Visa executives see stablecoins playing a significant role in Africa's rapidly expanding digital payments ecosystem, with crypto-based settlement pilots between banks and the payments giant launching in the near future.
Michael Berner, Visa's Head of South and East Africa, made the comments during the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, Nairobi on May 15. "Stablecoins specifically could be pretty big," Berner said, adding that pilots for crypto-based settlements between banks and Visa were coming "very, very soon."
Africa's Digital Payments Boom
The comments come as Africa leads global growth in digital payments adoption. According to GSMA's State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2026, mobile money wallet transactions doubled from $1 trillion to $2 trillion globally in 2025, with Sub-Saharan Africa driving the majority of that growth.
"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." - Michael Berner, Visa
Visa opened its first Africa data centre in Johannesburg, South Africa in July 2025 as part of its five-year, $1 billion commitment to the continent. The company is now in its fourth year of that investment program.
Industry Moves Toward Stablecoins
Visa's crypto ambitions align with broader industry trends across African fintech. 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. These developments signal growing institutional adoption of cryptocurrency solutions for payments infrastructure across the continent.
Addressing Market Fragmentation
Berner emphasized Visa's strategy to address Africa's fragmented market challenges. The company works with small enterprises to provide payment acceptance capabilities, helps banks develop financial inclusion products, and partners with fintechs on innovative payment solutions.
"The key element of our strategy is to provide access to the financial ecosystem for everyone, and to uplift everyone everywhere," Berner explained during the interview, which was edited for length and clarity.
The data centre investment in Johannesburg represents more than corporate expansion for Visa. Berner frames it as demonstrating the company's commitment to the African market as local payment infrastructure development accelerates across the continent.
With mobile money transaction volumes showing no signs of slowing and stablecoin adoption gaining momentum, Africa's digital payments landscape appears poised for continued rapid evolution in the coming years.