Circle is partnering with Sasai Fintech to expand the use of its USDC stablecoin across African payment corridors. The collaboration aims to integrate the stablecoin into Sasai’s payments infrastructure to reduce costs and settlement times for remittances, business transactions, and mobile wallet services. This move comes as stablecoin usage grows in Africa, driven by demand for cross-border payments and mobile-first financial services.
Circle is partnering with Sasai Fintech to expand the use of its USDC stablecoin across African payment corridors, targeting remittances, business transactions and mobile wallet services. According to the announcement, the collaboration will integrate the second-biggest stablecoin into Sasai’s existing payments infrastructure.
The companies said they will explore practical applications for USDC using Circle’s full-stack platform. The United Nations has set a target of reducing average remittance transaction costs to less than 3% globally.
However, costs remain high, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. According to a World Bank June 2025 report, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Angola, Botswana, and Zambia are among the economies with the highest transaction costs, all greater than 7% in 2023.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said the company is focusing on high-growth payment corridors in emerging markets. Cassava Technologies Chairman Strive Masiyiwa said the integration could expand access to digital financial services for businesses and consumers.
Data from DefiLlama shows USDC is the second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization at around $78.6 billion. It trails only Tether’s USDT at about $184.1 billion.
Crypto adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa has accelerated sharply, up 52% in the 12 months through June 2025. The region received more than $205 billion in onchain value, according to a Chainalysis report from September.
Nigeria accounted for over $92 billion of that activity, followed by South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia and Ghana. Usage is largely driven by remittances, cross-border payments and demand for hedging against currency volatility.
The growth is drawing increased interest from crypto companies expanding into the region. Earlier this month, Blockchain.com entered Ghana as part of its broader African push.
Regulators are also beginning to formalize the sector. In March, Ghana’s Securities and Exchange Commission approved 11 crypto trading platforms to enter a regulatory sandbox.
At the user level, both Bitcoin and stablecoins are gaining traction for everyday financial use. In January, former UN under-secretary-general Vera Songwe said remittances have become “more important than aid” in Africa.
