A Roadmap for Digital Finance
Nigerian fintech pioneer Paga has entered a partnership with Sui blockchain, marking the company’s most significant push into crypto infrastructure to date. The collaboration was unveiled on May 7 at Sui Live in Miami, weeks after founder Tayo Oviosu transitioned into the role of Group CEO in April.
The deal reportedly positions Paga to expand beyond traditional mobile money and payments into stablecoin products, tokenised assets, and blockchain‑powered cross‑border transfers. Oviosu said the partnership aims to build financial rails that help Africans hedge against currency volatility, access global markets, and participate in new forms of digital finance.
“These are the walls of the cage, and until we tear them down, financial freedom on this continent is incomplete,” Oviosu told attendees. “We found that partner — Paga and Sui.”
According to both companies, the integration will focus on high‑yield USD accounts backed by USDsui, Sui’s newly launched dollar stablecoin. It will also focus on crypto on‑ramps and off‑ramps across Paga’s operating markets, plus tokenised real‑world assets, including real estate, bonds, and solar projects.
Oviosu said the roadmap could allow Paga users to hold interest‑earning dollar balances, convert between local currency and crypto with minimal friction, invest in previously inaccessible assets, and send money across borders “as easily and cheaply as sending an email.”
Paga’s move marks the continuation of a shift by African fintechs towards exploring blockchain for settlement, treasury, and global payments. In October 2025, Flutterwave partnered with Polygon to build a stablecoin payment infrastructure, while another Nigerian payments giant, Paystack, reorganised into The Stack Group to deepen research into emerging technologies.
Both firms were admitted into the Central Bank of Nigeria’s anti‑money‑laundering supervisory programme for virtual asset service providers on March 31. Oviosu framed the opportunity in demographic terms.
“Fifty‑seven percent of African adults don’t have a bank account,” he said. “I see an Africa that is the single largest financial greenfield market in the world.”
Paga currently processes $1.5 billion in monthly payments. In 2025, the company handled $11 billion across 169 million transactions. Since its founding in 2009, it has processed $42 billion in total payment volume from 653 million transactions.
Oviosu said that scale gives the Sui partnership a running start.
“$42 billion are school fees paid, salaries received, grandmother receiving money from her son in the city — instantly, safely, and at a fraction of the cost,” he said.
Sui launched USDsui, a U.S. dollar‑backed stablecoin, a yield‑bearing one, allowing holders to earn interest simply by keeping the digital dollar in their accounts, on May 4. It becomes the second digital currency in the Sui ecosystem, following the launch of the native SUI token in 2023. The stablecoin will be issued by Bridge, the U.S. crypto infrastructure firm acquired by Stripe for $1.1 billion in 2025.
