{
  "id": 12621489,
  "title": "Digital Currency Remittances: What Nigeria’s $21 Billion Market Already Proved",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/07/digital-currency-remittances-what-nigerias-21-billion-market-already",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-10-07T12:00:44.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Nairametrics",
    "slug": "nairametrics",
    "url": "https://nairametrics.com/2026/10/07/digital-currency-remittances-what-nigerias-21-billion-market-already-proved/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Nigeria has demonstrated a significant market for digital currency remittances, despite challenges in the final step of converting stablecoins to local currency. The process involves converting funds into a stablecoin, sending it to the recipient's wallet, and either cashing out to local currency or retaining the dollars. Nigeria accounts for roughly 60% of Sub-Saharan Africa's stablecoin inflows since 2019, with the value received rising to over $92.1 billion between July 2024 and June 2025. Nigeria is ranked third overall and first for both peer-to-peer (P2P) and cross-border flows on the 2026 Chainalysis Global Crypto Adoption Index. The last step in the remittance process, converting stablecoins into local currency, remains a challenge. Traditional remittance methods incur high fees, delays, and limited access to official exchange rates. In Q3 2025, sending $200 to Sub-Saharan Africa cost an average of 8.46%, compared to a 6.36% global average. This cost gap is largely due to transfer fees, FX markup on naira conversion, and the time it takes for funds to clear through correspondent banking chains. Digital currency remittances offer a solution by eliminating these issues. Stablecoins facilitate near-instant, low-cost transactions. However, the final step of converting stablecoins to local currency remains a challenge, as banks flag accounts receiving crypto-linked deposits and exchange rates fluctuate between the stablecoin landing and payout. To address this, businesses need a system that converts stablecoins into local currency seamlessly. Breet, a settlement platform, offers an API that automates this conversion and payout process within minutes. This eliminates the need for custom blockchain monitoring and separate payout partners. The platform charges between 0.5% and 2% in fees, compared to higher fees for traditional remittance channels. Despite regulatory challenges, Nigeria's market for digital currency remittances continues to grow, driven by the need for faster, cheaper, and more accessible cross-border transactions.",
  "summary": "Nigeria proved the demand for digital currency remittances before anyone built a proper product for it. What’s still broken is the last step: turning a stablecoin into naira or cedis in someone’s bank account. Any business entering this corridor wins or loses on that step. The demand side is already settled: $20.93 billion in personal […] The post Digital Currency Remittances: What Nigeria’s $21…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}