Paga, one of Nigeria's largest fintech platforms, is to begin offering tokenised assets to its users through a new partnership with the digital securities exchange TBook. The collaboration, announced on June 30, 2026, will enable Paga's more than 19 million customers to invest in fractionalised assets, including real estate and corporate bonds, directly from their existing accounts. The service is expected to launch in the third quarter of 2026, pending final regulatory approvals from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The move marks a significant expansion for Paga, which has built its reputation primarily on mobile payments, money transfers, and bill services. By integrating TBook's infrastructure, Paga aims to lower the barriers to entry for retail investors in Nigeria, where traditional capital markets have often been inaccessible to the broader population. TBook, licensed by the SEC as a digital sub-broker, will handle the custody and trading of the tokenised securities, while Paga provides the user interface and distribution network.
Tokenisation involves converting the ownership rights of a physical or financial asset into a digital token on a blockchain. Proponents argue this process can enhance liquidity, reduce transaction costs, and enable smaller investment denominations. "Our partnership with Paga is about democratising access to wealth-building opportunities," said TBook's chief executive, Tolu Osinubi. He framed the initiative as a step toward greater financial inclusion, allowing users to "start with very small amounts."
The development occurs within a Nigerian financial landscape that is cautiously exploring the potential of blockchain-based assets. While the Central Bank of Nigeria maintains a restrictive stance on cryptocurrencies for banking institutions, it has shown openness to regulated experiments in digital assets for investment purposes. The SEC has been developing a regulatory framework for digital assets, creating a pathway for licensed entities like TBook to operate.
Paga's foray into tokenised assets aligns with a broader trend across Africa's fintech sector, where leading companies are expanding beyond core payments into adjacent financial services such as lending, savings, and now, investment products. This strategy aims to deepen customer relationships and capture more value within a single ecosystem. The success of the offering will likely depend on user education, the performance of the underlying assets, and the stability of the regulatory environment.
In a separate development highlighting the continent's evolving digital asset space, Safaricom's M-Pesa has entered a pilot program for a stablecoin in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. That initiative, in partnership with Visa and the payments network Onafriq, focuses on facilitating cross-border remittances and merchant payments using a Congolese franc-pegged digital currency. While both the Paga and M-Pesa ventures involve digital tokens, they target different use cases—investment versus daily transactional utility—reflecting the diverse applications of blockchain technology being tested across African markets.