A coalition that includes 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 digital platform aimed at modernizing trade across Africa.
Announced on Monday, the initiative — called the Africa Digital Access and Public Infrastructure for Trade (ADAPT) — is an open-source digital public network designed to support cross-border payments via stablecoins and store digital trade documents and interoperable digital identities, according to the Iota Foundation.
Dominik Schiener, co-founder and chairman of the Iota Foundation, said in an X post that the goal is to deploy ADAPT across all 55 African nations by 2035, streamlining trade processes throughout the continent.
The initiative also aims to boost annual trade by $70 billion, reduce border-clearance times from as long as 14 days to fewer than three, and lower cross-border payment fees from the current 6%–9% range.
“Border and customs clearing will drop from weeks to hours, cross-border payment fees will fall below 3%, and exporters will gain access to global trade-finance liquidity,” Schiener said.
ADAPT Rollout to Begin in Q1
According to the Iota Foundation, ADAPT will launch in Kenya in the first quarter of next year, followed by deployments in Ghana and a third country yet to be announced. The broader continental rollout is scheduled to begin in 2027 and continue through 2035.
“This will be a long and challenging road, but with the AfCFTA’s commitment and the dedication of our partners, I’m confident we can build the most advanced digital trade infrastructure in the world to connect Africa,” Schiener said.
According to the Iota Foundation, the technology behind ADAPT has already been tested by public authorities in several countries, including the U.K. and the Netherlands.
Structural Inefficiencies Remain a Major Hurdle
Chido Munyati, head of Africa at the World Economic Forum, noted that trade inefficiencies have become a major barrier for African nations — a challenge he believes digitization can help overcome.
“Trade inefficiencies remain one of the key barriers to business growth, yet the digitalization of trade processes has the power to transform how African economies connect and collaborate.”
The Iota Foundation noted that paper-based documentation and slow cross-border payments — which can take weeks to process — remain some of the biggest obstacles to efficient trade across the continent.
Africa Is Already a Major Player in Crypto
Across Africa, more than 75 million people are expected to be involved in the crypto space by 2026, according to Statista, representing a user rate of 5.9%. Total crypto revenue on the continent is projected to reach $5.1 billion by the same year.
Stablecoins are already central to the region’s activity. Chainalysis reported on Oct. 2 that stablecoins account for roughly 43% of all transaction volume in Sub-Saharan Africa, with Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya and Zambia leading adoption.
