Noah and NALA Launch Instant Stablecoin Settlement Network for Emerging Markets

Noah,  a global payments infrastructure provider, and NALA,  a global stablecoin payments company, announced a strategic partnership to build a new generation of cross-border payment infrastructure. Global businesses in Africa and Asia can now collect USD and pay out local currency in minutes, instead of days, bypassing a century-old banking system that costs users billions in fees.

The NALA-Noah network lets businesses collect USD anywhere and pay out locally in minutes, not days, closing an estimated $850bn annual liquidity gap across Africa and Asia. Powered by NALA’s infrastructure business, Rafiki.

For decades, cross-border payments into emerging markets have been defined by high fees, trapped liquidity, and settlement delays. Remittance costs still average close to 9% in many corridors. Businesses face chronic payout and treasury bottlenecks. Consumers lose value to FX spreads and slow rails.

Stablecoins change this when paired with real, regulated infrastructure. That’s what Noah and NALA are delivering.

By combining Noah’s global USD collection with NALA’s licensed stablecoin on- and off-ramp network, the partnership enables:

• Instant USD settlement
• Real-time local currency payouts
• 24/7 cross-border treasury
• Fully compliant, bilateral flows between digital dollars and local money
• All without relying on a banking system built for another era.

“For years, emerging markets have been underserved by global payment infrastructure that was never designed for its scale, speed, or realities. This partnership with NALA is about building a new payment network that removes structural friction, restores trust in settlement, and gives businesses and consumers reliable access to global money movement. Stablecoins are not the story on their own – they are the rail that finally makes instant, compliant USD settlement possible at scale.”

– Shah Ramezani, Founder and CEO, Noah

A global operating system for money movement

The Noah–NALA network addresses two structural bottlenecks in cross-border payments:global collection and local distribution.

• Global collection (Noah) Noah provides regulated USD virtual accounts, enabling businesses to collect funds via standard bank transfers. Funds are converted into stablecoins in real time, with Noah managing onboarding, identity verification, transaction monitoring, and compliance at the point of entry.
• Local distribution (NALA / Rafiki) NALA receives settled value and routes it through Rafiki, its payments infrastructure API. Rafiki connects directly to local banks and mobile money networks across multiple emerging markets. With more than 10 regulatory licences globally, NALA enables compliant bilateral flows between stablecoins and local currencies, supporting both on-ramp and off-ramp liquidity at scale.

The result is a fundamental shift in settlement mechanics. Where traditional transfers can take three to five business days, the Noah–NALA network is designed to settle value in minutes, operating 24/7/365 and independent of local banking hours.

Powering real-world use cases at scale

The partnership builds on NALA’s rapid growth as a stablecoin payments provider for emerging markets. NALA infra payments grew from $0 to $1B in volume in 18 months, 5x’d its business in the past year, and 10x’d revenue — driven by demand for stablecoin payments that actually work in emerging markets. Its infrastructure platform, Rafiki, has grown 30x in the last 12 months, powering partners including MoneyGram. Driven by demand for reliable, compliant, stablecoin-based collections and payouts.

“We built NALA and Rafiki to power global money movement into emerging markets, not just remittances. We’ve seen a 100x demand increase for stablecoin on and off-ramp in emerging markets over the last 12 months. Access to compliant USD collection and stablecoin settlement at scale has been one of the biggest constraints for global businesses operating in these regions. Partnering with Noah allows us to offer global account usage, where companies can collect dollars anywhere in the world and pay out instantly in local currencies, all through licensed, regulated rails.”

– Benjamin Fernandes, Founder and CEO, NALA

Unlocking new economic flows

The partnership supports a range of high-impact payment flows across emerging markets:

• Global payroll and payouts: Enabling companies to pay freelancers, employees, and platforms instantly, with full-value USD settlement and no reliance on intermediary banks.
• USD accounts and value preservation: Giving businesses and consumers access to USD virtual bank accounts directly converted to stablecoins, providing a practical hedge against currency volatility and inflation.
• Treasury and liquidity management: Allowing platforms and enterprises to move liquidity across borders in real time, using stablecoins as a settlement layer while maintaining compliant local currency access.
• Global collections and local distribution: Enabling merchants and platforms to collect funds globally in USD and pay out locally across emerging markets through licensed on- and off-ramps.

Building the settlement layer for the next billion

With digital payments in emerging markets projected to exceed $1.5 trillion annually by 2030, the Noah–NALA partnership positions both companies at the center of a new era of global money movement defined by: speed, liquidity, and real access to dollars at scale.

Not just better payments. A new settlement layer for the world’s fastest-growing economies.