GSH plans to acquire a majority stake in AKIBA International, pending approvals. The deal gives it local licences and infrastructure for tokenised finance in Uganda.
Global Settlement Holdings (GSH) plans to acquire a majority stake in Uganda’s AKIBA International.
The deal is subject to regulatory approvals. It is aimed at expanding GSH’s tokenisation plans in Uganda.
GSH, an investment firm linked to US-based blockchain infrastructure company Global Settlement Network (GSX), has agreed to acquire a controlling stake in AKIBA International, a Ugandan investment and capital-markets advisory firm.
Tokenisation means representing a real-world asset as a digital token on a blockchain, which is a shared database that records transactions.
According to TechCabal, the transaction will give GSH the licences and local infrastructure to operate three pieces of regulated market plumbing. These include a broker-dealer off-ramp, a regulated exchange for tokenised assets, and a mining platform.
An off-ramp is the regulated path that lets users convert crypto or tokenised assets back into local money, similar to cashing out from a wallet into a bank account.
Most crypto activity in Africa has focused on trading and payments. This deal points to a shift towards regulated infrastructure, meaning the rails that make crypto and tokenised assets usable within capital markets.
For Uganda, the acquisition could bring more locally licensed intermediaries into the tokenised finance stack. That matters because securities markets usually require licensed brokers, exchanges, and clear oversight before institutional money can participate.
The move also builds on GSX’s earlier Uganda plans. TechCabal notes that about six months ago, GSX partnered with Uganda’s Diacente Group to develop Karamoja as a special economic zone and to launch a central bank digital currency pilot, backed by $5.5 billion in planned commitments.
If regulators approve the AKIBA deal, GSH gets a faster route to operate inside Uganda’s capital markets instead of trying to build licensing and compliance from scratch.
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