Stablecoins are gaining traction in Kenya as cross-border traders, diaspora workers and multinational firms increasingly turn to digital tokens for faster and cheaper payments.
Kenya processed about Sh426.4 billion ($3.3 billion) worth of stablecoin transactions in the year to June 2024, according to data from Chainalysis, a New York-based blockchain analytics firm.
Stablecoins, digital currencies pegged to assets such as the US dollar, are widely viewed as a cheaper and quicker alternative for cross-border transactions that can otherwise take days to settle and attract multiple fees.
Local traders are increasingly using stablecoins to pay for imports, while Kenyans in the diaspora are wiring money home using the tokens. Multinational companies are also adopting them to repatriate earnings, bypassing local commercial banks.
The internet service provider Starlink, owned by US tycoon Elon Musk, has previously converted payments collected in Kenyan shillings into stablecoins and transferred them to America, where they are exchanged into dollars.
Chainalysis ranked Kenya as the fourth-largest recipient of stablecoins in the year to June 2024, behind Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana.
The uptake has been supported by crypto infrastructure providers such as Yellow Card, which have integrated with banks, financial technology (fintech) players and mobile network operators to allow near-instant conversion of stablecoins into cash through mobile money wallets such as M-Pesa.
Yellow Card estimates transaction costs of between 0.5 and one percent, far below the four to seven percent typically charged by banks and remittance firms.
Recently, Kenya was ranked fifth worldwide by cryptocurrency transaction volumes in the 2025 World Crypto Rankings report by the global crypto exchange Bybit. This was driven largely by remittances, merchant payments, cross-border settlements and everyday transfers.
“Adoption was led by USD-pegged stablecoins such as USDT and USDC, valued as a hedge against inflation and a gateway to dollar exposure, especially in emerging markets facing currency volatility,” Bybit said.
In October, President William Ruto signed the Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) Bill into law. It requires crypto service providers, including platforms facilitating stablecoin salary payments, to be licensed and to meet anti-money laundering, consumer protection and operational security standards.
Analysts say Kenya is well-positioned to adopt stablecoins into everyday finance due to its high mobile-money penetration rates.
Already, platforms such as TransFi and Tando enable near-instant conversion of on-chain USDC into Kenyan shillings, boosting the appeal of stablecoins as a fast, low-cost payment mode.
