11-24-2025 
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Over 50 African countries under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) are turning to blockchain and stablecoins to double intra-African trade and unlock a $70 billion opportunity.
Known as the AfCFTA Digital Access and Public Infrastructure for Trade Initiative, or ADAPT, the new scheme will span secure digital identity, instant electronic payments, and trusted data access, integrated into a single digital public infrastructure for the 54 signatories of the AfCFTA.
The new initiative is being spearheaded by the African Union through the AfCFTA, with the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change also involved in its development.
Despite having a $3 trillion economy and a population projected to account for 40% of the world’s total by the end of the century, Africa is still a small player in international commerce. According to the WEF, it only accounts for 2% of global trade.
Additionally, Africa is overwhelmingly dependent on trade with other regions. Intra-African trade only accounts for a fifth of the continent’s total trade volume.
Slow digitalization has been one of the primary impediments to this local trade. Reliance on paper-based systems amplifies costs and slows down logistics; one study estimates that African nations lose $25 billion annually in cross-border fees.
ADAPT is targeting this sector with blockchain-based trade solutions that settle transactions instantly and digitalize processes, supply chains, and payments.
“This initiative is the cornerstone of our vision to create an inclusive and integrated continental market. It is Africa’s blueprint for the digitisation and modernisation of trade: a system that replaces fragmentation with integration, friction with trust, and inefficiency with scale,” commented Wamkele Mene, the AfCFTA Secretary General.
ADAPT will digitalize trade processes, eventually “transforming how African economies connect and collaborate,” added Chido Munyati, WEF’s Head of Africa.
One of ADAPT’s pillars will be digital identity, an area where Africa has taken significant strides in recent years. From Nigeria’s ongoing effort to enroll 180 million citizens onto digital IDs by the end of 2026 to Ethiopia’s Fayda program that targets 90 million enrollments over the next two years, African nations are stepping up their digital identity efforts.
The initiative also targets uniting Africa’s disparate payment systems. Most countries now have thriving digital payments and mobile money systems, but these remain confined to national borders. Intra-African payments still rely on the U.S. dollar and correspondent banks, many of which are based in Europe and North America.
ADAPT will integrate stablecoins into these payment systems, easing cross-border payments, slashing fees and offering round-the-clock availability.It “establishes a trusted, interoperable infrastructure – an African-built backbone for digital identity, documentation, payments, and data exchange – enabling goods, services, and capital to move with the efficiency that the 21st century demands,” Mene commented.
The initiative will launch in 2026 in Kenya, Ghana, and a third country that’s yet to be named. It will then expand to other countries, with a continental rollout by 2035.
Egypt to offer 400,000 housing units under digital program
In Egypt, the government is preparing to offer up to 400,000 housing units under a new digital platform as part of its efforts to modernize its real estate sector.
The new units will be offered under the Official Egyptian Real Estate Platform, a digital platform that simplifies access to the North African country’s property market.
According to Ahmed Elbatrawy, who chairs the initiative, the platform is much more than a digitalization effort; it’s “the rise of a new Egyptian institution reshaping the future of the real estate and technology sectors.”
The platform launched earlier this year as the government’s effort to introduce transparency in a sector projected to hit $30 billion by 2033. The government also expects the platform to spark explosive growth as it opens up the local market to millions of global real estate investors.
Egypt has already offered 25,000 units to its citizens using the platform, and according to Elbatrawy, its performance matched that of leading global platforms.
“Egypt is now building a global-level property system. We are forming an Egyptian institution capable of leading the region, creating transparency and shaping a future that reflects the ambitions of the state and its young talent.”
Watch: Africans should start owning their data
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