Paycrest

Paycrest is an open, decentralized payment routing protocol that bridges stablecoin and fiat currencies to enable fast, low-cost cross-border settlements — with a primary focus on African markets. The protocol uses Gateway smart contracts for onchain escrow, a smart routing engine to match orders with the best liquidity providers, and settlement tools connected to local payment rails such as bank transfers and mobile money. Founded in 2024 by Nigerian engineers Chibuotu Amadi and Francis Ocholi, Paycrest serves fintechs, wallets, payroll platforms, and DeFi protocols looking to move money between stablecoins (USDT, cNGN) and local currencies (NGN, KES) across 10+ countries in under 30 seconds.