Pretium says it has processed over $6m in stablecoin payments across six African countries and is raising capital to expand and secure licences.
Pretium is building stablecoin payment infrastructure in Africa that lets people and businesses spend USDT and USDC through mobile money and bank transfers. The Kenyan startup says it has processed over $6 million so far across six countries and is raising more capital to expand.
Kenya-founded Pretium says it is connecting stablecoins to local “payment rails”, meaning the existing pipes that move money through mobile money and banks.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to track the price of a currency like the US dollar. Pretium focuses on USDT and USDC, which are two of the most used dollar stablecoins.
CEO and co-founder Derrick Bundi told Disrupt Africa that the company started after he was paid in USDT but could not spend it directly for everyday needs. He said the usual option was using P2P off-ramps, meaning informal buyer and seller exchanges, which often had poor rates and did not work well for small transactions.
Pretium has two main offerings. One is a consumer app for paying for expenses like shopping, fuel, rent, and school fees. The other is a B2B API, which is a developer interface that helps other businesses plug into stablecoin-to-fiat liquidity and last-mile payouts without integrating many separate payment service providers.
The startup says it has processed more than $6 million in transaction value. It also reports about 49,000 users on its app and 40-plus businesses using its APIs.
Pretium is operating in Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria, Malawi, and DR Congo. Bundi said the company is raising additional capital to expand and to acquire relevant payments and crypto licences.
More African startups are trying to turn stablecoins from a trading product into a usable payment method. If the stablecoin layer can connect cleanly to mobile money and banks, it can reduce friction for cross-border payouts, remote salaries, and treasury management.
Regulation remains a key constraint. Bundi said unclear digital asset rules create uncertainty for compliance and for partnerships with financial institutions, even as some markets move toward clearer frameworks.
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