TL;DR:
- VALR has integrated with Onafriq, allowing users across Africa to fund exchange accounts through mobile money in local currencies.
- Onafriq’s network reaches nearly 1 billion wallets across 43 markets, with settlement handled in stablecoins or selected crypto.
- The move opens access to VALR’s wider suite, including trading, tokenized assets, yield products, and VALR Pay, for millions who already rely on mobile money across the continent daily for payments.
VALR is moving deeper into Africa’s payments reality through an integration with Onafriq, opening a route from mobile money balances to digital-asset markets. The partnership lets VALR users fund accounts in local currencies through mobile money, broadening access in a region where traditional banking remains uneven but phone-based finance is embedded in daily life. The significance of the deal lies in connecting crypto access to the payment rails millions use, instead of asking users to adopt new financial habits first.
Why the integration could matter beyond one exchange
The commercial logic is straightforward. Onafriq operates a payments network that reaches nearly 1 billion mobile money wallets across 43 African markets, and the setup uses that infrastructure to support local-currency deposits into VALR. Settlement is handled in stablecoins or selected cryptocurrencies, reducing dependence on conventional banking channels while creating a path from domestic payment systems into digital-asset activity. What emerges here is not just a funding option, but a localized on-ramp into crypto markets built around African payment behavior rather than imported financial assumptions.
That matters because mobile money sits at the center of financial inclusion across much of the continent. Registered mobile money accounts globally reached 2.1 billion by the end of 2024, with more than half a billion monthly active users. In 2024 alone, the sector processed roughly 108 billion transactions worth over $1.68 trillion. In Sub-Saharan Africa, mobile money contributed around $190 billion to GDP in 2023, supported by interoperable systems spanning the Kenyan shilling, Nigerian naira, Ghanaian cedi, and Ugandan shilling, and networks including M-Pesa and MTN MoMo. The partnership lands in a market where mobile money is not peripheral infrastructure, but one of the dominant ways value moves.
For VALR, the integration extends beyond deposits. Users in supported markets will be able to fund accounts and access the exchange’s product set, including spot and margin trading for Bitcoin and more than 100 crypto assets, tokenized real-world assets such as gold, equities, and private credit, yield products including lending and staking, and VALR Pay. VALR says it now serves over 1.7 million registered users and 2,000 corporate and institutional clients worldwide. The bet is that mobile-money connectivity can turn digital assets from a niche financial layer into something more reachable for millions across Africa.
