders. Unlike traditional payment rails that can take days and involve correspondent banks, stablecoin transactions can settle within minutes, reducing both costs and uncertainty.
For import-dependent businesses across Africa, that speed carries real weight. Delays in settling invoices often translate into higher operating costs, strained supplier relationships, and exposure to volatile exchange rates. Quidax is part of a growing list of African fintechs betting that stablecoin infrastructure will play a major role in the next phase of cross-border payments.
What Comes Next
Quidax has not disclosed detailed performance metrics for the expanded network, and independent verification of its cost and settlement claims is still limited. The company’s next moves are likely to focus on deepening its licensing footprint across additional African markets while building out enterprise partnerships in the corridors it has already opened, particularly around remittances and B2B trade settlement between Africa, the Gulf, and Asia.
