INTERVIEW: Stablecoins Are Fueling Cross-Border Business in North Africa

Corporations and high-net-worth investors are increasingly using stablecoins and blockchain rails to settle cross-border transactions, navigate dollar shortages, and streamline treasury operations, demonstrating that crypto can function as durable financial infrastructure rather than a short-term hedge, even as Bitcoin’s price remains below $70,000. Yet regulatory inconsistency across countries continues to shape the pace and scope of adoption, with firms gravitating toward jurisdictions offering clearer legal frameworks and robust custody standards.

In recent years, digital assets in North Africa and the broader Middle East and North Africa region have shown evolving patterns of use that extend beyond pure speculation. According to market projections from Statista Market Insights, the digital assets market in Northern Africa is expected to generate about $1.5 billion in revenue in 2025 and grow to roughly $1.7 billion by 2026, with user numbers climbing toward 22.9 million and penetration nearing 8.4 percent of the population by 2026.

Regionally, blockchain analytics data compiled by Chainalysis indicates that the Middle East and North Africa accounted for about 7.5 percent of global cryptocurrency transaction volume between July 2023 and June 2024, with nearly $338.7 billion in value transferred on‑chain during that period. Corporate and institutional actors dominated that activity, as large transactions accounted for the vast majority of value moved.

New industry reporting suggests that institutional and high‑net‑worth investors made up over two‑thirds of all crypto trading volume across the wider MENA region in 2025, underscoring a shift toward professionalised participation and structured investment as regulatory clarity improves in some markets.

Across Africa, digital assets are increasingly used for practical financial functions as well as investment. Research by Yellow Card finds that the continent has more than 54 million digital asset users, with Sub‑Saharan Africa holding the highest stablecoin adoption rate globally at about 9.3 percent, often linked to cross‑border transfers, access to U.S. dollars, and hedging against currency volatility. Morocco ranks in the top 30 worldwide for adoption, alongside peers such as Kenya, Ethiopia, and South Africa.

Nick Coombs is the Managing Director of MENA Sales at BitGo, where he oversees institutional business across the Middle East and North Africa. He brings over two decades of experience in traditional finance and digital assets, including institutional sales and capital markets roles at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia covering Europe, the Middle East, and Australia.

Coombs spoke to Impact Newswire about crypto market cycles, how governance, custody, and regulatory standards shape decision‑making in North African markets, and what conditions are necessary for digital assets to function as durable financial infrastructure rather than short‑term hedges.

Here’s the full interview, edited for clarity.

1. Institutional crypto activity in North Africa appears to be holding steady despite volatile markets. What is fundamentally driving this resilience, and how different is it from the retail-led cycles we saw in earlier years?

The participation we’re seeing is tied to operating needs, not market momentum. In many parts of North Africa, businesses face real friction moving value across borders, accessing reliable dollar liquidity, and managing settlement timelines. Digital asset rails address those constraints directly, because when the primary motivation is improving treasury efficiency or ensuring predictable settlement, short-term price movements become far less relevant.

That stands in contrast to earlier phases of adoption, where engagement was often driven by directional bets and rapid market enthusiasm. Today’s activity is more deliberate. It sits with finance teams, compliance officers, and risk committees. It is measured, policy-aware, and aligned with business workflows rather than market cycles.

The fundamental drivers include persistent economic pressure like inflation and currency volatility, that incentivize larger players to treat crypto as a strategic tool rather than a speculative asset. This marks a maturation of the market in the region, moving away from the boom-bust cycles fueled by retail sentiment toward more resilient, institutionally anchored patterns.

2. You like mentioning the growing use of digital assets for cross-border payments and dollar-denominated settlement. Which sectors or transaction corridors are showing the strongest adoption, and why?

We’re seeing stronger uptake in corridors where settlement certainty matters, particularly trade flows between North Africa, the Gulf, and parts of Europe. Importers and exporters operating on tight margins care less about market narratives and more about whether funds arrive on time and in the expected denomination. Dollar-based digital settlement reduces timing uncertainty and simplifies reconciliation.

There is also steady use in regional B2B services, where firms need to pay suppliers or contractors across borders without navigating multi-layer correspondent chains.

From our vantage point at BitGo, the focus is less on promoting adoption and more on ensuring that institutions who choose to use these rails can do so with appropriate custody, governance, and oversight. Where those standards are in place, cross-border use tends to be measured and purpose-driven rather than speculative.

3. Many African regulators remain cautious about crypto. What governance and custody standards are institutions demanding before they commit capital in markets like North Africa?

Institutions tend to anchor their decision-making around regulatory posture and operational controls. Before allocating capital, they look for legally segregated custody structures, clearly defined governance frameworks, strict key management standards, and comprehensive audit trails that can withstand review from regulators and internal risk committees. In markets like North Africa, that scrutiny is often amplified because policy frameworks are still developing. Boards want to understand not only how assets are protected, but also how the service provider is supervised and authorized in other major jurisdictions.

For example, approvals such as the VASP registration recently secured by BitGo in additional jurisdictions signal to institutions that the firm operates within recognized regulatory frameworks and is subject to oversight. That kind of regulatory footprint, combined with institutional-grade custody controls, is typically what gives risk committees the confidence to move forward.


4. From your vantage point, what distinguishes infrastructure-driven crypto adoption from speculative trading, and how close is the region to treating digital assets as core financial plumbing?

Infrastructure-driven adoption becomes visible when digital assets are embedded into operational processes rather than trading desks.

When finance teams use them to manage liquidity, settle cross-border obligations, or safeguard assets under formal custody mandates, the conversation centers on governance, reporting, counterparty exposure, and business continuity. Decisions are reviewed by compliance officers and risk committees, not just portfolio managers. That’s a different posture than short-term trading activity, which tends to be reactive and sentiment-driven.

In North Africa, the shift is gradual but tangible. We see institutions evaluating digital assets as part of broader modernization efforts such as improving settlement speed, reducing dependency on layered correspondent networks, and gaining more predictable access to dollar liquidity. The adoption is still concentrated in specific sectors and corridors rather than being system-wide, but the framing has evolved. In certain use cases, digital assets are no longer treated as experimental tools; they are being assessed as components of cross-border financial infrastructure.


5. Traditional banks have historically been wary of crypto partnerships. Are you seeing a shift in sentiment among financial institutions across the Middle East and North Africa?

Yes, we are seeing a shift, though it varies by jurisdiction. In the past, many banks across MENA preferred to avoid any formal association with digital assets. Today, the discussion is more structured. Financial institutions are asking how to serve clients who are already using digital asset rails for cross-border settlement, while maintaining compliance and internal risk standards.

In the Gulf, some banks are actively exploring custody partnerships, tokenization pilots, and internal policy frameworks that allow limited exposure under controlled conditions. In North Africa, the approach is generally more conservative, but there is growing engagement at the risk and strategy level rather than outright dismissal.

The change is being driven by client demand and competitive positioning. Banks recognize that cross-border commerce is evolving, and they are evaluating how to participate in a way that aligns with regulatory expectations and their own governance requirements.


6. Liquidity, regulation, and trust often determine whether new financial rails succeed. Which of these remains the biggest bottlenecks for institutional adoption today?

Regulation remains the most significant bottleneck, particularly because it is uneven. Across North Africa and parts of the broader MENA region, the regulatory landscape is still a patchwork. Some jurisdictions are developing clearer frameworks, while others rely on informal guidance or cautious supervisory signals. For institutions operating across multiple markets, that fragmentation creates complexity. A structure that is acceptable in one jurisdiction may not be clearly addressed in another, which slows internal approvals and cross-border scaling.

Liquidity is generally available for institutions that are ready to engage, and trust can be built through strong custody, governance, and compliance standards. Regulatory inconsistency, however, is harder to engineer around. Institutions need predictability. Without clear rules or harmonized approaches, adoption tends to proceed in narrower, carefully defined use cases rather than at full scale.


7. Looking ahead five years, do you expect North Africa to emerge as a meaningful hub for institutional digital assets, or will regulatory fragmentation slow that trajectory?

There are clear indications that stablecoin usage across Africa is expanding in a sustained way. A recent report noted rising demand and increasing holdings among users, pointing to durable interest in dollar-denominated digital assets rather than short-term trading behavior. North Africa shares many of the same structural drivers, like cross-border commerce, FX pressure, and demand for more predictable settlement rails. Those factors do not disappear over a five-year horizon.

Regulatory fragmentation may slow how quickly the region integrates at scale, but it is unlikely to reverse the broader trajectory. What we are more likely to see is activity concentrating in jurisdictions that provide clearer rules and institutional-grade infrastructure. If one or two markets establish consistent frameworks, they could anchor institutional digital asset activity for the wider region.

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