The IMF’s July 2025 working paper on stablecoin flows provides a fresh perspective on how dollar-pegged tokens are being used across Africa, and what that means for regulators, banks and payments providers.
Key takeaways worth noting: stablecoin activity in Africa reached the equivalent of 6.7% of GDP in 2024, with USDT accounting for about 57% of regional stablecoin transactions and USDC making up the remainder.
The region recorded $200 billion-plus in stablecoin flows, with most of these being cross-border rather than domestic.
Transaction sizes are relatively small, an average of roughly $13,100 for Africa, reflecting frequent, low-value transfers.
On the trading side, Binance dominates centralized exchange-linked stablecoin volume in Africa, accounting for approximately 74% of that traffic.
Payments and remittances: a short, cheaper dollar route
Stablecoins are being used largely for remittances, trade settlement and capital flows. With only about 14% of flows staying within the region, the tokens are acting as a dollar substitute where access to USD via banks is constrained and remittance fees are high.
How much cheaper or faster are stablecoin transfers for senders and recipients, and what on-ramps/ off-ramps (exchanges, local OTC desks, payment apps) are enabling these flows?
Also read, Abuja Among Top 20 Cities Googling Stablecoins
Regulatory, monetary and consumer-protection implications
Its high adoption raises questions for national authorities. If dollar-pegged tokens are absorbing a non-trivial share of payments and store-of-value needs, how should central banks respond on foreign-exchange controls, reserve management and monetary oversight?
How are different African regulators are balancing innovation with risks: consumer protection, fraud, AML/CFT, and the potential for capital flight?
The IMF’s dataset, which shows North America as a principal sender of net flows into Africa, points to cross-border exposure regulators will need to monitor.
Market concentration and system risk around exchanges and issuers
Two concentration risks stand out: the dominance of USDT in emerging-market flows and the heavy reliance on a single exchange for CEX-linked volume.
Both facts create single-point vulnerabilities: an operational disruption at a major issuer or exchange could ripple through regional payment corridors.
The IMF dataset itself offers a rich trove for further analysis as it tallies 138 million stablecoin transactions in 2024 (totaling $2.019 trillion) and traces where flows move between self-custodial wallets and exchanges.
Africa’s stablecoin activity is not only large relative to GDP but also structurally different from advanced economies, smaller average transfers, stronger reliance on USDT and major CEXs, and a heavy cross-border orientation, and that combination has practical consequences for payments, regulation and market stability.
This post first appeared here.
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