Ripple Exec Reece Merrick: Stablecoins Are Poised to Reshape Africa’s Fintech and Payments Market

Stablecoins are quietly becoming Africa's "number go up," not for charts, but for getting paid.

Ripple Managing Director for the Middle East and Africa, Reece Merrick, is making the case that dollar-pegged stablecoins are moving from crypto side quest to core financial infrastructure across the continent. Speaking during a regional webinar with industry stakeholders, Merrick pointed to real usage, not speculation: remittances, import payments, and day-to-day value storage in markets where local currencies can swing hard. ^[1]

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Africa's stablecoin adoption is already material

Merrick's headline stat was blunt: Africa leads globally in stablecoin adoption for real-world use, at 9.3%, according to figures he cited in his remarks. ^[2] The number matters less as a leaderboard flex and more as a signal that stablecoins have found product market fit in African payments.

That fit shows up in three common behaviors:

Cross-border remittances: People sending money home from the diaspora want speed, predictable fees, and fewer middlemen. ^[3]
Savings protection: When local currencies devalue, a USD-pegged stablecoin can function like a digital "do not bleed" button for household savings.
Trade settlement: Small businesses paying overseas suppliers often do not have a clean path to USD banking. Stablecoins can route around that, assuming on and off ramps exist.

This is the part many outside the region miss. A lot of stablecoin demand is not about being "bullish crypto." It is about accessing dollars, moving them, and holding them, in a way that matches how commerce actually works.

Why stablecoins beat legacy rails for many African users

Traditional cross-border payments can be slow, fee-heavy, and layered with FX friction. Stablecoins compress the experience into something closer to sending a message: pick a wallet, send value, settle fast.

Merrick framed stablecoins as a new payment rail, especially for remittances and trade settlement. That "rail" framing matters. It positions stablecoins less as an asset to trade and more as plumbing: infrastructure that can sit under fintech apps, merchant tools, and even banks.

The "no USD bank account" problem

One of the clearest use cases Merrick highlighted is also the least hyped on crypto Twitter: businesses paying international partners without needing a USD bank account. For importers and service buyers, that can be the difference between operating smoothly and getting stuck in paperwork, correspondent banking delays, or unfavorable FX spreads.

Stablecoins do not magically solve compliance or capital controls. But they can reduce the number of intermediaries required to settle value across borders, which is where time and fees usually stack up.

Banks and operators: the real tipping point

The webinar Merrick joined included regional stakeholders such as Absa and Yellow Card, signaling something important: stablecoins in Africa are increasingly a conversation about institutional distribution, not just retail wallets. ^[4]

Additional industry commentary in the market has been circling a similar thesis: banks and large operators may drive the next phase of adoption, because they control the ramps. ^[2] Wallets are great, but scale often comes from:

Regulated on and off ramps that connect stablecoins to local bank accounts
Liquidity provisioning that keeps spreads tight in local markets
Compliance rails (KYC, transaction monitoring, sanctions screening) that institutions require
Custody and security products that meet enterprise standards

If banks and major fintechs treat stablecoins like infrastructure instead of a threat, distribution can flip fast. If they resist, users may still adopt, but liquidity and UX can stay fragmented.

Ripple's angle: RLUSD, partnerships, and infrastructure

Merrick also used the moment to reinforce Ripple's positioning in the region, arguing Africa is a key growth market and that adoption should continue climbing.

A notable part of his pitch is Ripple USD$1.00, the company's USD stablecoin. Merrick emphasized that Ripple USD$1.00 is designed to be accessible and cheap for African users, leaning into the two variables that determine whether stablecoin utility becomes mainstream: availability and total cost to move value. ^[5]

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Ripple has also been building distribution and credibility through partnerships. Recent Ripple activity includes collaboration announcements tied to African payments expansion, such as the company's work with Chipper Cash on payments in Africa. Even when partnerships start narrow, they matter because payments is a scale game: corridors first, then volume, then better pricing, then more volume.

What has to be true for "stablecoins as rails" to work

Stablecoins can be the rail, but someone still has to build the stations. For Africa's stablecoin market to keep compounding beyond early adopters and cross-border power users, a few conditions have to hold:

Local liquidity must deepen. Thin liquidity means worse rates, higher slippage, and more "why did I receive less?" moments.
UX must hide crypto complexity. Seed phrases and gas fees still rekt normal users. The winners will abstract that away.
Regulatory clarity must improve corridor by corridor. Stablecoins touch FX rules, payments licensing, and consumer protection. Ambiguity slows institutions.
Fraud controls must keep up. Faster settlement is great until scams scale with it. Trust is a product feature.

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Merrick's core claim is that these upgrades are already underway, and that adoption is being pulled by utility rather than pushed by marketing.

The bigger read: Africa is building "practical crypto," not meme crypto

The most interesting part of Merrick's argument is the inversion of the usual narrative. In many markets, stablecoins are treated like a crypto niche product. Across large parts of Africa, stablecoins are closer to a financial survival tool and a business operations tool.

That is why the 9.3% figure, if sustained, is not just a stat. It is evidence of a region using blockchain rails the way they were originally pitched: to move value cheaply, globally, and with less permission.

Speculation still exists, obviously. But Merrick's framing suggests Africa's stablecoin growth is being powered by jobs, trade, and family money, not just degenerate leverage.

What to watch next

If banks and major fintech operators expand regulated stablecoin ramps (liquidity, custody, and compliance included), watch for stablecoins to capture more remittance and SME trade flow, and for spreads to tighten as volume grows.

If regulation turns hostile or ramps stay shallow, expect stablecoin usage to remain strong in pockets but fragmented, with higher fees, more reliance on informal channels, and periodic liquidity crunches when demand spikes.

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