On a latest 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 popular he dodged: can Africa produce a blockchain unicorn inside 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 type of prediction folks anticipated. But the comment was much less an assault on blockchain know-how and extra a critique of the place founders are searching 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 should finally produce a billion-dollar blockchain firm.
What if that assumption is unsuitable? This echoes a sentiment that many have harboured for the longest time: that adoption doesn’t essentially equate to environments that guarantee enterprise development. What if Africa’s blockchain alternative is actual, however the unicorn emerges from someplace fully completely different?
The Uncomfortable Fact Behind Africa’s Crypto Enthusiasm
At first look, Africa looks as if the proper place for a blockchain unicorn: there’s adoption, which suggests there’s precise utility, and as such, folks can construct companies round it, so adoption may very well be leveraged to drive income.
Nigeria constantly ranks among the many world’s largest crypto markets. Chainalysis ranked Nigeria sixth globally in its 2025 International Crypto Adoption Index.
The IMF reported that Nigeria obtained 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 should not the identical factor, and most of that exercise revolves round a slender set of monetary 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 clear up 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 methods, fee gateways, service provider buying merchandise, and cross-border rails. Constructing these networks was tough, which meant profitable operators may earn enticing margins, and stablecoins seemingly ramped up how rapidly these fee settlements happen.
Sending worth internationally used to require a number of intermediaries, however immediately, a USDT switch can settle throughout borders in minutes, and the results of that’s that infrastructure itself turns into much less precious. 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 provided many examples as a result of the web, cloud computing, and funds infrastructure have all more and more grow to be commoditized. The cash hardly ever stays with the businesses that merely transfer bits from Level A to Level B and often flows towards firms that perceive prospects higher than anybody else.
The Actual Battleground Has Moved
Aboyeji’s argument turns into extra attention-grabbing right here in that he’s not saying blockchain has no future; he’s saying the long run worth will probably 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 is not going to 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 precious than the fee itself.
His Relevance Check Exposes a Main Web3 Drawback
In truth, an important level Aboyeji raised has little to do with know-how; he argued that if a Web3 utility doesn’t assist atypical folks accomplish on a regular basis objectives, it finally doesn’t matter, and though that could be a harsh customary, it’s price making use of actually. When you have been to ask a typical Nigerian college graduate which apps they used yesterday, the record most likely consists of:
OPay
PalmPay
Moniepoint
Kuda
GTBank
Entry Financial institution
WhatsApp
Instagram
TikTok
Now ask what number of blockchain functions they used; most individuals would battle 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 functions that clear up day by day non-financial issues, and that’s not 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 person Talks About
Nigeria presents an enchanting contradiction: the nation is undeniably one of many world’s largest crypto markets and but blockchain adoption exterior finance stays restricted. Provide chain functions stay area of interest, and blockchain id methods have seen little mass adoption, identical with NFT initiatives which largely disappeared after the speculative growth.
Blockchain gaming has struggled to achieve mainstream traction; in the meantime, conventional Fintech apps proceed processing tens of millions of day by day transactions, and in all this, the common Nigerian isn’t 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 usually 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 clear up that downside have succeeded at constructing worthwhile firms. The worth proposition was instant, however in blockchain, many initiatives have struggled as a result of they usually ask customers to study fully new ideas earlier than experiencing advantages. Pockets administration, gasoline charges, personal keys, community bridges, token economics, and so forth. These weren’t options; these have been boundaries 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 Sturdy?
Most likely, historical past has at all times had a behavior of humiliating predictions that embody absolute phrases. When you concentrate on it, the web was supposedly a fad, cell funds have been supposedly unimaginable 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 true, future winners will probably mix blockchain rails with distinctive buyer intelligence, and several 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 major benefit the place the blockchain turns into infrastructure and worth comes from understanding the commerce.
Provide chain finance
Many African companies battle 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 isn’t the product; it’s the plumbing.
Id and status methods
Credit score histories stay fragmented throughout a lot of Africa. Digital id infrastructure tied to transaction histories may unlock lending alternatives for tens of millions of people and companies.
Embedded monetary providers
Corporations that perceive retailers deeply might be able to 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 this time?
A number of firms are shifting in instructions that resemble Aboyeji’s framework. Yellow Card has constructed vital stablecoin infrastructure throughout Africa, Gray focuses on cross-border monetary providers, Moniepoint has developed 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 firms should not pure blockchain startups, that will truly help Aboyeji’s thesis; the nearer an organization will get to buyer context, the extra precious 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 unsuitable conclusion. A greater interpretation can be that blockchain alone is inadequate, and since we all know that know-how hardly ever creates worth by itself, worth usually comes when know-how solves significant issues.
African founders ought to ask a easy query: What turns into potential 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 finally produce a blockchain unicorn in precisely the best way 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 id methods incorporate decentralized verification, and but prospects 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 isn’t the rationale the corporate grew to become precious. The reason being context, it’s understanding, it’s fixing actual issues, and that’s what Aboyeji seems to have been getting at. The long run African unicorn might very effectively use blockchain however will not be a blockchain firm, and if that occurs, his prediction will look concurrently unsuitable and proper on the identical time.
Disclaimer: This text is meant solely for informational functions and shouldn’t be thought-about buying and selling or funding recommendation. Nothing herein needs to be construed as monetary, authorized, or tax recommendation. Buying and selling or investing in cryptocurrencies carries a substantial danger of monetary loss. All the time conduct due diligence.
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