Singapore-based fintech startup SQRIL said on Sunday it has expanded into Tanzania, Kenya, and South Africa, enabling stablecoin-to-fiat QR payments and mobile money till integration across all three markets.
The company said users can pay local merchants using USD stablecoins by scanning national QR standards or entering mobile money till numbers. SQRIL handles real-time conversion into local fiat currencies, Tanzanian shilling (TZS), Kenyan shilling (KES), and South African rand (ZAR), so merchants receive settlement in their home currency. The service supports M-Pesa compatibility.
SQRIL is offering stablecoin-funded checkout while keeping the local payment experience unchanged on the merchant side.
SQRIL is backed by Plan B VC Fund, which it describes as including Tether and Fulgur Ventures. Tether invested in the company earlier this year to support stablecoin-based QR payment infrastructure across emerging markets, Electronic Payments International reported.
“I believe we are at the early stages of instant payment interoperability between banks, ewallets and merchants of different countries, and SQRIL plans to be an important part of that infrastructure,” said Malcolm Weed, founder and CEO of SQRIL.
Regulatory backdrop
The three target markets each carry different regulatory profiles. Kenya’s National Treasury has drafted rules that would require stablecoin issuers operating in the country to hold at least 30% of backing assets in Kenyan banks. South Africa’s central bank flagged stablecoins as a financial risk in late 2025, citing gaps in the current regulatory framework. Tanzania is less focused on stablecoin-specific regulation but has deep mobile money penetration, with 72% of SIM cards linked to mobile money services by the end of 2025.
The Africa push follows SQRIL’s earlier rollout in the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia. The company says banks, neobanks, and fintech apps can integrate with its APIs to let their users scan and pay local QR codes across Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
