On a current episode of TechCabal’s What’s Subsequent for African Funds?, Flutterwave and Andela co-founder Iyin Aboyeji was requested a query many African crypto founders would have most well-liked he dodged: can Africa produce a blockchain unicorn throughout the subsequent decade?
His reply was blunt. “By no means.”
For an entrepreneur who helped construct two of Africa’s most celebrated unicorns, it wasn’t the sort of prediction individuals anticipated. But the comment was much less an assault on blockchain know-how and extra a critique of the place founders are on the lookout for worth.
Aboyeji’s argument deserves consideration as a result of it challenges one of many longest-running assumptions in African tech: that as a result of Africa has excessive crypto adoption, it is going to ultimately produce a billion-dollar blockchain firm.
What if that assumption is improper? This echoes a sentiment that many have harboured for the longest time: that adoption doesn’t essentially equate to environments that guarantee enterprise progress. What if Africa’s blockchain alternative is actual, however the unicorn emerges from someplace solely completely different?
The Uncomfortable Fact Behind Africa’s Crypto Enthusiasm
At first look, Africa looks like the proper place for a blockchain unicorn: there’s adoption, which suggests there’s precise utility, and as such, individuals can construct companies round it, so adoption could possibly be leveraged to drive income.
Nigeria constantly ranks among the many world’s largest crypto markets. Chainalysis ranked Nigeria sixth globally in its 2025 World Crypto Adoption Index.
The IMF reported that Nigeria acquired roughly $59 billion in crypto inflows between July 2023 and June 2024, accounting for roughly 60% of all stablecoin exercise in Sub-Saharan Africa.
These numbers sound huge, however adoption and worth creation are usually not the identical factor, and most of that exercise revolves round a slim set of economic wants:
Preserving worth in opposition to naira depreciation
Accessing {dollars} by stablecoins
Cross-border funds
Remittances
P2P buying and selling
Arbitrage alternatives
Now these are significant use instances as a result of they resolve actual issues, however they don’t essentially create billion-dollar software program companies, and that distinction sits on the coronary heart of Aboyeji’s argument.
Stablecoins Might Have Destroyed the Moat
For years, African Fintech startups have constructed companies round funds infrastructure, creating APIs, switching networks, settlement programs, fee gateways, service provider buying merchandise, and cross-border rails. Constructing these networks was tough, which meant profitable operators may earn engaging margins, and stablecoins seemingly ramped up how shortly these fee settlements happen.
Sending worth internationally used to require a number of intermediaries, however right now, a USDT switch can settle throughout borders in minutes, and the results of that’s that infrastructure itself turns into much less invaluable. If each firm can entry the identical blockchain rails, then proudly owning the rails not ensures a aggressive benefit, and Aboyeji’s criticism of turning into “the one hundredth stablecoin firm” displays this actuality.
When settlement turns into low-cost and extensively accessible, margins collapse, and time and time once more, historical past has supplied many examples as a result of the web, cloud computing, and funds infrastructure have all more and more turn into commoditized. The cash not often stays with the businesses that merely transfer bits from Level A to Level B and often flows towards corporations that perceive clients higher than anybody else.
The Actual Battleground Has Moved
Aboyeji’s argument turns into extra fascinating right here in that he’s not saying blockchain has no future; he’s saying the long run worth will possible sit above the blockchain layer, which, if you concentrate on what occurred with web companies, the largest winners weren’t the businesses laying the fibre cables however the ones that totally understood person behaviour.
Google understood search intent, Meta understood social relationships, Amazon understood buying behaviour, and their moat was not infrastructure; their moat was knowledge and context. Aboyeji believes the identical precept will apply to stablecoin-powered funds, the place the winners won’t merely transfer cash however will perceive what the cash is doing; who’s paying whom, why they’re paying, what merchandise are shifting throughout borders, what financing must emerge from these transactions, and what dangers exist inside provide chains, and that info turns into extra invaluable than the fee itself.
His Relevance Take a look at Exposes a Main Web3 Drawback
If truth be told, crucial level Aboyeji raised has little to do with know-how; he argued that if a Web3 utility doesn’t assist odd individuals accomplish on a regular basis targets, it in the end doesn’t matter, and though that may be a harsh normal, it’s price making use of truthfully. Should you have been to ask a typical Nigerian college graduate which apps they used yesterday, the checklist most likely consists of:
OPay
PalmPay
Moniepoint
Kuda
GTBank
Entry Financial institution
WhatsApp
Instagram
TikTok
Now ask what number of blockchain purposes they used; most individuals would wrestle to call one, and even amongst crypto customers, blockchain is commonly invisible. Individuals use stablecoins to obtain funds, they use exchanges to commerce and wallets to retailer worth, however only a few work together with blockchain purposes that resolve day by day non-financial issues, and that isn’t as a result of blockchain is ineffective.
It’s as a result of most African blockchain startups have targeted on infrastructure and hypothesis somewhat than on a regular basis utility.
The Adoption Paradox No one Talks About
Nigeria presents a captivating contradiction: the nation is undeniably one of many world’s largest crypto markets and but blockchain adoption outdoors finance stays restricted. Provide chain purposes stay area of interest, and blockchain identification programs have seen little mass adoption, identical with NFT initiatives which largely disappeared after the speculative increase.
Blockchain gaming has struggled to realize mainstream traction; in the meantime, conventional Fintech apps proceed processing hundreds of thousands of day by day transactions, and in all this, the common Nigerian shouldn’t be selecting between a banking app and a blockchain app; they’re selecting between Opay and Palmpay, Moniepoint and Kuda, between GTBank and Entry. This distinction is essential as a result of unicorns typically emerge from mass adoption and never area of interest enthusiasm.
Why Fintech Succeeded The place Web3 Struggled
African Fintech succeeded as a result of it solved apparent issues like Africa being shut out of the worldwide cash switch marketplace for the longest time; those that have been in a position to resolve that drawback have succeeded at constructing worthwhile corporations. The worth proposition was speedy, however in blockchain, many initiatives have struggled as a result of they typically ask customers to be taught solely new ideas earlier than experiencing advantages. Pockets administration, fuel charges, personal keys, community bridges, token economics, and so on. These weren’t options; these have been limitations as a result of essentially the most profitable applied sciences ought to disappear into the background.
Customers care about outcomes and never a lot structure; when you concentrate on it, nobody chooses Uber as a result of it makes use of cloud computing or Spotify for its distributed servers. Equally, future blockchain winners might succeed exactly as a result of customers by no means notice blockchain is concerned.
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Is “By no means” Too Robust?
Most likely, historical past has all the time had a behavior of humiliating predictions that embrace absolute phrases. When you concentrate on it, the web was supposedly a fad, cell funds have been supposedly not possible in Africa, streaming was supposedly unprofitable, synthetic intelligence was supposedly many years away and though the stronger model of Aboyeji’s argument will not be that Africa won’t ever produce a blockchain unicorn, it might be that Africa won’t ever produce a unicorn whose main benefit is blockchain infrastructure alone, which is a extra defensible declare.
What Would an African Blockchain Unicorn Truly Look Like?
If Aboyeji is correct, future winners will possible mix blockchain rails with distinctive buyer intelligence, and a number of other sectors stand out;
Cross-border commerce
Africa’s fragmented markets create huge friction for companies importing and exporting items. An organization that mixes stablecoin settlement, commerce financing, logistics intelligence, provider verification, and credit score underwriting may construct a big benefit the place the blockchain turns into infrastructure and worth comes from understanding the commerce.
Provide chain finance
Many African companies wrestle to entry reasonably priced credit score. When you will have a platform that understands transaction flows and provider relationships, it may supply financing extra successfully than conventional lenders, however once more, the blockchain shouldn’t be the product; it’s the plumbing.
Identification and repute programs
Credit score histories stay fragmented throughout a lot of Africa. Digital identification infrastructure tied to transaction histories may unlock lending alternatives for hundreds of thousands of people and companies.
Embedded monetary providers
Corporations that perceive retailers deeply could possibly supply loans, insurance coverage, stock financing, and fee options by a single platform the place the information turns into the moat.
Which Corporations are Closest At the moment?
A number of corporations are shifting in instructions that resemble Aboyeji’s framework. Yellow Card has constructed important stablecoin infrastructure throughout Africa, Gray focuses on cross-border monetary providers, Moniepoint has advanced from funds into enterprise banking, credit score, and operational infrastructure, and Flutterwave, which Aboyeji himself co-founded, continues increasing past funds into broader service provider providers.
Whereas these corporations are usually not pure blockchain startups, which will really assist Aboyeji’s thesis; the nearer an organization will get to buyer context, the extra invaluable it turns into. The blockchain part turns into more and more invisible.
The Lesson Founders Ought to Take Away
The simplest interpretation of Aboyeji’s feedback is that blockchain in Africa is doomed, however that may be a improper conclusion. A greater interpretation could be that blockchain alone is inadequate, and since we all know that know-how not often creates worth by itself, worth typically comes when know-how solves significant issues.
African founders ought to ask a easy query: What turns into attainable as a result of blockchain exists? And never: How can I construct one other blockchain firm? One mindset begins with know-how whereas the opposite begins with buyer wants, and historical past has constantly rewarded the second group.
The irony is that Africa might ultimately produce a blockchain unicorn in precisely the way in which that disproves Aboyeji’s literal prediction whereas vindicating the argument beneath it. Think about an organization price $5 billion: it makes use of stablecoins extensively, its settlement runs on blockchain rails, its financing merchandise leverage tokenized property, and its identification programs incorporate decentralized verification, and but clients barely discover.
They use it as a result of it helps them finance stock, pay suppliers, entry credit score, obtain funds, or handle commerce operations. In that world, blockchain stays important, however it’s not the rationale the corporate turned invaluable. The reason being context, it’s understanding, it’s fixing actual issues, and that’s what Aboyeji seems to have been getting at. The longer term African unicorn might very properly use blockchain however will not be a blockchain firm, and if that occurs, his prediction will look concurrently improper and proper on the identical time.
Disclaimer: This text is meant solely for informational functions and shouldn’t be thought of buying and selling or funding recommendation. Nothing herein ought to be construed as monetary, authorized, or tax recommendation. Buying and selling or investing in cryptocurrencies carries a substantial threat of economic loss. At all times conduct due diligence.
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