We Built the Tooling We Wished Existed: The Infrastructure Powering Africa’s Stablecoin Boom

“I saw the importance of stablecoins while at Coinbase, within markets where the average consumer is pragmatic. They want to have access to a new asset class, but something safer, that can also earn more rewards or yields.” –  Morgan Williams

Stablecoins have been the centre of talk for 2025 in Africa, and Blockradar has continued to gain more attention with its unique approach to facilitating infrastructure directly to fintechs locally and internationally.

Its milestones intrigued us, so we reached out and had a sit-down with Morgan Williama, COO of Blockcradar. Her journey through the digital asset world is one for the books, showcasing steady progression and a drive to be part of something new, vital and transformations.

The Turning Point: Real-World Impact in the Philippines

Like most pioneers, William’s journey into digital assets started back in 2017 during Bitcoin’s first hype. However, what set it in stone was when she started working at Coins.ph, a leading Filipino e-wallet and crypto exchange, back in 2020, during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2020.

“It was really interesting to see how big a role stablecoins were playing back then in the Philippines concerning remittance. You could see in real time how instant and important the conversion from crypto to fiat”

The lockdowns crippled traditional income streams, causing a significant surge in play-to-earn games and the rise of platforms like Coins.ph.Witnessing the real-world use case and real application of digital assets, Morgan made a life-changing choice.

Blockradar wins first place in crypto valley startup

“I decided to double down and dedicate myself and my career to digital assets.”

With a clear goal in what she wanted to do, Williams shifted to Coinbase in Singapore. Here, she depended on her understanding of stablecoin’s appeal within the market, craving something more stable than cryptocurrency.

Blockradar’s Genesis: Born from Builder Frustration

Morgan, who now has a deep understanding of stablecoins, the market and was part of the Base launch, had a fateful meeting with Abdulfatai Suleiman, CTO of LazerPay at the time.

“I met up with Adbulfatai, and he told me what LazerPay was and what they were doing and how he was thinking about the next move. This interested me, and he later asked me to come on as an advisor, helping out with his market strategy.”

Blockradar emerged as a necessity that Abdulfatai wished he had while launching LazerPay. Along the way, he encountered major issues with crypto wallet providers who were “very opinionated.” This inflexibility hindered his ability to create the tailored financial service he envisioned, and many fintechs struggled with the same issue.

CHECK OUT: Quidax Report: How OTC and Stablecoins Are Changing African Payments

The tooling Fatai needed didn’t exist, so he built it: a secure, stablecoin wallet infrastructure that provided fintech throughout Africa with the flexibility of embed crypto wallets without worrying about the complexities.

Targeting Africa’s Critical Payment Frictions

“In emerging markets, especially in African regions, there is a heavy reliance on remittances. Cross-border dealings for some businesses are a day-to-day occurrence with some flows between African nations, Nigeria to Kenya. There’s also a large part of going to the East, from Kenya to China or Nigeria to South Korea.”

The challenges stem from dealing with traditional or legacy systems, like:

1. Costly, Slow Legacy Rails: Traditional systems like SWIFT, or convoluted processes converting fiat to dollars, involve multiple intermediaries, high fees, and frustrating delays.
2. Currency Volatility: Hyperinflation in markets like Nigeria rapidly erodes the value of local fiat currencies.
3. Integration Complexity: Fragmented local payment systems make scaling and offering seamless services incredibly difficult.

Blockradar provides a unique tangent; instead of facilitating stablecoin payments for businesses, they give the fintechs the infrastructure instead of building their own.

The Critical Choice: Why Non-Custodial Infrastructure Wins

To accomplish what they do best, Blockradar opts for non-custodial wallet architecture.

“There is a difference; custodial means that someone else is the custodian of your funds, meaning you don’t have to worry about your funds. While on non-custodial, you have the right and ownership of your wallet. ”

When Morgan mentioned how Abdulfatai had trouble handling an “opinionated” wallet, it was a reference to the inflexibility most custodial wallets possess. Such providers tend to dictate how and when the transactions are done and which blockchain you can participate in.

CHECK OUT: Nigeria SEC: Stablecoin Rules to Empower Users and Protect Markets

“Custodial works for people who are not crypto native… it provides a seamless exchange. It’s a simple process of putting in fiat, it’s converted to whatever asset they’re trying to buy and boom, easy.”

Despite the simplicity, it’s inherently restrictive, hence Blockradar came up with a unique solution allowing providing a secure, stablecoin wallet infrastructure that is intrinsically non-custodial but provides a custodial feel.

“For us, our focus is powering fintech with non-custodial infrastructure. Now, fintech brings in its beautified UX and UI layer they are already using. So now you have this ability where their customers have access and rights to own their custodial wallets.”

Blockradar bridges the gap, since their customers want to offer their clientele mass flexibility, treasury management and swap and bridge on behalf of customers, yield, and on-demand liquidity. It redefined embedded crypto wallets.

Building for Scale and Navigating Regulation

Transitioning from private beta to a platform processing over $100 million in transaction demands intense engineering focus. Morgan reveals how scaling was the first unexpected hurdle they crossed.  Blockradar prioritized resilient architecture with robust fallback mechanisms to handle high volume and ensure reliability.

“We had to design and know how to support customers who are bringing on thousands of transactions which are millions of dollars on a platform. Its was one of the things we worked hard to get right before the March launch.”

With large transaction comes regulators. Fortunately, Morgan’s experience within Coinbase, the world’s most pro-compliant crypto firm, enabled Blockradar to have a compliance-first mindset. While Blockradar is a tech provider, it still closely monitors regulatory developments locally and globally.

Morgan hinted at how Nigeria’s regulatory shift and the US’s recent announcements promoting non-custodial wallets are a serious win for Blockradar.

Advice for Web3 Fintech Builders: Focus on What and Why You are Doing

Williams offers grounded advice for aspiring founders eyeing the blockchain industry:

1. Deeply Understand the Problem: Don’t chase hype. Identify a specific, acute pain point experienced by a clear user base. Great ideas fail without this foundation.
2. Master Execution: Honestly assess how you will solve it. Good intentions aren’t enough; execution capability is paramount.
3. Know Your Competition: Research thoroughly. If others are tackling the same problem, define your unique advantage or approach.
4. Design for Diversity (Especially in Africa): Africa is not monolithic. Payment landscapes differ vastly (e.g., Kenya’s M-Pesa dominance vs. West Africa’s complexities). Build solutions that can adapt or plan for regional variations.

Today, Blockradar is in full execution mode, extending its features via partnerships and introducing new products.

“The team on the engineering product side of the house, Abdulfatai and the team, are cooking up some really great product features, they’re exciting, and it will be really helpful.”

The roadmap centers on enhancing their infrastructure to drive broader adoption across fintechs and deeper integration within the digital asset ecosystem