Africa Moves Toward Fully Digital Trade With New Blockchain-Driven Platform

Key Highlights

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  Africa launches ADAPT, a blockchain-powered platform designed to digitize trade and enable stablecoin-based cross-border payments.
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  Pilot program starts in Kenya in Q1 2026, followed by Ghana, with a full rollout planned for 2027–2035.
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  Targets include $70 billion in trade growth, faster border clearance, and lower payment fees.

Introducing ADAPT

A coalition of global and African institutions, including the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, the Iota Foundation, the Tony Blair Institute, and the World Economic Forum, has partnered to build a continent-wide digital public infrastructure to modernize and simplify cross-border trade processes. The Africa Digital Access and Public Infrastructure for Trade (ADAPT) platform, launched on Monday, will operate as an open-source digital network. It is designed to store border-related records, digital trade credentials, and interoperable digital identities, while also facilitating the settlement of cross-border transactions using stablecoins.

According to the Iota Foundation, the initiative aims to eliminate market frictions caused by slow documentation, limited data accessibility, and fragmented payment systems that have historically slowed intra-African commerce. ADAPT is expected to go live beginning Q1 2026, with Kenya as the first pilot location. The deployment will then extend to Ghana and a third nation yet to be announced. Complete continental expansion is expected to span from 2027 to 2035, covering all 55 member states of the African Union.

Dominik Schiener, co-founder and chairman of IOTA, stated via X that the vision is to create one of the most advanced digital trade infrastructures globally, enabling instant data verification, seamless border processing, and low-cost payments.

Ambitious Targets

Through digital automation and blockchain-verified transactions, ADAPT aims to unlock $70 billion in new trade activity annually. It also seeks to shorten border clearance times from up to 14 days to less than three days, and reduce cross-border payment costs from 6% to 9% to below 3%. Chido Munyati, Head of Africa at the World Economic Forum, noted that long-standing operational bottlenecks, primarily due to paper-based procedures, have been significant obstacles to business growth. He emphasized that digital trade ecosystems powered by blockchain could rewrite Africa’s competitiveness and integration story.

Crypto and Stablecoin Adoption Already Growing

Digital currency usage is rapidly rising across the continent. Statista projects that Africa will surpass 75 million crypto users by 2026, with sector revenue expected to hit $5.1 billion. Meanwhile, a Chainalysis report revealed that stablecoins account for roughly 43% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s total crypto transaction volume, led by Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, and Zambia.