MENA’s first institution L2 partners with Africa’s leading mobile payment service to expand blockchain access to eight markets
ADI Foundation has partnered with M-Pesa Africa to extend blockchain infrastructure to the platform’s more than 60 million monthly users. The partnership outlines a framework for rolling out ADI chains across the eight African countries where M-Pesa currently operates.
The partnership will connect M-Pesa’s user base across Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Lesotho, Mozambique, and Tanzania to institutional-grade blockchain infrastructure. This collaboration focuses on creating digital rails for individuals and small businesses across these emerging markets.
Expanding financial access through blockchain rails
Since launching in Kenya in 2007, M-Pesa has bypassed the barriers of traditional banking and enabled millions of people to access financial services through their mobile devices. The collaboration with the ADI Foundation aims to build on this foundation by adding blockchain capabilities to M-Pesa’s existing infrastructure.
“M-Pesa has been great in terms of financial inclusion,” said Huy Nguyen Triu, a Trustee on the ADI Foundation Advisory Board. “Our view is that we can take it even further by providing the right digital infrastructure for both individuals and small businesses. The Foundation’s infrastructure can serve as a building block to accelerate digital transformation.”
African markets are demonstrating demand for digital asset infrastructure. Data from the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission shows that there was $50 billion in crypto trading in the 12 months ending June 2024. Blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis has documented the heavy use of stablecoins in cross-border commerce, particularly in the energy sector and merchant payments between Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
The mobile money infrastructure that M-Pesa has established across eight countries provides the foundation for extending blockchain capabilities to both individual users and small and medium-sized businesses.
Commenting on the potential partnership, Sitoyo Lopokoit, CEO of M-Pesa Africa, a joint venture between Safaricom and Vodacom, said: “We are excited to partner with the ADI Foundation and leverage their expertise in new technologies and how they transform financial services.”
Strategic focus on African market
M-Pesa represents the ADI Foundation’s most significant African partnership to date. Nguyen Triu said African users will be a major part of the foundation’s goal of getting 1 billion people on blockchain by 2030.
Africa has become an important market for blockchain infrastructure. 42% of adults in sub-Saharan Africa remain unbanked, leaving hundreds of millions of people without access to traditional financial systems. However, the demand for digital financial solutions is clear. Africans are embracing cryptocurrencies to hedge against currency fluctuations, and stablecoins are particularly attractive because they are dollar-pegged. Mobile money platforms like M-Pesa are already demonstrating how digital infrastructure can reach people who traditional banks can’t reach.
ADI Chain solves specific issues that are slowing institutional blockchain adoption across African markets. This infrastructure provides a regulatory compliance framework that works within local requirements, transactional infrastructure works within existing payment rails, security standards meet government expectations, and allows institutions to deploy blockchain technology without compromising sovereignty or control.
ADI Chain also plans to support cross-border payment settlement for Abu Dhabi-based companies operating across international markets through a dirham-backed stablecoin in early 2026.
The ADI Foundation currently maintains active partnerships across 20 countries, with more than 50 institutions, companies, and government projects preparing to deploy to the network.
technology base
First, Abu Dhabi Bank and IHC will issue a UAE dirham-backed stablecoin on the ADI chain under the regulatory supervision of the UAE Central Bank. This structure creates a compliance blueprint for mobile money platforms to evaluate blockchain integration.
ADI Chain’s architecture is based on three core principles: regulatory compliance built into the infrastructure level, operational efficiency through advanced cryptography, and institutional-grade security protocols. This network implements ZKsync’s Airbender technology and represents the first operational deployment of this zero-knowledge proof system. ADI infrastructure partners include Alchemy for reliable RPC infrastructure and real-time data services, WalletConnect for wallet and application connectivity, and Covalent for indexing blockchain data.
Sirius International Holding, the technology arm of IHC, MENA’s largest listed conglomerate, established the ADI Foundation in December 2024. The foundation operates in Abu Dhabi with a specific mission to create government-grade blockchain systems that work within the operational constraints of emerging market governments and financial institutions.
The M-Pesa partnership provides a model for how to add blockchain capabilities to existing mobile money platforms with proven reach through purpose-built infrastructure designed for regulatory environments in developing countries. For M-Pesa, blockchain integration will enable cross-border payment settlement, stablecoin trading that helps users manage currency volatility, and access to digital financial services beyond traditional mobile money.
About ADI Foundation and ADI Chain
The ADI Foundation operates as an Abu Dhabi non-profit organization established by Sirius International Holding, a subsidiary of IHC. The foundation is building blockchain infrastructure for governments and institutions across emerging markets, with a goal of 1 billion users in the digital economy by 2030. Current ecosystem partnerships span over 500 million people.
ADI Chain serves as the MENA region’s first institutional layer 2 network for stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets. First, stablecoins regulated by the central banks of Abu Dhabi Bank and IHC will be anchored on the ADI Chain infrastructure. The network operates on principles of compliance, efficiency, and security and serves government blockchain deployments across markets in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. For more information, please visit our official website, LinkedIn, and X.
