Visa says stablecoins are ‘pretty big’ for Africa’s payments future

$2 trillion. That is how much flowed through mobile money wallets globally in 2025, doubling from the first trillion in just four years, according to GSMA’s State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2026. Sub-Saharan Africa alone accounted for $1.4 trillion of that, representing 66% of total global transaction value.

“The speed and pace at which digital payments are growing in Africa is unprecedented,” Michael Berner, Visa’s Head of South and East Africa, told TechCabal on the sidelines of the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, Nairobi, on May 15. “It is much faster than anywhere else in the world. In two or three years, we would not recognise some of the realities we face now.”

Visa, which is four years into a five-year, $1 billion commitment to the continent, has reason to believe it. In July 2025, the payments giant opened its first Africa data centre in Johannesburg, South Africa’s capital, a move Berner frames less as corporate expansion than as proof of skin in the game. But with African governments increasingly seeking to build domestic payment infrastructure, the question is no longer whether global networks like Visa belong here. It is on what terms.

On crypto, Berner was direct: “Stablecoins specifically could be pretty big,” he said, adding that pilots for crypto-based settlements between banks and Visa were coming “very, very soon.” It coincides with a broader industry shift. 

In October 2025, Flutterwave, the Nigerian fintech unicorn, selected Polygon as its blockchain partner for stablecoin-powered cross-border payments. This week, Tether, the world’s largest digital asset company, made an undisclosed investment in LemFi, the Nigerian-founded remittance payments startup. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

A key theme at this conference is scale, which leads to the conversation on fragmentation. Africa is a very fragmented market. How is Visa helping African businesses overcome that?

The key element of our strategy is to provide access to the financial ecosystem for everyone, and to uplift everyone everywhere.

We work with small enterprises, providing them with an opportunity to accept payments, because if they accept payments seamlessly, they get more clients and their businesses grow quicker. We help banks and financial institutions have products and tools to increase financial inclusion, to bring more people into the financial ecosystem: give them access to modern banking products, give them access to credit, make sure they are included in the broader global financial ecosystem.

And we also work with many fintechs to support them in designing new tools, products, and services, innovating with them and helping them accelerate their businesses.

You’re four years into Visa’s five-year, $1 billion commitment to the continent. Looking back, what are the biggest learnings and what are you betting on going forward?

One of the biggest investments we made was a data centre we opened last year in Johannesburg, South Africa. It’s the first data centre we’ve opened outside our traditional hubs: the US, the UK, and Singapore. We invested over a billion rands ($61 million) in it, and it’s evidence of our serious approach to Africa and our desire to bring modern products and, as we’ve discussed, advance financial inclusion on the continent.

There’s a growing push from African governments to build domestic payment switches and homegrown rails. What are your thoughts on that, given that partners like Visa are already doing this work?

We highly respect the decisions made by governments and central banks, and we understand the need for sovereignty. At the same time, we are always happy to partner and provide our technology to meet government needs, to see how we can enhance what governments have built with new products and services, and specifically our risk products to prevent fraud and financial losses for communities and governments alike.

So it’s a combination, I would say. We are ready to provide our expertise and support, and we’re happy to partner as well.

Does that change your view of the market at all?

No, it doesn’t change our view of the market. We respect the national priorities various countries have. We respect the drive towards sovereignisation, and we understand it. But at the same time, we’re always open to partnership, and in good faith, we provide our technology, our solutions, our experience because we have been in payments infrastructure for more than 60 years now.

Shared ownership between governments, the private sector, and stakeholders has been a recurring theme here. Visa plays a very key role in the payments infrastructure ecosystem on the continent. How do you see your role as that conversation evolves?

I really like the idea of shared ownership, and I think it is the theme of the Africa CEO Forum this year: owning together and building the future by bringing new technology, investments, expertise, and something very close to me personally: nurturing and bringing in new talent.

Africa really needs, for continuous growth, more talent that is well-educated, thinks broadly, is creative, entrepreneurial, and focused on execution. And we see that, actually, in every country where we operate.

Visa operates across multiple African markets, which gives you an interesting vantage point. Which markets have the most potential for payments growth, and what does the next phase of payments on the continent look like?

I think every market has great potential. We cannot single one out and say the others would not be successful. Every market will be successful with the right degree of strategic thinking, the right talent, the right investments, and execution.

The speed and pace at which digital payments are growing in Africa is unprecedented. It is much faster than anywhere else in the world. In two or three years, we would not recognise some of the realities we face now. Cards and digital payments will be accepted everywhere. Think about when you had to go find an ATM for cash; that reality is fading.

The new generation doesn’t expect that. Gen Z and Gen Alpha expect payments to happen seamlessly. And that is what everyone playing in the financial system, including merchants, fintechs, banks, and payment networks like us, must deliver.

Finally, there’s a lot of conversation around crypto, blockchain, and stablecoins, including integration by some of Africa’s biggest fintechs. What’s Visa’s view on the interplay between crypto and payments in Africa?

We believe that could actually be pretty large. Stablecoins specifically could be pretty big, as well as agentic commerce—that’s another big trend we’re seeing and actively engaged with. In many countries, many banks are showing strong interest in crypto-backed cards. We discussed that at this forum with a few banks from the continent. There is also big interest in crypto-based settlements between banks and Visa, or between banks directly. Some pilots will be coming up very, very soon, and once they come up and prove the concept— which I’m sure they will—it will become mainstream.

Crypto will become a significant part of the payments ecosystem for various use cases. It isn’t going to replace money entirely; that’s probably not where it’s going. But for certain use cases, that’s exactly what it’s about.