## Africa to Use Blockchain for Trade? A New Platform Aims to Rewrite Business Rules for 55 Countries

Digital payments and blockchain are gaining popularity in Africa. The latest move comes from the African Continental Free Trade Area, which has just launched the ADAPT platform in collaboration with organizations like the Iota Foundation. The core gameplay is to use stablecoins + blockchain for cross-border payments and customs clearance.

It sounds very technological, but just do the math and you will see how great the potential is -

**The goal for 2035 is quite ambitious**: to cover all 55 countries in Africa and increase trade volume by $70 billion each year. Now think about it, how much transaction volume does that mean? Currently, Africa's trade pain points are slow customs clearance (ranging from a week to a month) and high remittance fees (often exploited by intermediaries). Once this platform is rolled out, if border customs clearance is reduced to 3 days and cross-border payment fees are kept below 3%, the impact on trade in the entire region will be tremendous.

**The schedule is tight**: Full launch in 2027, and Kenya has already set a pilot for Q1 next year. In other words, this is not just making empty promises, but rather making progress.

**Data background is solid**: The number of cryptocurrency users in Africa is expected to surpass 75 million by 2026, with stablecoins accounting for 43% of the trading volume in Sub-Saharan Africa—this indicates that the user base and market demand are present.

So the vision for this project is: if it can really connect 55 countries, the cross-border trade system in Africa may be reshaped. However, it also depends on the subsequent implementation, as the pilot phase is the most critical.