For stablecoins to work for enterprise payments in Africa, the last mile has to be local.
CrissCross has entered a strategic partnership with Velocity, the stablecoin payments and treasury platform purpose-built for global CFOs and treasurers.
For Velocity, the partnership extends its network into 30+ additional markets across the African continent. For us, it opens up greater connectivity with the financial institutions, liquidity providers and enterprises that are increasingly using stablecoins for payments, settlement and treasury.
International enterprises are looking hard at African markets
Global businesses are moving more money into, out of and within African markets than ever before. They're paying suppliers and employees, collecting revenue, funding local entities and managing treasury across dozens of currencies, each with its own payment systems, regulations and liquidity conditions.
Africa is also one of the most stablecoin-fluent regions in the world. Stablecoins already play a meaningful role in cross-border money movement across the continent, used by businesses and individuals to access dollar liquidity and move value between markets faster than traditional channels allow.
The appetite is there, and so is the familiarity with stablecoins. What institutions have been missing is a clean way to connect the two. Moving liquidity globally is only one part of the job. Funds still need to be collected, converted, held and paid out through domestic currencies, local bank accounts and local payment rails.
When an institutional stablecoin platform like Velocity chooses to build its African coverage through a partnership, it's a clear signal that international enterprise demand for these corridors is real and growing.
Stablecoin infrastructure built for institutions
A lot of the conversation around stablecoins still centres on web3 applications and retail crypto payments. Velocity was built for a different audience: the finance teams at global businesses and financial institutions who move large volumes of money and need it to arrive on time, at a known price, with full visibility.
Velocity combines regulated stablecoins with traditional financial infrastructure so that companies can move funds in real time, manage liquidity more efficiently and simplify global settlement. Through an API, enterprises get real-time fiat movement and upfront pricing for bulk treasury transfers. For a treasurer, knowing the exact cost of a large movement before it happens is a big part of the value.
The Swift problem in stablecoin payouts
Settling in USD, EUR or GBP is relatively straightforward. Paying out in other currencies, including most African currencies, is much harder.
To get around this, many providers fall back on Swift for the final leg. Funds move onchain in minutes, then sit in a correspondent banking chain for days, picking up intermediary fees and opaque FX spreads along the way. The speed and cost advantages that made stablecoins attractive in the first place disappear at the exact point where the money needs to land.
For stablecoins to work for enterprise payments in Africa, the last mile has to be local. That means direct access to domestic payment rails, local currency liquidity and in-market banking relationships.
Trapped capital and the real cost of waiting
Underneath all of this sits a familiar treasury headache: trapped capital.
To make sure payouts go out on time, enterprises often pre-fund accounts in each market they operate in. That money sits idle, tied up in balances that can't be deployed elsewhere. When businesses operate outside a market and have to wait on settlement cycles, such as T+1 card settlement through networks like Visa, the funds are stuck in transit as well.
None of this is free. Enterprise clients face capital costs of around 10% on money that is sitting in pre-funded accounts or waiting to settle. Spread that across multiple markets and large transaction volumes, and the cost adds up quickly.
Real-time fiat movement and upfront pricing help change that equation. If funds can be moved where they're needed when they're needed, at a known cost, businesses can hold less money in idle balances and put more of their capital to work.
Why Velocity chose to partner with us
Most providers in this space play one role. Some handle last-mile payouts and collections in local currencies. Others provide digital currency liquidity through on-ramps and off-ramps. Very few do both.
CrissCross does both. Our platform supports local pay-ins and payouts, FX conversion and stablecoin on-ramps and off-ramps through a single API, backed by direct in-market banking relationships and deep in-country liquidity across 30+ African markets. That combination means institutions can move between onchain liquidity and local currencies without stitching together separate providers and integrations for each step.
"The opportunity is to connect global liquidity much more effectively with the infrastructure businesses rely on in each market," said Olann Kerrison, Chief Network Officer at Velocity. "CrissCross has built strong local payments and FX capabilities across a region where stablecoins are already widely used. Combining that reach with Velocity's institutional network allows us to build more complete payment and treasury solutions for institutions moving money across these corridors."
"Cross-border payments increasingly depend on being able to move between different forms of money and different payment systems without adding complexity for the customer," said James Cope, General Manager at CrissCross. "We have focused on building the local infrastructure and liquidity required to operate effectively across African markets. Partnering with Velocity extends that connectivity into a broader institutional stablecoin network, giving global financial institutions and enterprises a more direct route into the markets we serve."
What we'll build together
CrissCross will work with Velocity on new capabilities where stablecoins, real-time payment rails and virtual account infrastructure meet. The goal is to give institutions the right rail for each stage of a transaction, from global liquidity and settlement through to local collections and payouts.
Stablecoins and local infrastructure, working together
We see stablecoins operating alongside existing financial infrastructure, rather than replacing it. Global liquidity can move onchain. Local accounts, currencies and payment rails remain critical to how businesses actually receive and use their funds.
Connecting those layers removes much of the fragmentation that has made cross-border money movement into and across Africa slow and expensive. The partnership between CrissCross and Velocity is a step towards that, and a sign of how seriously global institutions now take these markets.
Get in touch
If you're an enterprise or financial institution looking to move money across African markets, or an existing CrissCross client interested in what this partnership makes possible, we'd love to talk. Reach out to us at info@crisscross.money.
