Copyright CoinDesk
Flutterwave, one of the largest payments firm in Africa, has tapped Polygon Labs to make cross-border payments faster and cheaper with blockchain rails, the firms said on Thursday. The tie-up will embed the Polygon (POL) network as the default plumbing under Flutterwave’s new, stablecoin-based payment system, according to a press release shared with CoinDesk. The first phase of the rollout, starting later this year, focuses on multinational business clients including Uber and Audiomack. A broader release is planned for next year, extending the service to Flutterwave's Send App for retail remittances. Today, cross-border payments in many African nations are slow and costly, with fees averaging over 8%, the firms said. A business waiting days for funds to clear can lose access to working capital or miss growth opportunities. Stablecoins, a group of cryptocurrencies tied to fiat money like the U.S. dollar, aim to offer a cheaper, faster alternative to traditional payment rails by routing transactions onchain, bypassing banks. Stablecoins have grown to a $300 billion asset class and are increasingly popular in emerging countries for everyday payments and savings. "Businesses in emerging economies process billions in cross-border payments annually, yet still face high costs and slow settlement times," Olugbenga Agboola, founder and CEO of Flutterwave, said in a statement. "By partnering with Polygon, we're introducing a solution that makes international payments even more simple and affordable than many local ones."
