Ripple Backs Flutterwave to Drive XRP and RLUSD Into African Payments

TLDR

Ripple has made a strategic investment in African payments firm Flutterwave as part of its Series E round, valuing Flutterwave at $3.2 billion. Ripple’s dollar-backed stablecoin, RLUSD, will be embedded into Flutterwave’s payment infrastructure for cross-border settlements. The XRP Ledger will be used for faster clearing across African payment corridors. Flutterwave has processed over $50 billion in transactions and raised more than $500 million to date. RLUSD currently has a $1.6 billion supply, growing over 20% this year, while global stablecoin supply has hit $300 billion.

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Ripple has made a strategic investment in Flutterwave, one of Africa’s largest payment companies, as part of the firm’s Series E funding round. The deal values Flutterwave at $3.2 billion. Financial terms of Ripple’s specific stake were not disclosed.

Big news! @Ripple has made a strategic investment in Flutterwave as part of our Series E fundraising round.

We’ve spent years building our stablecoin infrastructure and today it’s live commercially with select merchants.

Together, we’re integrating RLUSD, Ripple Payments,… pic.twitter.com/hzP9GBcaLb

— Flutterwave (@theflutterwave) June 16, 2026

The investment centers on bringing Ripple’s U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin, RLUSD, into Flutterwave’s payment rails. Businesses using Flutterwave will be able to settle international transactions in digital dollars rather than relying entirely on traditional banking systems.

Flutterwave will also connect to Ripple Payments, the company’s global payments network, and use the XRP Ledger for faster transaction clearing. The integration is designed to cut costs and speed up cross-border payments across Africa.

How the Integration Will Work

The deal links Flutterwave’s existing infrastructure — which includes local cards, mobile wallets, bank transfers, and remittance channels — with Ripple’s blockchain-based tools through a unified API.

Selected high-volume payment corridors and remittance routes will use RLUSD as a settlement asset. Nigeria has been highlighted as a key market in the rollout, with both companies pointing to it as a hub for digital asset trade.

Reece Merrick, Ripple’s managing director for the Middle East and Africa, described the deal as putting “RLUSD embedded in Flutterwave’s payment rails” with “XRPL for faster clearing.”

Flutterwave said it is moving toward a “stablecoin-first” payment architecture designed to remove bottlenecks in traditional cross-border payments.

Flutterwave’s Scale and RLUSD’s Position

Flutterwave has processed over one billion transactions worth more than $50 billion across its platform. The company has raised more than $500 million in total funding over its history.

For Ripple, the deal opens a route into commerce flows already moving across African markets. Rather than requiring businesses to adopt a new network, RLUSD gets placed directly inside an infrastructure they already use.

RLUSD currently has a circulating supply of $1.6 billion, up more than 20% so far this year. However, it still trails rivals Tether, Circle, and Paxos in overall market share.

The global stablecoin market has now reached $300 billion in total supply, with cross-border payments emerging as one of the fastest-growing use cases for the asset class.

Ripple’s move comes as more blockchain firms look to embed digital dollar products into payment networks where foreign currency access is limited and remittances play a central role in the economy.

The Flutterwave investment gives Ripple direct exposure to a payments network that already handles billions of dollars in African commerce. How quickly RLUSD adoption grows within that infrastructure will be a key test for the stablecoin’s expansion beyond trading platforms.

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