Paga enters crypto through partnership with blockchain network Sui

Paga, one of Africa’s oldest fintechs, has partnered with Sui, the blockchain network built by US-based Mysten Labs, as it pushes into crypto payments, stablecoin yields, and asset tokenisation.

The partnership was announced at the Sui Live event in Miami, the United States, on Thursday. It marks Paga’s first formal move into crypto since Tayo Oviosu transitioned to Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in April.

Oviosu said the partnership will help Paga build financial rails that help Africans hedge against currency instability that erodes wealth, unlock opportunity in global commerce, fix cross-border payments, and expand access to alternative financial products.

“These are the walls of the cage, and until we tear them down, financial freedom on this continent is incomplete,” Oviosu said during a presentation at Sui Live. “Tearing down these walls is not a job we can do on our own; it requires the right rails, the right partner, the right technology that is fast enough, cheap enough and global enough to serve 1 billion people. We found that partner—Paga and Sui.”

The partnership will cover four things: high-yield USD accounts backed by USDsui, Sui’s newly launched dollar stablecoin; crypto on-ramps and off-ramps across Paga’s markets; tokenised real-world assets (RWAs), including real estate, bonds, and solar projects; and cross-border payment rails for businesses and consumers.

Paga users could soon hold a dollar account that earns interest automatically, convert between local currency and crypto without friction, invest in assets like property or green energy projects that were previously out of reach, and send or receive money across borders as easily and cheaply as sending an email, said Oviosu.

Paga’s move comes as African fintechs increasingly explore crypto and digital currency infrastructure for payments, settlement, and treasury operations. In October 2025, Flutterwave partnered with blockchain firm Polygon to build out its stablecoin payment infrastructure. Stripe-owned Paystack reorganised into The Stack Group (TSG) in January to deepen research in emerging technologies within fintech.

Both companies were admitted into the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) anti-money laundering supervisory programme for virtual asset service providers (VASPs) on March 31.

“59% of African adults don’t have a bank account,” Oviosu said. “When people hear that number, they see a problem. I see something different; I see an Africa that is the single largest financial greenfield market in the world, and that is the opportunity we’re going after.”

Paga currently processes $1.5 billion in monthly payments. In 2025, it processed $11 billion from 169 million transactions, Oviosu said. Since its founding in 2009, the company has processed $42 billion in total payment volume (TPV) from 653 million transactions, a scale that gives the Sui partnership immediate reach rather than a standing 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 of what it used to [be],” Oviosu said. “This is what the infrastructure was built for and we’re just getting started.”

Sui launched USDsui, a US dollar-backed stablecoin, on its network on Monday, entering a stablecoin market dominated by Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC. Unlike those two stablecoins, USDsui is yield-bearing, allowing users to earn interest by holding the digital dollar in their accounts, putting it in competition with similar products such as DAI.

The launch marks the second currency developed within the Sui ecosystem after the blockchain introduced its native SUI token in 2023. Blockchain networks often create native tokens to drive adoption and utility across payments, lending, and decentralised application ecosystems.

Bridge, the US crypto infrastructure firm Stripe acquired for $1.1 billion in 2025, will issue the USDsui stablecoin on the Sui blockchain.