Condia Insider: Stripe’s stablecoin rollout skips Africa’s Big Four

🍔 Quick Bite: Stablecoins are finally going mainstream, with Stripe launching stablecoin accounts in over 100 countries, but skipping Nigeria, South Africa, and Ghana. While these markets are fintech powerhouses, unclear and evolving crypto regulations make them too risky for now.

🧠 The Breakdown

A lot has happened in the crypto world this past week. Stripe rolled out stablecoin accounts in over 100 countries. Ramp introduced stablecoin-powered cards. Meta is quietly getting back in the game. Robinhood wants to launch its crypto platform. Ethereum shipped a major upgrade. Bitcoin crossed $100,000. Coinbase also announced the biggest acquisition in crypto history.

It’s a flurry of moves that point to one thing: stablecoins are going mainstream.

They’ve always been hyped as the “safe” version of crypto. No crazy price swings like Bitcoin or Ether. Just good old dollar-pegged value, which makes them a lifeline in places where inflation is running wild or banking systems are unreliable. But now, the biggest players in fintech are building around them.

What’s Stripe doing?

Stripe’s launch is a big deal. It now lets businesses across 101 countries send, receive, and hold stablecoins like USDC and USDB, just like you would with regular dollars. This is thanks to its earlier acquisition of Bridge, a Web3 infrastructure startup.

Twenty-five African countries are part of this rollout. But Stripe skipped four of the continent’s biggest fintech markets: Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, and Egypt. This is kind of wild, considering Nigeria is not just Africa’s largest economy but also home to Paystack, a Stripe company.

Why’s Nigeria(and others) not on the list?

One word: regulation.

The Nigerian government has had a rocky relationship with crypto. For years, the Central Bank banned banks from dealing with crypto companies. That ban was lifted recently, but the regulatory waters are still murky.

In March 2025, Nigeria passed a new investment law that finally recognised digital assets, including stablecoins, as securities. It also handed the keys to the Central Bank, which now says only licensed institutions can issue or manage stablecoins locally. That means any international company trying to enter the space has to tick a lot of boxes first.

Last month, Kenya took a big step toward regulating crypto by proposing its first official framework for digital assets. The new rules would put the Central Bank of Kenya in charge of overseeing wallet providers, stablecoin issuers, and crypto payment platforms

South Africa and Ghana have similar uncertainties. In South Africa, stablecoins sit outside current crypto-asset definitions in the FAIS Act, leaving them in regulatory limbo. Ghana is working on its Virtual Asset Providers Act, expected by September 2025, but until then, there’s no clear path for companies like Stripe to operate in the space.

A signal to regulators

Stripe’s exclusion of these markets isn’t a dismissal. It’s more of a strategic pause. It signals to governments and regulators that until there’s clarity, compliance-focused companies will look elsewhere. Angola, Gambia, Togo, and Zambia all made the list; smaller markets, but with more crypto-friendly environments.

The irony is hard to miss. Nigeria has one of the highest crypto adoption rates in the world. Its startups are behind some of the continent’s most innovative products. But without stable, supportive regulation, even the most promising markets can be sidelined.

The bigger picture

What we’re witnessing is a two-pronged shift. On one side, stablecoins are finally entering their breakout phase. They’re becoming real infrastructure for internet-native finance. On the other side, regulation is proving to be the ultimate gatekeeper.

Nigeria helped build some of the best fintech products on the continent. But until it creates the right regulatory bridge, even global giants like Stripe will be hesitant to cross.

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