Ripple has become one of the investors in Flutterwave, a major payment service from Africa. The amount of the company’s investment was not disclosed.
Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga Agboola only noted that the current business valuation is around $3.3 billion.
Ripple is not fully acquiring Flutterwave and is not gaining control over the business. This is about a stake in the company.
Flutterwave operates in 35 African countries and is gradually expanding its digital assets direction. The company is already adding services for stablecoin payments.
The next step will be the integration of Ripple products. Flutterwave plans to use RLUSD, Ripple Payments, and XRP Ledger for faster and cheaper international transfers.
See also: Lagarde Increases Support for Digital Euro Due to Dominance of Dollar Stablecoins
This is not Ripple’s first project in the region. Ripple has already appeared in African news before. One of its partners was Absa bank from South Africa, which explored opportunities to work with digital assets.
Stablecoins Increasingly Used for Transfers in Africa
High fees for international transfers remain a common problem for many countries in the region. Sub-Saharan African countries remain one of the most active crypto regions.
According to a study by Chainalysis, blockchain transaction volume here exceeded $205 billion over the year.
Interest in digital assets continues to grow, as seen in the on-chain transaction dynamics of recent years.
On-chain volumes in sub-Saharan African countries have grown since 2022. Source: Chainalysis
Stablecoins played a major role in this growth. For users, this is a way to send money abroad faster and cheaper without traditional banking intermediaries.
Ripple is not the only one entering this segment. USDC issuer Circle recently reached an agreement with African fintech service Sasai to develop payments based on USDC in the region. The main focus will be on remittances.
According to World Bank estimates, sending $200 to sub-Saharan African countries through traditional services can cost the recipient from $13 to $17.
By comparison, sending USDT via Tron can cost about $0.50. Sending USDC via Ethereum costs about $2.
