Nigeria’s first SEC-licensed crypto exchange Quidax  taps Lisk to build Africa’s DeFi rails

The era of African cryptocurrency as a wild west of unregulated speculation is effectively closing. In its place, a new infrastructure layer is being built, one where compliance is a feature, not a bug. This shift was cemented on Tuesday, 24 February 2026 as Quidax, a Nigerian exchange that secured a historic provisional licence from the SEC in 2024, announced a strategic integration with the Lisk blockchain.

On the surface, this looks like a usual standard partnership. A local exchange lists a global token, but for the African crypto ecosystem, the implications are far more structural. This deal isn’t just about giving retail traders another asset to flip; it is about solving the last-mile problem for the continent’s digital economy.

By integrating Lisk’s Layer 2 (L2) network with Quidax’s regulated fiat rails, the duo is creating a compliant bridge for value transfer. For the first time, a SEC-licensed Nigerian platform is serving as the direct on-ramp for a global L2 protocol. This moves the conversation from “Can we trade this?” to “Can we build on this?”

Quidax and Lisk partnership: From speculation to utility

The real story here is the pivot toward the developer economy. For years, African fintech founders have struggled to build product-market fit because the underlying infrastructure, specifically accessing stablecoin liquidity and settling in local currency, was fragmented and legally grey. This partnership attempts to fix that plumbing.

Lisk, which recently transitioned to the OP Stack to become an Ethereum Layer 2, is aggressively targeting high-growth markets. But technology alone doesn’t solve local regulatory hurdles. That is where Quidax steps in. The collaboration opens Quidax’s institutional-grade API to builders on the Lisk network.

What does this mean in practice? A developer building a neobank in Lagos or a cross-border remittance app in Nairobi can now plug into Quidax’s infrastructure to handle the heavy lifting of fiat-to-crypto conversion. They get access to stablecoins (USDT, USDC) and local currencies at competitive rates, without having to build their own liquidity pools or navigate the regulatory minefield from scratch.

Commenting on the partnership, Morris Ebieroma, Chief Infrastructure Officer at Quidax, says, “The partnership with Lisk enables us to extend our platform to serve more people and cater to the increasing demand from products and services that want to integrate our stablecoin and digital assets product to build products across Africa.”

Ebieroma’s comment highlights a quiet evolution in Quidax’s own business model. They are moving beyond being just a consumer app to becoming the backend engine for other financial services.

For Lisk, the strategy is clear: adoption in Africa requires boots on the ground. “Africa   represents one of the most critical frontiers for blockchain innovation, where the demand for reliable and inclusive financial tools is urgent,” noted Chidubem Emelumadu, Ecosystem Lead (Africa) at Lisk.

“Our partnership with Quidax expands access to stablecoins and onchain financial opportunities for everyday users and businesses. At the same time, it gives founders building on Lisk the critical infrastructure they need to create solutions that can scale meaningfully across the continent,” Emelumadu adds.

Also read: Inside the product mind of Ebube Ojimadu: a quiet force reshaping African fintech

The partnership is a move to support real-world assets (RWA) and decentralised physical infrastructure networks (DePIN), sectors where crypto solves actual problems like currency devaluation and high transaction costs.

As the Nigerian market matures under the impending clarity of the Investments and Securities Act 2025, partnerships like this will likely become the standard. The days of operating in the shadows are over. The future belongs to those who can build the regulated rails.

The post Nigeria’s first SEC-licensed crypto exchange Quidax  taps Lisk to build Africa’s DeFi rails first appeared on Technext.