Circle has moved to expand USDC use in Africa through a new collaboration with Sasai Fintech, a Cassava Technologies business.
Announced on Tuesday, the partnership is intended to let both the companies explore how USDC and Circle’s onchain tools can support cross-border payments, business transactions, and mobile wallet services across key African corridors.
Aiming for USDC adoption boom
Circle said one of its affiliates will work with Sasai Fintech to accelerate USDC adoption and expand internet-native financial infrastructure across Africa, reiterating that the stablecoin is issued through its regulated affiliates and remains redeemable 1:1 for U.S. dollars.
Sasai already offers digital financial services that support business payments, cross-border transfers, and mobile wallet products.
The two companies said they will explore practical uses for USDC within Sasai’s existing network.
Sasai operates across key payment corridors, which gives the project a direct route into active payment flows rather than a pilot with limited reach. Circle said its full-stack platform can help reduce payment costs, lower friction, and shorten settlement times for Sasai’s enterprise and consumer customers.
Cassava Technologies founder and executive chairman Strive Masiyiwa said,
“Africa’s digital economy is entering a new era, propelled by entrepreneurship, a mobile-first generation, and the acceleration of intra-regional trade.” He added, “By integrating with the trusted and widely adopted USDC network, we can drive financial inclusion and open transformative opportunities for businesses and consumers alike.”
Circle co-founder and chief executive Jeremy Allaire framed the deal around growth in emerging markets. He said,
“Emerging markets are at the forefront of stablecoin adoption, and Africa represents a significant opportunity for internet-native innovation.” He added that working with Cassava can extend USDC and onchain infrastructure into high-growth payment corridors.
Africa’s payment market gives stablecoins a clear use case
The timing of the family is indicative of a broader payments issue within the region. In June 2025, the World Bank reported that the United Nations had an objective of reducing the average cost of remittances to less than three percent globally, but that costs are still high in much of the Sub-Saharan African market. It indicated that Sierra Leone, Uganda, Angola, Botswana, and Zambia were some of the economies that had remained above 7 percent in terms of the cost of remittance transactions in the year 2023.
That cost pressure helps explain why stablecoins continue to gain ground in Africa.
Circle’s announcement said stablecoin use in Africa is growing fast, driven by mobile-first consumers, cross-border commerce, and a growing digital economy. In practical terms, businesses and individuals often want faster settlement and lower fees when they move money across borders, and stablecoins aim to meet that need.
Chainalysis stated that over $205 billion of onchain value entered Sub-Saharan Africa between July 2024 and June 2025, a 52 percent increase over the prior year. The on-chain intelligence firm claimed that the area was turned into the third-fastest developing crypto market in the world of that time. It also reported that Nigeria was the top recipient of more than $92.1 billion in values, with South Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya and Ghana completing the top five markets.
Stablecoins often support high-value transactions tied to trade flows between Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, the Chainalysis report had noted. The region shows strong demand for crypto in everyday finance, especially where users face inflation pressure, foreign exchange access issues, or slow banking rails. That backdrop gives Circle and Sasai a market where payment efficiency matters more than crypto speculation alone.
As we reported earlier this month, Blockchain.com entered Ghana after posting over 700 percent brokerage volume growth in Nigeria, adding to the wider crypto push across Africa.
USDC enters the deal as Circle faces a tougher market backdrop
Circle comes into the African expansion push with USDC still holding a large share of the stablecoin market, though it remains behind Tether’s USDT by size. DefiLlama data showed USDC at about $78.6 billion in market capitalization on March 24. The same market tracker showed a much larger total for USDT, keeping Tether in the top position among dollar-backed stablecoins.
Elsewhere, the Africa deal arrived on the same day that Circle stock faced sharp selling pressure in the United States. Market data showed Circle shares at about $101.20 on March 24, down sharply from the previous close. The move followed fresh market attention on reserve transparency across the stablecoin sector.
In addition, that pressure increased after Tether said it had engaged a Big Four accounting firm for a full audit of its financial statements. The announcement renewed focus on how stablecoin issuers report reserves and manage trust with users, trading firms, and institutions. For Circle, the Sasai collaboration adds a business expansion story at a time when investors are also watching competition in the stablecoin market more closely.