Noah, NALA partner on stablecoin cross-border payments

By Vriti Gothi

Noah has partnered with NALA and launched a new cross-border settlement network that uses stablecoin rails to enable near-instant USD collection and local currency payouts across emerging markets, particularly in Africa and Asia.

The collaboration aims to address long-standing inefficiencies in cross-border payments into emerging economies, where settlement delays, trapped liquidity and high fees remain common. According to the companies, the new network is designed to help close an estimated $850bn annual liquidity gap caused by slow settlement cycles and reliance on correspondent banking infrastructure.

Under the partnership, Noah provides regulated USD collection through virtual accounts, allowing businesses to receive funds via standard bank transfers. Once collected, funds are converted into stablecoins in real time, with Noah handling onboarding, identity verification, transaction monitoring and compliance at the point of entry. NALA then manages local distribution through its payments infrastructure platform, Rafiki, which connects directly to banks and mobile money networks in multiple emerging markets.

By combining these capabilities, the Noah–NALA network enables businesses to collect USD globally and pay out in local currencies within minutes rather than days, operating on a 24/7 basis and independently of local banking hours. Traditional cross-border transfers into emerging markets typically take three to five business days, while remittance costs in some corridors still average close to 9%.

NALA brings to the partnership its licensed stablecoin on- and off-ramp network, supported by more than 10 regulatory licences globally. Its Rafiki API enables compliant, bilateral flows between stablecoins and local currencies, supporting both inbound and outbound liquidity. The company said this regulatory coverage is critical to moving stablecoins from experimental use cases into mainstream payment flows.

The partnership builds on NALA’s recent growth as an infrastructure provider. The company reported that its payments volume scaled from zero to $1bn in 18 months, while its Rafiki platform has expanded rapidly and now supports partners such as MoneyGram.

The Noah–NALA network is positioned to support a range of use cases, including global payroll and freelancer payouts, cross-border treasury and liquidity management, USD-denominated accounts for value preservation, and merchant collections with local distribution. For enterprises operating in volatile currency environments, the ability to settle in USD via stablecoins while maintaining compliant local payouts is increasingly viewed as a strategic advantage.

With digital payments volumes in emerging markets projected to exceed $1.5tn annually by 2030, the partnership reflects a broader industry shift toward stablecoins as a settlement layer rather than a consumer-facing product. For Noah and NALA, the focus is on embedding stablecoins within regulated infrastructure to modernise how money moves into and within the world’s fastest-growing economies.