Stables and Access Bank South Africa are partnering to explore a faster, cheaper way for African businesses to pay and get paid across Asia, settled in USDt. The partnership connects Access Bank's customers to Stables' payments network in Asia and MENA, targeting one of the slowest and most expensive corridors in global trade. It is an exploration phase, and any products that follow will be subject to regulatory approval.

Most coverage of stablecoins in Africa focuses on remittances or dollar access. This partnership is about something bigger: the trade lane between Africa and Asia, and the payment rails that have not kept up with it.

What the partnership explores

Stables and Access Bank South Africa will evaluate how African businesses can move money into and out of Asian markets using stablecoin settlement. Stables brings a single API for compliant stablecoin payments, liquidity, and multi-currency settlement across 160+ markets, with a home network across Asia and MENA. Access Bank brings the customer relationships, local presence, and regulatory footing in South Africa.

To be clear on the stage: this is an evaluation. No products have launched yet, and anything that follows will proceed only with the required regulatory approvals.

The corridor that matters: Africa to Asia

Africa and Asia trade more with each other every year. China is Africa's single largest trading partner, and markets like India and the UAE are central to what African businesses buy and sell. Yet the money behind that trade still moves on correspondent banking rails that can take days, cost several percent, and hide fees and FX along the way.

An importer in Johannesburg paying a supplier in Shenzhen, Mumbai, or Dubai often waits days for settlement and loses value at every hop. The goods move faster than the money.

What Access Bank gains: a bridge into Asia

Stables is built where this corridor lands. Its payments network spans Asia and MENA, including markets such as Singapore, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, China, and the UAE. For Access Bank, the partnership is a way to give South African businesses a path into those markets without assembling a patchwork of banking relationships across the region.

The settlement layer is USDt. A business can hold and move value in USDt, then settle into local currency where it is needed, on either side of the corridor.

How stablecoins close the gap

Traditional cross-border payments route through a chain of correspondent banks, each adding time, cost, and opacity. Settlement in USDt collapses that chain. Value moves on public networks in near real time, around the clock, and converts to local currency at the edges.

For African businesses trading with Asia, that means:

• Settlement measured in minutes rather than days
• Lower and more predictable costs, with fees and FX visible up front
• Fewer intermediaries between buyer and supplier
• One integration instead of a bank in every market

What Access Bank and Stables are saying

Abiodun Dada, CEO of Access Bank South Africa, said: "Innovation remains central to how we create value for our customers. Our partnership with Stables represents an opportunity to explore new approaches to payments."

Bernardo Bilotta, CEO and Co-Founder of Stables, said: "Africa is one of the most important growth markets in global payments, and it sits at the center of where Stables is heading."

What comes next

The two companies will work through the exploration phase together, testing use cases along the Africa to Asia corridor and the path to compliant deployment. Any products that come out of the partnership will be announced as they are ready and approved.

About Stables

Stables is USDt-native payments infrastructure for Asia and MENA. Businesses use one API to collect local currency, settle in USDt, and pay out across local rails, with compliance built in. Through partnerships like this one, Stables connects its network to businesses around the world. Talk to us.