Key takeaways:
- Nigeria accounts for about 60% of all stablecoin inflows into sub-Saharan Africa since 2019, according to the IMF
- Nigeria received approximately $59 billion in crypto asset inflows between July 2023 and June 2024
- Growth has been driven by households and small businesses using stablecoins for payments and savings rather than trading
Nigeria accounts for about 60% of all stablecoin inflows into sub-Saharan Africa since 2019, according to International Monetary Fund findings cited by self-custodial crypto wallet Bitget Wallet.
The IMF report attributed Nigeria’s dominance largely to households and small businesses using stablecoins for payments and savings rather than speculative trading.
The fund separately estimated that Nigeria received approximately $59 billion in crypto asset inflows between July 2023 and June 2024, underscoring the scale of digital asset activity flowing through the country.
Currency pressure is driving the surge
Bitget Wallet said Nigeria’s stablecoin adoption has been driven largely by macroeconomic pressures, including the sharp depreciation of the naira and the high cost of international money transfers.
The naira lost more than 40% of its value against the U.S. dollar in 2024, pushing households and businesses toward dollar-denominated stablecoins as a way to preserve value.
Traditional remittance channels, meanwhile, continue to charge between 5% and 8% per transaction, a cost stablecoin transfers can significantly undercut.
Bank integration has widened access
To improve access to digital payments in the country, Bitget Wallet introduced a direct bank transfer service in Nigeria in November 2025, enabling users to convert stablecoins such as USDT and USDC into naira and receive instant settlements through partner banks. The company described the service as one of the first large-scale integrations linking stablecoin payments directly with Nigeria’s banking system, a development that has helped normalize stablecoin use as a practical payment tool rather than a speculative asset.
Bitget Wallet’s chief operating officer, Alvin Kan, said users in markets such as Nigeria are increasingly adopting stablecoins for everyday financial activities rather than viewing them as crypto assets, reflecting the shift toward stablecoins functioning as a substitute for traditional banking and remittance infrastructure in the country.