crypto infrastructure – Tech | Business | Economy https://techeconomy.ng Tech | Business | Economy Wed, 03 Jun 2026 09:06:43 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://techeconomy.ng/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/cropped-256Px-32x32.png crypto infrastructure – Tech | Business | Economy https://techeconomy.ng 32 32 Bitnob Launches Enterprise: Non-Custodial Infrastructure for Institutions https://techeconomy.ng/bitnob-launches-enterprise-non-custodial-infrastructure-for-institutions/ https://techeconomy.ng/bitnob-launches-enterprise-non-custodial-infrastructure-for-institutions/#respond Wed, 03 Jun 2026 09:00:31 +0000 https://techeconomy.ng/?p=182754 Most financial infrastructure was built in markets where payments already work. Bitnob was built where they don’t, and today it is making that infrastructure available in a new way.

The financial infrastructure company has launched Bitnob Enterprise, a non-custodial infrastructure platform designed to banks, fintechs, treasury teams and other institutions build digital asset products while maintaining control of their custody architecture, governance and risk-management systems.

The new platform allows organisations to access Bitnob’s wallet, payment, treasury, settlement, and blockchain infrastructure without transferring custody of assets to the company.

Bitnob launched publicly in 2021 as a consumer Bitcoin app. Over time, the infrastructure built to power its own products attracted growing interest from businesses, leading the company to increasingly focus on wallets-as-a-service, payments, stablecoin settlement, collections, payouts, and card infrastructure. Today, more than $4.5 billion has moved through its infrastructure.

As adoption grew, Bitnob saw customer needs split. Some wanted a managed platform that removed operational complexity and accelerated time to market. Others wanted to own the parts of the business that define them, such as custody, key management, risk, and governance. Bitnob Enterprise was built for the second group.

The next generation of financial institutions won’t outsource the things that define them, including how assets are secured, how risk is managed, how their customers are served,” said Bernard Parah, Founder and CEO of Bitnob. “Enterprise gives them the infrastructure layer underneath Bitnob without asking them to give up control.”

Enterprise supports non-custodial deployment, including external key management through HSMs, AWS KMS, and third-party signing systems.

Customers run their own treasury controls, approval workflows, transaction policies, compliance and security frameworks while leveraging Bitnob for wallets, blockchain connectivity, treasury operations, stablecoin settlement, and embedded financial services.

The platform is built for banks, regulated financial institutions, fintechs, treasury teams, and developers building infrastructure-intensive financial products.

For organisations entering the market, Enterprise is a path to launch digital asset products without spending years building blockchain infrastructure internally. For larger institutions, it is a way to add digital asset capabilities to existing compliance and operational environments while keeping control of customer relationships and internal governance.

Alongside Enterprise, Bitnob is introducing major upgrades to Bitnob Business, its managed platform first launched in 2022. The updated platform adds enhanced stablecoin swap capabilities including USDT-to-USDC conversion, off-ramp coverage across more than 110 countries, and a growing base of on-ramp coverage.

Together, the two products offer two ways into the same infrastructure: a managed platform for businesses that prioritise simplicity and speed, and an infrastructure layer for organisations that prioritise ownership and control.

The launch comes as businesses increasingly adopt stablecoin infrastructure for treasury, cross-border payments, and supplier settlement, and as institutions look to participate without compromising their existing governance, security, and operational requirements.

Bitnob Business and Bitnob Enterprise are available free beginning today. For more information, visit website or schedule a call with the sales team

About Bitnob

Founded in 2020, Bitnob is a financial infrastructure company helping businesses build, move, and manage money globally.

Through APIs and managed infrastructure, Bitnob powers wallets-as-a-service, payments, treasury operations, stablecoin settlement, card programs, collections, payouts, and embedded financial services for businesses across global markets.

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Kulipa Raises $6.2 Million to Expand Stablecoin Card Payments Across Africa, Other Markets https://techeconomy.ng/kulipa-raises-6-2m-stablecoin-card-payments/ https://techeconomy.ng/kulipa-raises-6-2m-stablecoin-card-payments/#respond Thu, 02 Apr 2026 16:36:40 +0000 https://techeconomy.ng/?p=178958 Kulipa, a Paris-based stablecoin card issuing platform, has raised $6.2 million in seed funding to expand its infrastructure and support global growth.

The round was co-led by Flourish Ventures and 1kx, with backing from White Star Capital and Fabric Ventures. With this, the company’s total funding now stands at $9.2 million.

Kulipa builds payment infrastructure that allows fintech companies to issue cards funded directly from stablecoin balances. These cards can be used anywhere card networks are accepted, including for everyday purchases and ATM withdrawals.

Stablecoins already handle more than $300 billion in daily settlements, but their use in everyday payments is still limited. The systems that connect blockchain-based transactions to traditional card networks are still fragmented and usually require large upfront capital.

Kulipa says its platform removes some of these limitations. It verifies balances and settles transactions onchain, reducing the need for prefunding.

At the same time, it takes on fraud liability for issued cards, which lowers operational pressure for its partners.

Stablecoins have proven their value as a settlement layer, but using them in everyday financial products is still early,” said Axel Cateland, Founder and CEO of Kulipa.

Card issuance is the bridge between onchain balances and real-world payments. We built Kulipa to give regulated fintech platforms the compliant, capital-efficient infrastructure they need to operate at global scale.”

The company operates what it describes as a local-first model, with regulatory coverage across the European Union, Argentina and Nigeria. It is also working on expansion into the United States through BIN sponsorship.

Kulipa launched its infrastructure in February 2025 and since then, it has issued more than 120,000 cards and signed 20 customers. These include Flutterwave, Solflare, nSave and Ready.

The company also reports a 70% month-on-month increase in transaction volume.

At Flutterwave, we’re focused on building payment infrastructure that works across markets at scale. As stablecoins become a more practical settlement option, it’s important that businesses can turn those balances into real-world spending,” said Olugbenga Agboola, Founder & CEO of Flutterwave.

Partnering with Kulipa allows us to extend stablecoin value into globally accepted payments in a compliant, scalable way.”

Kulipa has enabled Ready to become an onchain alternative to banks,” said Itamar Lesuisse, CEO of Ready. “With their infrastructure, we can issue globally accepted cards directly from stablecoin balances, giving our users seamless access to everyday spending in a compliant and scalable way.”

Kulipa was founded in 2023 by a team with experience across payments, compliance and technology. Cateland previously worked on Apple Pay and Google Pay deployments at Mastercard.

Co-founder and CTO Michael Shynar has worked at WhatsApp and Google, while Head of Compliance Benoit Roger brings experience from Binance and Nickel Bank.

Investors say the company is addressing a key gap in the market.

We’re seeing stablecoins moving beyond cross-border settlement and becoming part of real financial infrastructure,” said Ameya Upadhyay, General Partner, Flourish Ventures.

The missing piece has been compliant, scalable card issuance. Kulipa fills that gap by combining capital efficiency with multi-region regulatory coverage, enabling fintech platforms to bring stablecoin settlement into everyday payments.”

1kx Founding Partner Christopher Heymann added, “Stablecoins are reshaping how money moves globally, but for mainstream adoption, people need to spend them as easily as they spend fiat. 

“Kulipa meets users where they already are, starting with the card in their wallet, and gives businesses a turnkey way to offer that experience. We believe this payments layer is critical infrastructure for the next phase of crypto adoption.”

Kulipa says it will use the new funding to strengthen its infrastructure and support more fintech platforms looking to offer stablecoin-based payments at scale.

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The Future of Crypto in Nigeria Will be Built by Institutions, not Hype https://techeconomy.ng/the-future-of-crypto-in-nigeria-will-be-built-by-institutions-not-hype/ https://techeconomy.ng/the-future-of-crypto-in-nigeria-will-be-built-by-institutions-not-hype/#respond Mon, 23 Mar 2026 08:18:01 +0000 https://techeconomy.ng/?p=178263 The most dangerous moment in any industry is when everyone agrees it is working. Not because it is not, but because the conviction that the hard part is over is precisely when the hard part begins.

Nigeria’s crypto adoption numbers are real. The volumes and use cases are also real. Something genuinely significant has been built here, largely by ordinary people solving ordinary problems with extraordinary resourcefulness.

However, adoption is not the same as permanence. A market can be booming and simultaneously one shock away from cracking.

Nigeria has demonstrated, beyond any reasonable doubt, that demand for crypto is real and deep. What it has not yet demonstrated is the institutional architecture that transforms demand into a durable industry.

Those are different achievements, and confusing one for the other is where we could go wrong.

The hype will not disappear, it never does. There will always be new coins, new promises, new waves of enthusiasm, but hype is not a foundation, it is a phase.

The progression from useful to trust requires a different kind of work than going from unknown to popular. The skills that built Nigeria’s adoption story got the industry here, but they will not, on their own, take it where it needs to go.

Consider what institutional engagement actually unlocks. Right now, crypto in Nigeria works well for the sophisticated and the determined, people who understand the technology, tolerate the uncertainty, and have the experience to navigate it confidently. That audience is growing but it is not nearly large enough to capture the economic opportunity that is sitting right in front of us.

Institutions create the accountability layer that gives cautious participants, like the corporate treasurer, the business owner who cannot afford to gamble, a reason to engage, and in doing so, they unlock access to the kind of capital and partnerships that only move when trust is genuinely present.

A market built only for early adopters is entrepreneurial, but a market built on institutions is economic infrastructure.

That infrastructure attracts the kind of capital that changes the geometry of what is possible. Not the rushed kind that chases narratives and exits at the first sign of turbulence, but the patient capital that builds payment networks and financial systems that outlast the people who conceived them. That capital exists and it is looking, actively, for credible homes in markets like Nigeria.

Regulation has always been a key component of institutionalization. When done right, it is not a constraint but a foundation. Every industry that has ever crossed a meaningful threshold, in scale, in credibility, in economic impact, has done so within appropriate frameworks.

Nigeria has a choice. It can remain a market defined by bursts of speculative energy, or it can become a leader in building practical, scalable crypto infrastructure for emerging economies.

Everything required to build something significant is already present in Nigeria. The talent, the demand, the demonstrated appetite for better financial infrastructure. What does not yet exist are the institutions capable of converting all of that into something durable. That is the work. It has not started yet. It needs to.

*Bidemi Oke is the chief executive officer of FlashChange, a fintech platform focused on secure digital asset exchange. He is an entrepreneur and vibrant leader, recognised for driving innovation and redefining access in the financial technology industry.

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