PRESS RELEASE | Flutterwave Adds Tempo Blockchain onto its Stablecoin Payments Infrastructure

Flutterwave is deepening its bet on stablecoins partnering with payments-focused blockchain network Tempo to build new settlement infrastructure aimed at speeding up cross-border payments across Africa.

The deal, announced at Money20/20 Europe in Amsterdam, will see Tempo integrated into Flutterwave’s consumer remittance platform Send App and its enterprise payments business, Flutterwave for Business.

• Send App: Which connects individuals in the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, and Canada to recipients across Africa.
• Flutterwave for Business (F4B): Which powers enterprise cross-border payments, supplier settlements, and USD-denominated flows.

The partnership adds another blockchain settlement layer to Flutterwave’s growing stablecoin stack, following earlier integrations with

• Polygon,
• Turnkey,
• Nuvion and
• Fireblocks.

While the announcement centers on infrastructure, the larger story is that Africa’s biggest fintech companies are increasingly shifting their attention away from crypto trading and toward stablecoin-powered payment rails.

For years, African businesses moving money across borders have relied on correspondent banking networks that can take days to settle transactions and often impose significant foreign exchange and intermediary costs. Stablecoins promise near-instant settlement, 24/7 availability and predictable dollar liquidity without requiring businesses to hold traditional offshore banking relationships.

Flutterwave’s latest move comes as stablecoins are rapidly becoming one of the most heavily contested segments in global payments. Mastercard recently expanded support for stablecoin settlement across its network, while payment infrastructure firms including Fireblocks are rolling out tools designed to help fintechs and merchants accept and settle transactions directly in digital dollars.

The Tempo integration will initially support dollar-backed stablecoins including USDC and USDT, allowing wallet-to-wallet transfers and cross-border settlements across selected corridors. Tempo, a payments-focused Layer-1 blockchain incubated by Stripe and Paradigm, is positioning itself as infrastructure optimized specifically for payment companies rather than decentralized finance applications.

The partnership also highlights a growing reality within African finance: stablecoins are increasingly becoming a dollar-access product rather than simply a crypto asset.

According to industry data, USDC’s market share has steadily expanded while USDT’s dominance has begun to decline. The shift is being driven largely by regulated institutions and enterprise payment providers seeking compliance-friendly digital dollar infrastructure rather than speculative crypto exposure.

That trend matters for Africa, where businesses frequently face local currency volatility, dollar shortages, and costly international payment channels. Stablecoins are increasingly being used for treasury management, supplier payments, remittances, and business settlements rather than retail crypto trading.

Flutterwave’s strategy reflects that transition.

The company is not replacing traditional payment rails but building what CEO, Olugbenga Agboola (GB), describes as a ‘multi-rail’ system, allowing transactions to be routed through banks, card networks or blockchain settlement layers depending on cost, speed, and corridor requirements.

“We are building the infrastructure for how money should move in a modern, connected world–, compliant, scalable, and designed for real-time global commerce,” said Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, the CEO of Flutterwave.

“Our partnership with Tempo allows us to expand our existing payments ecosystem by adding additional practical stablecoin settlement rails. We are working together to turn these into everyday tools that will make cross-border payments faster, more predictable, and more cost-efficient for businesses and individuals across Africa.

This actively removes friction from the system and expands our multi-rail standard of global payment connectivity for the continent.”

The race is no longer about convincing Africans to own crypto. It is increasingly about determining which companies will own the infrastructure that moves digital dollars across the continent.

For Flutterwave, stablecoins are becoming less a product and more the plumbing underneath the next generation of African payments.

Stay tuned to BitKE on stablecoin developments globally.

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