Crypto solutions company Ripple has partnered with payment network Onafriq to facilitate digital asset-enabled cross-border payments between Africa and other markets. Onafriq is utilising Ripple Payments, Ripple’s crypto-enabled payments technology, to open up three new payments corridors between Africa and the rest of the world.

Customers of PayAngel in the UK, Pyypl in the GCC, and Zazi Transfer in Australia are now able to make speedy and cost-effective remittance and business payments to recipients in 27 countries across Onafriq’s pan-African network. Ripple and Onafriq's innovative solution Using Ripple’s crypto technology, Onafriq is eliminating the traditional problems associated with cross-border payments such as lengthy transfer times, unreliability, and excessive cost. In this way the partnership is bringing faster, more efficient, and cost-effective international money transfers to Africa, and is set to accelerate financial inclusion across the continent.

Ripple’s officials said that for a number of years, Ripple has supported crypto-enabled, cross-border payments to individuals and businesses, and they are happy to expand the reach of their solution into Africa thanks to the Onafriq partnership. Connecting their partners PayAngel, Pyppl, and Zazi Transfer with Onafriq over Ripple Payments will bring the benefits of faster and more cost-effective cross-border payments to individuals seeking to send money into Africa from around the globe. Advancing financial inclusion in Africa Onafriq has a large mobile money movement footprint across Africa at a time when mobile money is a significant driver of financial inclusion and has revolutionised access to financial services across the continent.

The fintech’s payment hub connects over 500 million mobile wallets across 40 African countries, and operates across more than 1300 payment corridors on the continent, underpinning regional payment interoperability and seamless cross-border payments. Also commenting on this partnership, Onafriq’s executives said their mission is to make borders matter less when it comes to payment within, to, and from Africa. They are advancing this mission through their partnership with Ripple, which is already enabling new types of connections with fintechs such as PayAngel, Pyppl, and Zazi Transfer.

These connections are set to enable fast, secure and low-cost remittances at scale between Africa and the rest of the world, and represent a bold first step for their crypto strategy to leverage blockchain technologies to amplify their impact on people and businesses in Africa. Known for its flagship payments products, Ripple was one of the first companies to address the multi-trillion dollar pain points in cross-border payments by utilising blockchain and cryptocurrency. The company focused on solving some of the hardest problems – such as building blockchain-enabled payments infrastructure from the ground up – before expanding its product offerings to address new areas such as liquidity management and tokenization, including Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs).

Now, Ripple serves hundreds of customers in over 55 countries and 6 continents with payout capabilities in more than 70 markets. .