Milestone20 July 2026March 2023 – July 2026

Native African stablecoins cross $1 billion

Native African stablecoins have crossed $1 billion in on-chain transfers. The cast that moved the first $800M is not the one that pushed it over the line — H1 2026 flipped both the leading token and the settlement chain.

MeasuredcNGN cKES ZARP eXOF cZAR cGHS Celo Base Ethereum BSC Asset Chain

$1.0027B
Lifetime transfer volume: 6.95M
Transfers: 8
Native tokens: ~$144
Average transfer

Native African stablecoins have crossed $1 billion in on-chain transfers.

$1.0B moved since March 2023 — 6.95M transfers, eight native tokens across six African currencies (KES, XOF, ZAR, NGN, GHS, TZS), at a roughly $144 average transfer. Transfer volume only; mints and burns excluded.

Title card: $1 billion in African stablecoin transfers. Key figures are $1.0027B lifetime transfer volume, 6.95M transfers, 8 native tokens and a roughly $144 average transfer.

Where it moved

Celo settled 82% of it all-time ($822.1M) — the hub for every Mento token.

But H1 2026 shifted hard: Celo's share fell from 85% to 49%, while Base climbed from 5% to 33%. From a rounding error to a third of all volume in two quarters. Base $91.6M, Ethereum $41.9M, BSC $22.5M all-time.

All-time transfer volume by chain: Celo $822.1M (82%), Base $91.6M (9.1%), Ethereum $41.9M (4.2%), BSC $22.5M (2.2%) and Asset Chain $18.6M (1.9%). An inset shows Celo's share falling from 85% to 49% in H1 2026 while Base rose from 5% to 33%.

Which tokens moved it

Mento's cKES (Kenya) built the base — $441.9M all-time, 44% of everything, across 3.2M transfers. eXOF (West Africa) added $192.7M.

But H1 2026 flipped the board: cNGN (Nigeria) went from #5 to #1, doing $72.6M in the two quarters just closed.

cKES built it. cNGN now leads.

All-time transfer volume by token: cKES $441.9M (44%), eXOF $192.7M (19%), cZAR $130.1M (13%), cNGN $120.0M (12%), ZARP $60.7M (6%) and cGHS $54.0M (5.4%). An inset shows cNGN moving from 5th to 1st in H1 2026 with $72.6M.

The finding

The cast that moved the first $800M isn't the one that pushed it past $1B.

Built all-time by cKES ($441.9M) and eXOF ($192.7M), settled 85% on Celo. But H1 2026 flipped it: cNGN (#5 to #1) and cZAR plus ZARP ($89.6M combined, 45% of H1) drove the push — and moved onto Base.

Built by Kenya and West Africa. Pushed over by Nigeria and South Africa.

Two panels contrasting who built the first billion with who pushed it over: all-time, cKES from Kenya at $441.9M and eXOF from West Africa at $192.7M, settled 85% on Celo; in H1 2026, cNGN from Nigeria at $72.6M and cZAR plus ZARP from South Africa at $89.6M combined, moving onto Base.

Method

On-chain transfer volume for eight native African currency stablecoins across six African currencies, from March 2023 to July 2026. Transfer volume only — mints and burns are excluded, because those are supply operations by the issuer rather than user activity. Volume is converted to USD at the prevailing rate. Chain and token shares are computed on the same transfer basis.

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AfriFlux (2026). Native African stablecoins cross $1 billion. Published 20 July 2026. https://www.afriflux.xyz/feed/native-stablecoins-cross-1b

Reproducing a chart? Use this line: Source: AfriFlux — on-chain intelligence for Africa's stablecoin economy. afriflux.xyz

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