Onafriq and Privy are building stablecoin infrastructure for African business payments
The partnership is aimed at institutional settlement and treasury workflows, not a new consumer payment product — and any rollout will depend on regulation.
Pan-African payments network Onafriq has partnered with wallet-infrastructure provider Privy to develop stablecoin-enabled payment infrastructure for businesses across its network. The first phase is focused on cross-chain stablecoin transfers, treasury and settlement workflows, according to Onafriq's 29 July announcement.
That distinction matters. This is not an announcement of a new stablecoin for consumers, nor a promise that businesses can immediately pay suppliers with digital assets. It is a plan to build the underlying capabilities that banks, fintechs and payment providers could use for settlement and liquidity management where regulation permits.
Why settlement is the real story
Cross-border payments in Africa can move through several banks, payment networks and currency conversions before the recipient is paid. That can tie up working capital and make it harder for a business to know when funds are actually available.
Onafriq says the Privy partnership is intended to address this infrastructure layer: faster settlement and more efficient treasury workflows. In its independent report, The Kenyan Wall Street similarly describes the initial work as settlement and treasury operations before any broader cross-border payment and liquidity use cases.
For African businesses, the potential benefit is not the technology label. It is whether a payment provider can reduce the time and cost between sending money in one market and having usable funds in another.
What the partnership does — and does not — change today
Onafriq's release says Privy will provide wallet infrastructure, while Onafriq works on embedded digital-asset capabilities for partners and, eventually, institutional clients. Onafriq says those services will be offered only where regulation allows.
That qualification is important. A faster settlement rail does not remove the need for licensed financial institutions, customer due diligence, sanctions screening, foreign-exchange controls or clear rules on digital-asset activity. It also does not guarantee a lower customer price: the final cost still depends on the provider's FX rate, fees and the local payout route.
The partnership is therefore best understood as an infrastructure development, not a finished cross-border payment service. Its practical impact will depend on regulatory approvals, the countries and institutions that adopt it, and whether it produces a measurable improvement in speed, liquidity or cost.
Why it is worth watching from Kenya
For Kenyan SMEs paying overseas suppliers or receiving foreign-currency revenue, the persistent question is straightforward: how quickly can money be converted and made available, and what does that process cost?
Stablecoin-based settlement is one possible way payment providers may try to improve that back-end process. But businesses should judge any eventual offering on the fundamentals: the exchange rate, total fee, delivery time, regulatory protections and how reliably funds reach the final account or wallet.
As this partnership develops, those are the outcomes worth tracking — rather than assuming that a new settlement technology automatically makes a payment faster, cheaper or safer.
Sources
Editorial
The OnLink editorial team writes about money, payments and multicurrency banking for people and businesses moving money in and out of Kenya.