Kora Launches Stablecoin Payment Rail for African Merchants

Pan-African payments infrastructure provider Kora has launched One Rail, a new product that allows merchants to collect, hold, convert and settle funds using stablecoins alongside traditional currencies.

Announced in Dubai, the product initially supports USDT and USDC, with Kora planning to add other stablecoins based on customer demand and regulatory requirements. The company is positioning One Rail as a way for African businesses to manage cross-border payments with fewer currency and settlement hurdles.

Tackling Cross-Border Payment Challenges

Businesses operating across African markets can face lengthy settlement times, expensive currency conversions, limited access to US dollars and fragmented payment systems.

Kora founder and CEO Dickson Nsofor said sending money to and within Africa costs an average of 8% to 8.8%, compared with a global average of 6.49%. Kora also cited stablecoin ownership in Africa at 78%, although the company did not provide details on how that figure was measured.

One Rail Adds Stablecoins to Kora

One Rail is being introduced as an extension of Kora's existing payment infrastructure rather than as a separate crypto platform.

Developers can access the stablecoin functionality through Kora's existing APIs and tools. Merchants can create dedicated wallets for receiving stablecoin payments, monitor transactions and manage reconciliation through Kora's dashboard.

Once payments are received, businesses can either retain their funds as digital-dollar balances or convert them into supported local currencies.

Converting Stablecoins Into Local Currency

Kora's existing payout network handles settlement into local bank accounts after conversion.

The setup could be useful for businesses that receive revenue in local currencies while also needing to make dollar-denominated payments to suppliers. Holding stablecoins can provide access to digital-dollar balances without requiring a separate foreign bank account, although the benefits will depend on conversion costs, liquidity and local regulations.

The initial product covers merchant collections, payouts and treasury functions, including wallet creation, payment confirmation and settlement. Kora has not yet disclosed pricing, supported African markets and currencies, or details of its first customers.

Competition and Regulation

Kora enters a growing stablecoin payments market as businesses across countries including Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana explore digital-dollar alternatives for cross-border transactions.

The company's existing payments network could give One Rail an advantage among merchants already using Kora, since they can access the new stablecoin functionality through the same infrastructure rather than adding another payment provider.

Regulation remains an important factor. African markets have different rules governing digital assets, stablecoins and financial institutions, meaning Kora's expansion will depend partly on regulatory requirements in individual countries.

Kora said additional stablecoins will be introduced according to market demand and regulatory readiness. The company has not provided a timeline for expanding the supported assets or moving to fully automated settlement.