The African digital payments market is estimated to reach $1.5 trillion by 2030. However, informal traders and SMEs, who form the backbone of this massive transaction volume, currently still have to pay fees of 3% to 8% to make cross-border payments through traditional correspondent banking networks. This not only means they have to wait several days for transaction confirmation but also incur exchange rate spreads at every stage.

Today, Canza Finance, Arbitrum, and Tevau announced a collaboration to break through this industry bottleneck. The three parties have officially established a payment channel, allowing users to directly spend USDT in the real world.

Through this in-depth collaboration, Canza Finance will join forces with Arbitrum and Tevau to build an end-to-end USDT0 deposit and Visa card spending infrastructure, specifically designed to serve the cross-border trade ecosystem in emerging markets.

Bridging stablecoins with real-world payments

Canza's Autonomous Payment Protocol has already enabled efficient routing of stablecoin liquidity in key African payment corridors such as Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana. Now, this settled liquidity can be directly loaded into Visa cards powered by Tevau via the Arbitrum network.

For small and medium-sized business owners engaged in trade between Nigeria and Kenya, the entire transaction process will become extremely simple: settlement is made via USDT0, followed by direct deposit to a Tevau bank card, which can then be used anywhere in the world where Visa is accepted.

This not only means that you no longer have to bear the currency exchange losses of local banks, nor have you had to endure the three-day wire transfer confirmation period, but also saves you the 4% handling fee charged by intermediaries.

In this ecosystem, Arbitrum is the core pillar ensuring the network's scalability. As the world's most widely used digital dollar, Tether can now flow from any connected blockchain, be settled through Arbitrum, and ultimately be directly converted into real purchasing power in the hands of traders—Canza drives the transaction volume, Arbitrum provides the underlying network, and Tevau is responsible for issuing bank cards.

Stablecoins Enter the Real Economy

“For years, the stablecoin industry has been debating which network is faster. However, if users can’t spend their account balances in the real world, the speed between chains is meaningless,” said Lorenzo R., co-founder of USDT0.

“For traders in Lagos or Nairobi, transferring funds through intermediary banks can cost 3% to 8% and take several days, often amounting to giving away a day's hard-earned money to a middleman. USDT0, on the other hand, can complete settlements in seconds at extremely low cost. This collaboration extends this advantage to offline retail terminals (POS). Traders can settle with USDT0 on the same day and spend it directly at the counter. This is the key to transforming ‘inter-chain interoperability’ into ‘everyday usability,’ and it is the core value it demonstrates in markets that have long suffered from high financial costs while enjoying the worst service.”

Closed-loop payment cycle drives market expansion

● For Arbitrum: This partnership will inject transaction volume anchored to real commerce. Canza's payment corridor precisely addresses the cross-border payment needs that flow across the African continent each year. This is a huge, rapidly growing market that is increasingly migrating on-chain.

● For USDT0: Canza provides a powerful demand-side application scenario, expanding the reach and user base of Tether. The convenience of point-of-sale (POS) transactions is a catalyst for the everyday adoption of blockchain technology. This is expected to further expand the stablecoin user base from crypto natives to merchants, traders, and SMEs engaged in cross-border shipping.

● For Tevau: This partnership opens a gateway to the rapidly growing digital payments market. Leveraging Canza's existing payment corridor and user base, strong market demand is expected in the early stages.

Future Outlook

This is just the first phase. Early integration will primarily focus on depositing USDT0 into Tevau bank cards via the Arbitrum network, with Canza's settlement layer handling cross-border routing and exchange rate (FX) optimization at the front end.

From a long-term architectural perspective, this project aims to develop this channel into a fully functional consumption track for settlement funds based on CAPP (Multi-Agent Payment Protocol). This means that every cross-border payment routed through the Canza protocol in the future could potentially become a bank card top-up event. The business logic is very clear: more cross-border corridors, larger transaction volumes, and more active card-swiping behavior will collectively drive a higher USDT0 turnover rate on Arbitrum.

It's worth noting that this architecture is technically supported by LayerZero's All-Chain Fungible Token (OFT) standard. The partners stated that this standard provides a secure cross-chain bridge, enabling seamless conversion between USDT and USDT0, thereby helping to maintain consistent liquidity across all supported networks.

Regarding the parties involved in the cooperation:

● Canza Finance: Dedicated to becoming the settlement layer for stablecoin liquidity and real-world assets (RWA) in emerging markets. Its CAPP (Multi-Agent Payment Protocol) aims to achieve ultra-fast settlements within 60 seconds across African border corridors. For more information, please visit: canza.io .

● Arbitrum: An Ethereum Layer 2 network designed to provide a fast, low-cost transaction experience while offering Ethereum-level security.

● Tevau: Provides compliant bank card infrastructure that supports depositing stablecoin assets into bank cards across the global Visa network.

● USDT0: Designed to bring Tether assets to every blockchain network. For more information, please visit: usdt0.to .