Evolution secures US Federal MSB License to power global citizens

Evolution (formerly Cryptonia) is building the payment rails to enable remote workers, freelancers, and anyone to earn money from anywhere. The app is unifying various financial solutions for global citizens in emerging markets on one single platform.

February 5, 2021, started as an ordinary Friday for most Nigerians. Then the news broke: the Central Bank of Nigeria had banned banks from facilitating cryptocurrency transactions. Social media erupted. Fintech leaders, crypto advocates, and politicians were furious. Most users scrambled for answers and, quickly, for workarounds. 

Rather than kill crypto, the ban supercharged it. Nigeria’s bitcoin P2P trading volume jumped 16% within a week, surging from $6.35 million to $7.35 million almost overnight. One person who seized the moment was Oluwasanmi Oluwatimilehin. “When the ban was announced, I saw an opportunity,” he told Condia. “I started a crypto OTC desk — helping people buy and sell cryptocurrencies over the counter, through WhatsApp, Instagram, and X (formerly known as Twitter).”

He ran that operation until 2024, when regulations loosened, and he built Cryptonia: an MVP that instantly converts USDC and USDT to Naira, with an on-ramp feature letting users buy goods in Naira using stablecoins.

Evolution is Enabling Swift Settlements

However, as time went by, he quickly realised he needed to grow and evolve, as Cryptonia no longer reflected the brand’s direction, features, and products. Although there was a lot of noise about Bitcoin, stablecoins, and other cryptocurrencies, most Nigerians didn’t care about them. They just wanted to move their money from point A to B swiftly and affordably. 

Since stablecoin infrastructure enables settlement in seconds rather than days, demand for trustworthy financial platforms using it has grown. Drawing from his experience running an OTC desk, Oluwasanmi saw this gap. But a personal experience further motivated him to launch Evolution. He had always been interested in crypto, so much so that he dropped out of university because he believed he could make something good of it.

Around 2019, an acquaintance in the US wanted to buy cryptocurrency, so this friend sent Oluwasanmi the naira equivalent of $500. In his naivety, having just begun his cryptocurrency journey, he sent the money to one of the Telegram groups he belonged to. He never heard back from the group again. “That setback really messed me up for some time. But I thought that if many people are getting scammed, I should be able to build something people trust.”

This led him to start his OTC desk. The solution grew due to people’s trust in him and referrals from family and friends. With this service alone, Oluwasanmi processed nearly $7 million over four years. 

Evolution is a payment infrastructure that helps Nigerians earn from anywhere around the world. Built for emerging-market freelancers and remote workers, the platform allows users to receive payments (in USD, EUR, USDC, and USDT), spend globally, and send money quickly. Users can convert their USD balance to local currencies instantly at competitive rates.

Furthermore, Evolution users get a virtual USD or Euro account, which they can use to receive payments from international companies as freelancers or remote workers. The EUR account is powered via SEPA. Likewise, another feature is a virtual USD card that works on Apple Pay and Google Pay for shopping and spending globally.

A Trustworthy Platform for Today’s Internet Money Generation

The platform is registered as a US Money Services Business, regulated by FinCEN. The product offerings include a B2B service that helps Nigerian businesses and merchants send and receive money (USDT, USDC, or Naira) across 170 countries. Startups that parallel what Evolution is building include Hurupay, Onboard, and Payd.

B2C users can download the app, which is now live on the App Store and Google Play. After signing up, signing in, and verifying their KYC, BVN, and NIN, they receive a wallet address to receive money. So far, Evolution has processed almost $4 million and already has about 7,000 users.

On their plans for the future, founder and CEO, Oluwasanmi Oluwatimileyin, said, “Acquisition, basically. So we’re trying to reach at least 50k users and scale our transaction volume to $1 million per month.” 

Oluwasanmi believes the future of digital currencies would be a means to an end. The startups that will thrive in that niche are not necessarily those with an emphasis on Bitcoin, stablecoin, or Solana. It would be those using it to help users send money effortlessly. 

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Stablecoins like USDC and USDT run on blockchains such as Solana, Base, and Tron. Those chains settle in seconds to minutes, vs days for traditional bank wires or SWIFT. So moving $1 million can take 2 seconds and cost under $0.01. This was the reason for their rebrand.

“We are trying to abstract the infrastructure to build a seamless platform that users can use to send money. This is the reason for our rebrand, so we don’t confine ourselves to the crypto or stablecoin space alone,” he said. “We are a finance platform running a stablecoin chain under the hood to power our payment infrastructure.”

Evolution is differentiating itself by building a culture centred on Gen Z, as evidenced by its branding, smooth in-app experience, and appeal to freelancers and remote workers. “We want to be the go-to app for the internet money generation who work remotely in the digital economy and earn in USD, Euros, and stablecoins,” Oluwasanmi said. “Our platform makes you go global from wherever you are.”

Last updated: April 27, 2026