Cross-border Stellar (XLM) payments are soon coming to Europe and Africa

The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), the non-profit supporting the Stellar network, announced yesterday that Flutterwave, a global payments technology company, has launched two new remittance corridors between Europe and Africa on the Stellar network. 

Flutterwave would leverage the Stellar network and Stellar-based USD Coin to simplify remittances in Africa. Remittances are currently a multibillion-dollar market in the continent, and crypto usage could just account for a piece of that pie.

Today we announced that @theflutterwave, a global payments technology company, has launched two new remittance corridors between Europe and Africa on the Stellar network with @tempo_eu https://t.co/76tt3TPXWx

— Stellar (@StellarOrg) October 25, 2021

How does the Stellar move help?

Opening these new corridors will greatly benefit businesses focused on building more efficient, cost-effective remittance services, contributing to a stronger, more inclusive Pan-African digital payments infrastructure. 

As such, Flutterwave plans to extend Stellar-based capabilities to additional African countries as it continues to grow the number of currencies it supports.

“It is more expensive to send money to sub-Saharan Africa than to any other region in the world,” said Olugbenga Agboola, CEO at Flutterwave. “Our new payment corridors on Stellar will allow us to continue expanding the Flutterwave network to bring all-important, cost-effective money transfer services to African business owners.”

Connecting Stellar-based businesses like Flutterwave and TEMPO — which also has a significant, complementary user base in Africa — creates an efficient and affordable Pan-African payments infrastructure, supporting the Stellar Development Foundation’s mission to create equitable access to the global financial system. 

Benefiting Africa

With these payment rails in place, Stellar continues to establish itself as a mature, viable digital alternative to traditionally lengthy and expensive methods for sending remittances.

“Flutterwave is doing important work in a region that has been historically underserved, and SDF is committed to helping them create a tangible impact on financial access and inclusion across the African continent and beyond,” said Denelle Dixon, CEO and Executive Director of the Stellar Development Foundation.

She added, “This partnership marks a further step in our efforts to harness the power of technology to make financial services more inclusive and affordable for underbanked individuals worldwide.”

Stellar is a decentralized and scalable cryptocurrency made for financial products and services. Financial institutions worldwide issue assets and settle payments on the Stellar network, which has grown to over 5 million accounts as per data provided to CryptoSlate.