Shiga Digital

Shiga Digital is a multichain onchain banking platform that provides stablecoin-powered financial services to businesses and individuals across Africa and global emerging markets.

What It Is

Shiga Digital builds the financial infrastructure connecting African enterprises to global payment networks through stablecoins. Rather than operating as a traditional bank or exchange, the company functions as an onchain banking layer: users hold stablecoins as primary balances, execute cross-border transactions with same-day settlement, and access local-currency offramps without relying on correspondent banking networks.

The platform sits at the intersection of compliance and decentralized finance. Every service routes through licensed financial partners in each jurisdiction, giving Shiga a regulated path into markets where blockchain access has historically been blocked by legacy institutions or currency controls. Its thesis is direct: Africa's $100 billion annual cross-border liquidity gap moves largely through informal currency networks, and stablecoin rails can replace that infrastructure at lower cost and higher speed.

Core Mechanism

Shiga's architecture centers on a stablecoin wallet as the primary financial account. Users link their existing bank accounts to Shiga virtual accounts, which bridge local fiat systems and blockchain rails.

On the inbound side, Portal In converts fiat—GBP, EUR, or USD—directly into stablecoins deposited to a Shiga wallet. On the outbound side, Portal Out enables the reverse: withdrawing from a stablecoin balance into a named local bank account. Both legs settle same-day, replacing the multi-day, multi-intermediary processes that typify cross-border transactions through traditional correspondent banking.

For high-volume clients, Shiga STS (Stablecoin Trading Service) provides over-the-counter trading with personalized account management, block-trade pricing, and access to treasury liquidity. Enterprise clients access the full suite—virtual accounts, FX tools, treasury management, and enterprise payment rails—through a business-grade API and dashboard. Consumer-facing iOS and Android mobile apps extend access for individuals.

Multichain Support Including Solana

Shiga Digital operates across Solana, Celo, Ethereum, Polygon PoS, and Stellar. This multichain architecture lets clients route settlements through whichever chain best fits their liquidity needs, fee tolerances, or existing wallet infrastructure.

On Solana, Shiga integrates with USDC—issued by Circle—to settle transactions on one of the highest-throughput, lowest-cost blockchains available. Shiga holds Circle Alliance membership, indicating active use of USDC across its product stack. Solana's sub-second finality and consistently low transaction fees make it well suited for high-frequency, smaller-denomination payment flows that characterize African cross-border commerce. Where USDT flows are preferred by counterparties, Solana's SPL ecosystem supports that as well.

Supported Assets and Payment Rails

Primary settlement assets are USDT (Tether) and USDC (Circle). Fiat support covers GBP, EUR, and USD on the global side, plus local currencies including Nigerian naira, Ghanaian cedi, Kenyan shilling, South African rand, Pakistani rupee, and Indian rupee. The platform covers 18 African countries for local-currency disbursements.

International payment rails include SEPA, FedWire, ACH, and faster payment systems, supplemented by local settlement partners in each African market. Representative use cases include oil and gas companies converting naira to USD to pay suppliers, and real estate developers sourcing construction materials and paying international counterparties in USD, euros, Chinese yuan, or UAE dirhams without traditional intermediaries.

Regulatory and Security Posture

Shiga Digital holds a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license in the European Union (Czech Republic) and an Innovation License from the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), issued under Dubai Financial Services Authority oversight. The DIFC license, secured in 2025, reflects the company's UAE operational hub and positions it for Middle East and Africa trade corridors.

Shiga's compliance posture prioritizes licensed transmitter partnerships in each market over direct on-chain settlement without local authorization. User wallets maintain self-custody of digital assets. No independent smart contract audit reports are publicly linked, consistent with its positioning as a banking-layer service rather than a DeFi protocol.

Team and History

Shiga Digital was co-founded by Abiola Shogbeni (CEO) and Dami Etomi (COO), who bring combined experience in fintech, traditional banking, and decentralized finance. The company was established in the early 2020s and incorporated in the DIFC, UAE.

The team completed the Visa Accelerator Program for Africa (Cohort 4), a competitive 12-week program selecting 22 fintech startups from 12 African countries, with onboarding in Kigali and a demo day in Cape Town. In June 2025, Tether announced a strategic investment in Shiga to strengthen USDT-based services across Africa, alongside existing backing from DFS Labs.

Solana Fit

Shiga Digital represents a real-world payments use case for Solana rather than a native DeFi protocol. Its multichain architecture means Solana competes on merit in each settlement flow, and its Circle Alliance membership points to meaningful USDC volume flowing through the network. For African enterprises managing treasury across currencies, importing goods, or paying cross-border suppliers, Shiga provides a stablecoin-native alternative to correspondent banking built in part on Solana's high-throughput, low-fee settlement layer.