Breaking: IOTA Selected for Continent-Wide Digital Trade Infrastructure in Africa

This week the IOTA community is buzzing — and rightfully so. On November 17, 2025, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, together with the IOTA Foundation, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, and the World Economic Forum, officially launched ADAPT (African Digital Assets & Payments for Trade).

ADAPT is a public, open-source digital infrastructure built on IOTA that will digitize trade documents, enable instant stablecoin settlements (including USDT), and provide decentralized identities across all 55 African nations — with the goal of unlocking over $70 billion in additional intra-African trade by 2035.

Official AfCFTA / IOTA announcement (Nov 17, 2025)
World Economic Forum press release

Why This Is a Game-Changer for Real-World Adoption

Current trade barriers in Africa are massive:

• Border clearance can take weeks and cost up to 15 % of shipment value.
• Cross-border payments are slow and expensive (often >3 % fees).
• Millions of SMEs are excluded from trade finance due to lack of verifiable data.

ADAPT, powered by the IOTA Tangle, eliminates these bottlenecks:

• Instant verification of digital trade documents on-chain.
• Near-instant, low-cost stablecoin settlements.
• Decentralized identities for trusted participants without intermediaries.
• Real-time transparency through TWIN (Trade Worldwide Information Network) digital twins.

Pilot programs in Kenya and Rwanda already reduced clearance times from 6 hours to 30 minutes and paperwork by 60 %. Kenya goes live in Q1 2026, with Ghana and additional countries to follow rapidly.

CoinDesk coverage: “Africa Embraces Stablecoins Via IOTA to Unlock $70B Pan-Continent Trade”

What This Means for IOTA Stakers

Increased real-world transaction volume directly strengthens network fundamentals:

• Higher throughput → more mana and rewards distributed to stakers.
• Growing institutional inflows as trade-finance and stablecoin liquidity migrate on-chain.
• Sustainable token utility as Africa’s digital economy scales.

Want to see how rising network activity could affect your rewards? Head over to our APY Calculator, monitor your position with the Staking Tracker, and explore long-term growth scenarios in the Compounding Calculator.

The Road Ahead

ADAPT is only the beginning. 2026 will bring more countries online, deeper stablecoin integrations, and measurable GDP impact — all running on IOTA.

As Dominik Schiener stated: “We founded IOTA to create real-world impact. Today we’re delivering it at continental scale.”

Have questions about staking during this adoption wave? Check our FAQ.

Sources

• IOTA Foundation Blog – Official Announcement (Nov 17, 2025)
• AfCFTA Secretariat Press Release
• World Economic Forum – ADAPT Initiative
• CoinDesk Article (Nov 18, 2025)
• CNBC Africa Interview with IOTA Leadership

Last Updated: November 19, 2025