Noah has partnered with NALA, a global stablecoin payments company, to support an improved cross-border payment infrastructure that utilises stablecoins.
With this alliance, businesses in Asia and Africa can now collect USD and exchange it for local currency in minutes rather than days, bypassing an outdated banking system that costs users billions in fees.
New solutions for global money movement
Cross-border payments in emerging markets have faced challenges due to high fees, trapped liquidity, and long settlement times. Remittance costs still average almost 9% in many corridors, while businesses struggle with payout and treasury difficulties, which makes consumers lose value to slow rails and FX spreads.
Stablecoins can help when paired with regulated infrastructure. By combining Noah’s global USD collection with NALA’s licensed stablecoin on- and off-ramp network, the partnership brings significant benefits. The new framework allows businesses to collect USD anywhere and pay out locally, closing an estimated USD 850 billion annual liquidity gap in the mentioned regions. This is possible by leveraging NALA’s payments infrastructure API, Rafiki.
The solution offers instant USD settlement, real-time local currency payouts, 24/7 cross-border treasury, and fully compliant flows between digital USD and local money. Noah offers regulated USD virtual accounts, enabling businesses to collect funds via bank transfers. Funds will be converted into stablecoins in real time, and Noah manages onboarding, identity verification, transaction monitoring, and compliance.
For local distribution, NALA receives settled value through Rafiki, which connects to local banks and mobile money networks across multiple emerging markets. With over 10 regulatory licences globally, NALA enables bilateral flows between stablecoins and local currencies, supporting on-ramp and off-ramp liquidity.
With digital payments expected to exceed USD 1.5 trillion annually in emerging markets by 2030, the Noah-NALA collaboration aims to transform global money movement by offering speed, liquidity, and access to USD.
