Ripple has made a strategic investment in Flutterwave as part of its Series E funding\u00a0round.Flutterwave\u2019s Series E reportedly values the company at $3.2\u00a0billion.The partnership will integrate Ripple\u2019s RLUSD stablecoin, Ripple Payments network, and XRP Ledger infrastructure into Flutterwave\u2019s ecosystem.RLUSD will be used as a settlement asset across selected payment and remittance corridors.The announcement represents one of the biggest stablecoin infrastructure partnerships in Africa to\u00a0date.<\/p>\n
Flutterwave has announced a strategic investment from Ripple as part of its Series E funding\u00a0round.<\/p>\n
The deal comes bundled with deep product integration into Flutterwave\u2019s infrastructure. This includes Ripple\u2019s USD-backed stablecoin (RLUSD), Ripple\u2019s payments network, and the XRP Ledger\u00a0(XRPL).<\/p>\n
The partnership could reshape how cross-border payments move across the continent.<\/p>\n
Flutterwave<\/a>, founded in 2016, is Africa\u2019s leading payments infrastructure company.<\/p>\n The company announced a strategic investment from Ripple, along with a product partnership that embeds Ripple\u2019s stablecoin, RLUSD, Ripple Payments network<\/a>, and the XRP Ledger into Flutterwave\u2019s payment infrastructure.<\/p>\n The investment is part of Flutterwave\u2019s Series E round<\/a>, which values the company at $3.2\u00a0billion.<\/p>\n There are three elements to this partnership. First, RLUSD<\/a> becomes one of the default assets for settling transactions across Flutterwave\u2019s payment network, including its Send App<\/a>. The Send App is primarily used for cross-border payments.<\/p>\n Second, the XRP Ledger handles the underlying transaction processing, with the goal of making transfers faster than traditional banking\u00a0rails.<\/p>\n The XRP Ledger<\/a> is a decentralized, open-source blockchain designed specifically for fast settlements and micro-transactions.<\/p>\n Third, the launch of an API linking Flutterwave\u2019s African payment network directly to Ripple\u2019s global payments infrastructure. The integration would enable the two systems to work as one rather than as separate\u00a0pipes.<\/p>\n RLUSD would be used across selected high-volume payment corridors. The goal is to replace the current traditional system, which relies on slower, more expensive processes, such as intermediaries and unfavorable FX\u00a0rates.<\/p>\n Over the past year, Flutterwave has been systematically building out stablecoin settlement infrastructure.<\/p>\n In October 2025, Flutterwave partnered with Polygon Labs<\/a> in its debut attempt to utilize blockchain and stablecoins to power instant, low-cost cross-border payments. The collaboration enabled the fintech giant to help businesses and consumers to send and receive USDC and USDT across more than 30 African countries<\/p>\n Earlier this month, at the Money20\/20 in Amsterdam, Flutterave announced a partnership with Tempo<\/a>. At the time of the announcement, the infrastructure was not yet in production. However, executives from both companies confirmed that Tempo\u2019s Layer-1 blockchain would be integrated as an additional settlement rail on the Send App and Flutterwave for Business (F4B) platforms.<\/p>\n The Ripple investment is another layer, and maybe the centerpiece of that strategy. It provides both capital and an enterprise-grade liquidity layer that the company\u2019s earlier partnerships were building\u00a0toward.<\/p>\n Speaking on the announcement, Flutterwave Founder and CEO, Olugbenga \u201cGB\u201d Agboola<\/a>\u00a0said;<\/p>\n This investment marks a pivotal moment in our journey, enabling us to significantly scale our infrastructure and expand our stablecoin-enabled payments\u00a0roadmap.<\/p>\n Reece Merrick, Managing Director, MEA at Ripple, also corroborates GB\u2019s narrative.<\/p>\n Flutterwave has built one of the most advanced payment networks in Africa, and as its infrastructure evolves, stablecoins are becoming central to that story. <\/em>Our investment will establish RLUSD within that infrastructure, with Flutterwave driving stablecoin flows over the XRPL and deepening its role as a settlement layer for real-world payments across the continent.<\/p>\n The Ripple-Flutterwave deal is the latest in a series of stablecoin-focused investments and partnerships<\/a> in Africa\u2019s digital payments ecosystem.<\/p>\n Over the past 12 months, major players including Aptos, HashKey, Crossmint, Tempo, and Polygon have all moved into African payment infrastructure.<\/p>\n In June, HashKey MENA, Aptos Foundation, and Daya launched a pilot initiative<\/a> to explore regulated stablecoin-powered trade settlement between the Middle East and Africa. The pilot focuses on B2B payment flows using stablecoins on the Aptos blockchain with Daya will provide African payment infrastructure.<\/p>\n Konga recently invested $2.7 million<\/a> in a stablecoin payments startup called Stable, to address problems around international payments and cross-border commerce.<\/p>\n Paga and Crossmint also announced a partnership<\/a> within the last month. Their partnership will see Crossmint integrate Paga Engine\u2019s fiat on and off-ramp infrastructure into its global enterprise payout network. Paga will also use Crossmint\u2019s infrastructure to deploy next-generation stablecoin wallets for consumers and\u00a0agents.<\/p>\n Polygon has partnered with DPTPay<\/a> to expand stablecoin-powered payment infrastructure across\u00a0Africa.<\/p>\n In early May 2026, Mastercard and Yellow Card announced a partnership<\/a> to accelerate stablecoin-enabled payment innovation across\u00a0Africa.<\/p>\n Tether, the issuer of the stablecoin USDT, made an undisclosed investment amount into LemFi. The deal will see USDT embedded<\/a> as the settlement layer inside LemFi\u2019s payment infrastructure.<\/p>\n The battleground has shifted. It is no longer about demand. That demand now exists at scale. The next competition is over who controls the infrastructure through which that demand\u00a0flows.<\/p>\n Ripple\u2019s move positions RLUSD as a direct competitor to USDC and USDT in enterprise settlement through payment infrastructure embedded in one of Africa\u2019s largest networks.<\/p>\n Flutterwave has raised over $500 million and processed more than one billion transactions worth over $50\u00a0billion.<\/p>\n That scale means RLUSD integration could reach a significant volume of real-world commercial activity quickly through existing merchant and enterprise relationships.<\/p>\n The business case for stablecoins in African cross-border payments is strong. For many African corridors, including Nigeria, the continent\u2019s biggest crypto market, remittance costs remain well above the global\u00a0average.<\/p>\n Settlement times and conversion costs add extra layers of friction that consumers and enterprises do not want to have to deal with. Stablecoins<\/a> address each of these pain points when properly integrated.<\/p>\n Flutterwave founder and CEO Olugbenga \u201cGB\u201d Agboola framed the partnership as a \u201ccatalyst for Nigerian and African sovereignty in the digital financial age,\u201d <\/em>ensuring African markets become primary participants in the \u201cglobal digital asset revolution.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n African countries are competing to become regional hubs for digital asset infrastructure. These governments want to attract fintech investment, so they are building out regulatory frameworks while businesses are locking in payment network relationships that could define the next decade of cross-border commerce.<\/p>\n Despite this, stablecoin regulation across Africa remains uneven. What is permitted in one jurisdiction may face restrictions in\u00a0another.<\/p>\n Nigeria\u2019s lawmakers are building<\/a> a broader, more comprehensive regulatory framework for cryptocurrency and digital assets. The IMF has recently flagged concerns<\/a> about stablecoin adoption in Nigeria from a monetary sovereignty perspective.<\/p>\n Banking partnerships, which are essential for on- and off-ramps, are potential bottlenecks. The growing number of competing stablecoin settlement networks raises questions about liquidity fragmentation.<\/p>\n None of these is fatal to the Ripple-Flutterwave partnership. But they are the variables that will determine how quickly announced infrastructure translates into actual transaction volume.<\/p>\n Key milestones to track include the rollout timeline for RLUSD across specific payment corridors, Send App remittance integration, merchant adoption numbers, and regulators\u2019 responses in key markets, particularly Nigeria, to the expanded stablecoin footprint.<\/p>\n Any future Series E announcements from Flutterwave may also signal additional strategic partners joining the infrastructure stack.<\/p>\n Originally published at <\/em>https:\/\/cryptoafrica.news<\/em><\/a> on June 17,\u00a02026.<\/em><\/p>\n Ripple Invests in Flutterwave to Expand RLUSD Stablecoin Payments Across Africa<\/a> was originally published in Coinmonks<\/a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ripple has made a strategic investment in Flutterwave as part of its Series E funding\u00a0round.Flutterwave\u2019s Series E reportedly values the company at $3.2\u00a0billion.The partnership will integrate Ripple\u2019s RLUSD stablecoin, Ripple Payments network, and XRP Ledger infrastructure into Flutterwave\u2019s ecosystem.RLUSD will be used as a settlement asset across selected payment and remittance corridors.The announcement represents one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":182835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-182834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182834"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=182834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/182835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=182834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=182834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=182834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How the Partnership Works<\/h3>\n
Part of a Larger Stablecoin Strategy<\/h3>\n
Africa\u2019s Stablecoin Infrastructure Race<\/h3>\n
Why Cross-Border Payments Remain the Core Opportunity<\/h3>\n
Nigeria\u2019s Digital Finance Ambitions<\/h3>\n
What to Watch\u00a0Next<\/h3>\n