Across the continent, we know the old way of finance no longer serves us. Africa’s cross-border payments market is already $329 billion and will be over $1 trillion by 2035 but fees are high and settlement times are slow. Over 57% of Africans have no bank account. In Nigeria alone, 64 million people are unbanked and women are more disadvantaged: 37% of women have a bank account compared to 48% of men. Meanwhile, mobile phone adoption is soaring: 527 million people have mobiles and 290 million have mobile internet across Africa by 2023 and the global cross-border payments industry, including crypto, is a quadrillion dollars. $1 trillion Over the past few years, I’ve seen financial innovation across Africa, from banks trying to modernise to telcos experimenting with mobile money to startups chasing inclusion. I’ve seen many promises and few deliveries. Gluwa is different. It’s not just another token; it’s a suite of products and partnerships that’s bending the arc of finance towards inclusion. Here are 8 ways Gluwa is quietly but profoundly changing finance in Africa and beyond. 1. Building a Decentralised Credit Infrastructure Most Africans who borrow from micro lenders or family are invisible to the formal financial system. Without a verifiable credit history, they pay higher rates if they get credit at all. Gluwa’s answer is Creditcoin, a public blockchain that records every loan and repayment. The network has already logged over 4.27 million loan transactions worth about $79.7 million and has served over 337,000 users. Partner lenders across Nigeria and other emerging markets record each loan on-chain so that borrowers build portable, tamper-proof credit reputations. Founder Tae Oh has said the mission is to make previously invisible credit histories verifiable. For borrowers, these on-chain records have meant lower rates and access to larger loans. For investors around the world, the chain offers transparent metrics. Over 2 million Nigerians have already benefited through Gluwa partner Aella, which has disbursed over 100 billion naira in loans. In short, Gluwa is turning reputation into an asset class. 2. Partnering With the Central Bank: Bringing Blockchain to eNaira In a region where central banks have been crypto-phobic, Gluwa signed a historic memorandum with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in early 2024 to integrate its Credal technology into the eNaira. The goal is to make Nigeria’s central bank digital currency more useful by adding credit functionality. According to the partnership documents, the CBN will issue application programming interfaces (APIs) that will link eNaira with Credal to make loan origination, tracking, settlement and scoring easier for local lenders. The partnership will also drive financial inclusion and eNaira adoption. At the time of the partnership, less than 1.15 million Nigerians had used the eNaira, so the impact could be massive. What I love is how this deal legitimates blockchain in the eyes of regulators. When a central bank says yes to on-chain credit scoring, it opens the door for other African monetary authorities to follow. Gluwa has already started talking to leaders in Liberia, Ghana and Sierra Leone about similar integrations. If successful, the eNaira could go from being a slow-moving pilot to a programmable currency powering micro-loans, merchant finance and even cross-border commerce. 3. Democratising Yield Through Real‑World Investments In the noisy world of “yield farming,” Gluwa takes a refreshingly old‑school approach: it earns yield by financing real businesses rather than trading volatile tokens. Gluwa Invest, through its Fixed‑Term Interest Accounts (FTAs), invites investors to deposit USD‑denominated stablecoins into deals offered by vetted fintech lenders. Depositors provide junior‑tranche capital to high‑growth platforms like Aella, Jenfi and Untapped, and upon completion, receive their principal plus interest. The company notes that deposits supply credit to the under‑banked and that investors can review credit performance live on‑chain. Gluwa’s Capital arm performs due diligence and risk assessments; yields reach up to 20% APR, substantially higher than typical DeFi pools or bank savings rates. I see enormous promise in this model. It plugs a $5 trillion financing gap for small businesses while letting everyday investors participate in the upside. Unlike a speculative “yield farm,” the cash flows come from real people buying motorcycles, paying school fees or expanding kiosks. This is where decentralised finance (DeFi) meets the real world. 4. Launching a Borderless Stablecoin and Non‑Custodial Wallet Gluwa’s founders knew early on that African entrepreneurs needed digital dollars. Gluwacoin is an interoperable stablecoin standard pegged 1:1 to fiat and issued by a regulated trust company. Unlike most stablecoins, you can pay network fees with the same token; coins are minted when fiat is deposited and burned on withdrawal. More importantly, Gluwa built a non-custodial exchange and wallet: instead of trusting an intermediary, you hold your own keys and can swap your USD-G stablecoin for Bitcoin directly on the blockchain. That solves two huge problems: counterparty risk and cross-chain friction, and allows migrants or importers to move value across borders without a bank. No hidden FX spreads, no waiting three days for a wire. For diaspora workers sending remittances home, or for merchants paying East-Asian suppliers, this matters. 5. Re‑imagining Cross‑Border Payments Africa’s cross-border payments are booming and the traditional rails can’t keep up. Formal remittance inflows to the continent are growing at 10-15% per annum and mobile money now accounts for about 30% of remittances in Sub-Saharan Africa, handling $16 billion in 2022. Fees are still high; mobile remittations cost 1.5-3% while traditional bank transfers are above 7% and the market is expected to more than triple to $1 trillion by 2035. The IMF notes that the global cross-border payment market (traditional and crypto) hit $1 quadrillion in 2024. Against this backdrop, innovations that cut intermediaries and FX spreads are not luxuries; they are necessities. Gluwa’s technology significantly reduces settlement time and costs. By recording payment obligations on the blockchain and enabling direct wallet‑to‑wallet transfers, the platform eliminates a gauntlet of correspondent banks. In regions where the Pan‑African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) and the African Continental Free‑Trade Area are seeking interoperability, Gluwa presents a complementary layer that could settle in near-real time. When combined with eNaira integration and Gluwacoin, cross‑border commerce looks less like a wire transfer and more like sending a text message. 6. Taking Finance to Space In 2025, Gluwa spun out a skunk-works project called Spacecoin and its first test made global headlines. The company sent encrypted blockchain data from Chile to a demo satellite and back to the Azores 7,000km away and recovered it intact. TechCrunch said this proved you could do transactions in orbit and hinted at an encrypted, tokenized access internet network called “Starmesh” built on the Creditcoin blockchain. The idea is wild: build a decentralized communications backbone so financial transactions and free speech can’t be censored by terrestrial gatekeepers. While still experimental, Spacecoin shows what Gluwa is thinking. In remote parts of Nigeria, Ghana or Congo, where broadband is unreliable or government-controlled, a decentralized satellite mesh could deliver internet access and payment settlement. The first test data traveled through space in milliseconds and proved you could send value across continents without touching a commercial telecom network. For Africans in conflict zones or under authoritarian regimes, this could be life-changing. 7. Championing Financial Inclusion and Gender Equality Gluwa’s projects matter because of who they serve. More than half of Africans don’t have bank accounts and women are the most excluded. Gluwa’s on-chain credit histories, mobile-first wallet and stablecoin are designed to work on the devices people already own. With over 527 million mobile subscribers and 290 million mobile internet users across the continent, there’s a ready distribution channel. Gluwa’s partners lend via simple Android apps; repayments, balances and scores are recorded on the Creditcoin chain. Over time, this could close the gender gap because underwriting no longer relies on collateral but on cash-flow and repayment data. When the CBN partnership matures, micro-merchants will be able to request a small eNaira loan directly in WhatsApp, build a credit history on Credal and graduate to larger facilities. 8. Building a Vibrant Ecosystem of Partners One of Gluwa’s underrated strengths is its ecosystem. The company isn’t trying to do everything itself. It has partnered with high-growth lenders like Aella, Jenfi and Untapped to provide loans, with wallet providers like SubWallet to improve user experience and with regulators to embed credit scoring into national currencies. It’s also talking to African governments beyond Nigeria. On the investor side, Gluwa has built a global community of yield seekers and even created an Investor DAO that votes on new deals. This network effect creates a virtuous cycle: more borrowers means more data, which means better credit scores and more investors. The Road Ahead It’s trendy for blockchain projects to promise “financial inclusion,” but few deliver. Gluwa stands out because it has regulatory partnerships, real-world lending and cutting-edge tech. The Creditcoin network already has millions of loans; with eNaira, it could bring credit scoring to every Nigerian smartphone user; its invest products generate double-digit yields by funding real businesses; its stablecoin and wallet enable borderless, non-custodial payments; its Spacecoin initiative takes transactions to orbit; and all of it is anchored on serving the unbanked and underbanked. I’ve seen firsthand how hard it is for everyday people to access fair and reliable financial services. That’s why I see Gluwa not just as another fintech experiment but as what’s possible when tech, smart regulation and human-centered design come together. It’s more than a partnership; it’s a path to a financial system that works for people, not just institutions.
