Quidax, Nigeria’s first digital assets exchange to receive a provisional licence from the Securities and Exchange Commission, has expanded its stablecoin infrastructure to more than 21 countries and 14 currencies, a move aimed at helping businesses, fintechs and startups make faster and cheaper cross-border payments across Africa and key international markets.

The company said the expansion would provide a compliant payments infrastructure that enables enterprises to transfer value across borders without relying on correspondent banks, reducing both transaction costs and settlement times.

According to Quidax, Africa loses an estimated $5bn annually to high cross-border payment costs and inefficiencies. It noted that payments between African countries often pass through correspondent banks in Europe, taking up to seven days to settle while attracting charges of as much as 13 per cent of the transaction value.

The exchange said its infrastructure settles cross-border payments in less than 48 hours without correspondent banks, at costs below the global average and aligned with the G20 and United Nations Sustainable Development Goal target of five per cent.

Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Quidax, Buchi Okoro, said the company was addressing a longstanding challenge facing African businesses.

“Africa is home to the world’s fastest-growing economies, yet individuals and businesses pay an ‘African border levy’ every time they move money across the continent,” Okoro said.

“Our compliance-first stablecoin infrastructure was created to remove that levy and bring us closer to a world with zero financial borders.”

Quidax, which became Nigeria’s first SEC-licensed digital assets exchange, said it is among a small number of African exchanges operating under direct securities regulation and is expanding its regulatory footprint across strategic markets.

The expanded infrastructure supports transactions in major African markets, including Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Africa, Ethiopia, Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire. It also extends to Canada, China, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States and several European countries.

The platform supports leading stablecoins, including USDT, XAUT and USAT, alongside more than 14 local and international currencies such as the naira, cedi, Central African CFA franc, West African CFA franc and the US dollar.

Quidax said its infrastructure currently powers more than 5,000 startups and enterprises across sectors including payments, remittances, gaming and banking. The company added that it partners with Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin, and blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis to support its operations and compliance framework.