Quidax, the first digital asset exchange to be granted a provisional license by Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), today announced the expansion of its stablecoin infrastructure to more than 21 countries and 14 currencies, allowing startups, fintechs, and global enterprises to move value seamlessly across Africa and key international markets.
Africa loses an estimated $5 billion annually due to cross-border payment fees and inefficiencies. When a company in Accra, Ghana pays a partner in Durban, South Africa using traditional methods, the payment is routed through a correspondent bank in Europe, which can take up to 7 days and cost up to 13% of the transaction value, more than twice the global average of 6%.
Quidax addresses this immediately. Its compliant infrastructure settles cross-border payments in under 48 hours with no correspondent bank involvement, at a lower cost than the world average and in accordance with the G20 and UN Sustainable Development Goal objective of 5%.
“Africa is home to the world’s fastest-growing economies, yet individuals and businesses pay an ‘African border levy’ every time they move money across the continent,” said Buchi Okoro, CEO and Co-Founder of Quidax. “Our compliance-first stablecoin infrastructure was created to remove that levy and bring us closer to a world with zero financial borders.”
Quidax, Nigeria’s first SEC-licensed digital asset exchange, is one of only a few exchanges in Africa operating under direct securities regulation, and it is actively expanding its licensing footprint in important countries.
The infrastructure supports significant African markets such as Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Africa, Ethiopia, Cameroon, and Côte d’Ivoire, as well as Canada, China, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States, and a number of European countries. The rails support USDT, XAUT, USAT, and other popular stablecoins, as well as 14 local and foreign currencies such as the Naira, Cedi, Central and West African CFA francs, and the US dollar.
Quidax, which powers over 5,000 startups and organizations in payments, remittance, gaming, banking, and other industries, counts Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin issuer, and Chainalysis, the global standard in blockchain compliance, as partners.
