Flutterwave, Africa’s leading payments technology company, has launched stablecoin balances across its platform, allowing merchants and users to hold and transact using stablecoins as part of its core payments offering. The move marks a significant milestone in the company’s long term strategy to make stablecoins a foundational layer of Africa’s financial ecosystem and a key driver of the continent’s next phase of digital and global economic integration.
The new capability is being rolled out through a collaboration with Turnkey, a blockchain infrastructure provider, and Nuvion, an AI powered global banking and payments platform built on both fiat and stablecoin infrastructure. Together, the partners are delivering what Flutterwave describes as a secure, flexible, and verifiable stablecoin balance infrastructure, designed to meet the needs of African businesses operating in an increasingly global and always on digital economy.
At launch, a select group of Flutterwave merchants will be able to transact using USDC and USDT, alongside traditional fiat currencies including the US dollar and the Nigerian naira. This phased approach is intended to ensure operational stability and regulatory alignment, while laying the groundwork for a broader expansion later in the year. Once fully rolled out, stablecoin balances will be available to all approved Flutterwave merchants across its markets.
Flutterwave said the introduction of stablecoin balances directly addresses long standing challenges in cross border payments, including high transaction costs, settlement delays, and reliance on multiple intermediaries. By embedding stablecoin wallets into its platform, the company aims to give businesses faster access to funds, lower costs, and greater certainty when transacting with customers and partners across borders.
“To accelerate business growth in Africa, we must make it safe, easy, and affordable for businesses to accept all forms of regulated payment methods, including stablecoin, from a global customer base,” said Nkem Abuah, Lead, GEPP ROW, Remittances and Stablecoin Partnerships, Flutterwave. “By enabling stablecoin balances powered by Turnkey, we are ensuring that multinationals, African enterprises, and individuals using Flutterwave will have access to low cost, faster, and always on cross border payments with stablecoins.”
A key component of the rollout is the provision of embedded wallets for merchants. Through the integration with Turnkey and Nuvion, Flutterwave is offering a comprehensive wallet experience that allows users to store, send, and receive stablecoins seamlessly within the Flutterwave ecosystem. Turnkey provides the underlying blockchain infrastructure, including embedded wallets, transaction automation, and verifiable security, while Nuvion supports global banking and payment capabilities across both fiat and stablecoin rails.
Turnkey’s leadership said the partnership reflects a shared belief in the transformative potential of stablecoins, particularly in emerging markets where traditional financial infrastructure can be costly or unreliable. “Flutterwave has shown the transformative potential of stablecoins in helping people start and grow businesses globally,” said Bryce Ferguson, CEO and co founder of Turnkey. “We share Flutterwave’s belief that stablecoins offer an incredibly efficient way to accelerate payments and put more money directly into the hands of business owners rather than intermediaries. Through Turnkey’s embedded wallet infrastructure, we are proud to power Flutterwave’s stablecoin payments and support their mission to empower the next generation of African innovators.”
The launch also places Flutterwave among a growing cohort of global payments, decentralised finance, and trading companies using Turnkey’s verifiable blockchain infrastructure. Other companies leveraging Turnkey’s technology include Polymarket, Axiom, Alchemy, World, and Moonshot, highlighting the increasing demand for provably secure and auditable wallet and transaction systems as stablecoins gain mainstream adoption.
Over the past year, Turnkey has expanded its product suite and industry recognition. The company was named one of the 2025 CNBC World’s Top Fintech Companies and recently introduced Turnkey Verifiable Cloud in private beta, a platform designed to bring provable security to highly sensitive workloads. This followed the launch of what Turnkey describes as the world’s first verifiable wallets, the addition of fiat on ramp support through partners including MoonPay and Coinbase, and the open sourcing of QuorumOS, the operating system underpinning its end to end verifiable computing environment.
For Flutterwave, the stablecoin initiative reinforces its broader ambition to build Africa’s largest and most secure infrastructure for next generation digital payments. By enabling stablecoin balances alongside traditional currencies, the company is positioning itself to serve businesses that operate across multiple markets and currencies, while also preparing for a future where digital assets play a more central role in global commerce.
Industry observers say the move could have far reaching implications for African trade, remittances, and digital entrepreneurship. Stablecoins, which are typically pegged to major fiat currencies, offer a way to combine the price stability of traditional money with the speed and programmability of blockchain based systems. For African businesses, this could translate into improved cash flow, expanded access to international customers, and reduced exposure to currency volatility and settlement risk.
With regulatory scrutiny of digital assets continuing to evolve globally, Flutterwave said its approach prioritises compliance and security, ensuring that stablecoin payments are integrated as regulated and trusted instruments within its platform. As the company scales access to stablecoin balances later this year, it is betting that demand for faster, cheaper, and more transparent cross border payments will continue to grow, making stablecoins an increasingly important tool for African businesses seeking to compete on a global stage.