The future of payments is already taking place. In my conversations with banks and fintechs across Africa, the question is no longer whether the blockchain will reshape payments, but it’s how fast, and who will lead. South Africa has a window to set the pace for the continent, and stablecoins are where that race begins.
Stablecoins processed an estimated $28 (R467) trillion in real economic value in 2025, with adjusted volumes growing at a 133% compound annual rate since 2023. At Chainalysis, we project that figure could reach $1.5 (R25) quadrillion by 2035 as cross-border payments, remittances and settlement increasingly move on-chain. Where a cross-border payment can take days to clear through a chain of correspondent banks, a stablecoin transaction settles on-chain in seconds. These are not experimental numbers. They signal a fundamental shift in how money moves.
Sub-Saharan Africa is already part of this shift. The region received $205 billion in on-chain value last year, growing 52% year-on-year to become the third-fastest growing crypto region globally. Across the continent, stablecoins are being used for multi-million dollar cross-border settlement between Africa, the Middle East and Asia in energy and merchant payments.
But if we take a closer look, it is South Africa who is positioned to lead this shift on the continent. The Financial Sector Conduct Authority has processed more than 500 crypto asset service provider licence applications since June 2023, approving over 300 to date. The Financial Intelligence Centre’s Directive 9 requires licensed providers to comply with the Travel Rule, embedding anti-money-laundering safeguards directly into crypto transactions. South African banks are not waiting on the sidelines: institutions like Absa are in advanced stages of crypto product development, and the country’s share of large-ticket institutional volumes reflects a market that has moved well beyond the pilot stage. That regulatory clarity gives banks, payment providers and fintechs a stable foundation to build on, and a head start over markets still designing their frameworks
This matters because compliance is not a cost, it is a competitive advantage. Globally, traditional financial institutions entering the digital asset space set detection thresholds two to five times tighter than crypto-native exchanges. In sub-Saharan Africa, more than 8% of all value transferred is under $10,000, higher than the global average, showing that crypto in the region is intertwined with financial inclusion, not just institutional trading. Getting the compliance infrastructure right protects both large-scale institutional activity and the everyday users who stand to benefit most.
What underpins all of this is shared intelligence. The banks building crypto products and the regulators supervising them need to be looking at the same data through the same lens. At Chainalysis, we work with both sides of that table, more than 50 regulators worldwide, alongside the institutions they oversee. When a South African bank screens a transaction, it works from the same data and risk intelligence that its regulator sees. That shared foundation makes compliance more transparent, more efficient and more predictable. It is the common ground that builds trust between regulated institutions and their supervisors.
The rails of finance are being rebuilt. South Africa has the regulatory foundation, the institutional appetite and the market momentum to lead the way on this continent. The institutions that invest in the right data and compliance infrastructure now will not just keep pace with this shift, they will shape it. The window is open, but it will not stay open indefinitely.
