Polygon Labs has announced a strategic partnership with Flutterwave, Africa’s largest payments infrastructure provider, to utilize Polygon PoS as the default blockchain network for its new cross-border payments product. This collaboration aims to revolutionize the $2 trillion global cross-border payments market by reducing settlement times and costs.
Flutterwave has processed over $40 billion in transaction volume to date and will begin a phased rollout of Polygon’s high-performance blockchain infrastructure in 2025, starting with a pilot program for select business customers. The solution will be fully available to all users in 2026, significantly boosting remittances and facilitating cross-border payments.
The partnership addresses critical pain points in emerging economies, where businesses and consumers face high transaction costs, often exceeding 8% for remittances. By leveraging Polygon’s sub-$0.01 transaction fees and near-instant settlement, Flutterwave can offer its clients improved economics and user experience.
According to Marc Boiron, CEO of Polygon Labs, the partnership is a massive vote of confidence in stablecoins as the future of cross-border payments. Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, CEO and Founder of Flutterwave, noted that the alliance will unlock new economic opportunities across the continent by making international payments more simple and affordable.
The collaboration demonstrates how blockchain technology can solve real-world payment challenges at a massive scale. With Flutterwave operating across 30+ African countries and supporting 150+ currencies, the integration highlights the potential for stablecoin adoption in emerging markets.
This partnership comes after several recent milestones for Polygon, including processing half of all USDC transfers in the $100-$1,000 range in the United States and powering BlackRock’s BUIDL Fund tokenization. By joining forces, Polygon and Flutterwave are setting a new global benchmark for how blockchain can solve real-world payment challenges at scale.
The partnership’s first phase will focus on enterprise clients, enabling major corporations to leverage stablecoin rails for payment flows. After the initial phase, the partnership aims to expand to consumer remittances, bringing affordable and instant cross-border payments to millions of individuals. This development is expected to have a significant impact on the global cross-border payments market, particularly in emerging economies.