Workers across sub-Saharan Africa are showing strong demand for stablecoin payouts as

  • limited banking access,

  • cash-heavy economies, and

  • cross-border payment friction

create problems for digital workers, according to Stripe.

 

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A Stripe survey of 2,303 people across 20 emerging markets, including

  • Kenya,

  • Nigeria, and

  • South Africa,

found that

  • 68% of independent workers in sub-Saharan Africa would accept stablecoin payouts, while

  • 22% already receive them.

The survey was conducted in late 2025 among gig workers, contractors, creators, freelancers, and marketplace sellers.

 

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Stripe said 40% of Africa’s population remains unbanked and about 90% of financial transactions are conducted in cash. Against that backdrop, 72% of surveyed workers in sub-Saharan Africa said they already receive payouts through digital wallets while 38% identified receiving payments as their primary use case for stablecoins.

 

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The findings point to a payments problem rather than purely a cryptocurrency one.

 

Across the survey, 35% of workers cited high transaction or currency-conversion fees as their biggest payout problem while 26% cited delays. Stripe said international wires can take one to five business days and cost $15-$50 per transaction compared with stablecoin transfers that can settle nearly instantly at a cost of less than 10 cents, citing McKinsey data.

 

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For African workers earning from global platforms, stablecoins can also provide access to dollar-denominated balances without requiring a traditional bank account abroad. But adoption still faces barriers:

  • 40% of workers globally cited fraud or security concerns,

  • 39% said they did not know where to acquire stablecoins safely, and

  • 30% said converting them into local currency was difficult.

Stripe’s survey found relatively high confidence in stablecoins among workers in sub-Saharan Africa with 65% agreeing that they are safe to use. The company said the challenge for platforms is therefore increasingly about making stablecoin payouts simple to receive, convert, and spend rather than requiring workers to navigate crypto infrastructure themselves.

The survey covered Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa alongside other emerging markets, but its sub-Saharan Africa figures should not be treated as representative of the entire region. Stripe said country samples were approximately 100 respondents and skewed toward digitally literate, internet-connected populations.

 

 

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