Nigeria Web3 Funding Doubles to $43M, Stablecoins Dominate Market
Quick Reads
- Nigerian Web3 startups raised $43M in 2025, double the previous year’s total.
- 89% of funding went to stablecoin payments and fiat-crypto exchanges.
- Of 82 deals recorded, 73 were grants, not equity investments.
- On-chain transaction value hit $92 billion, up 56% year-on-year.
- Nigeria’s SEC raised the capital threshold for Digital Asset Exchanges to ₦2 billion.
Nigeria Web3 funding reached $43 million in 2025, doubling the previous year’s total. However, the numbers tell a more complicated story beneath the surface. According to the Nigeria Web3 Landscape Report 2025 by Hashed Emergent, 89% of that capital, roughly $38 million, flowed into stablecoin-driven use cases like payments and fiat-crypto exchanges.
That concentration is significant. Early-stage deals accounted for $13 million of the total, with most activity clustering around pre-seed and seed rounds. Furthermore, Series A funding returned for the first time in two years, though just one deal made it through. Despite the rebound, Nigeria Web3 funding still skews heavily toward its earliest phases.
Tak Lee, CEO and managing partner at Hashed Emergent, noted the momentum clearly. “A wave of stablecoin-focused startups is driving increased investment activity across the ecosystem,” he said. “Nigeria’s position as a global stablecoin hub continues to strengthen.”
Meanwhile, deal volume also climbed. Nigerian Web3 startups recorded 82 deals in 2025, up from 72 the year before. Nevertheless, 73 of those deals were grants, not equity rounds. That detail underscores just how grant-reliant the ecosystem remains, even as the headline numbers improve.
On-chain activity, however, told a more encouraging story. Transaction value rose 56% year-on-year to $92 billion. Additionally, stablecoin deposits grew more than 9,000% between 2018 and 2025. Nigerians are clearly using stablecoins, but mainly as money in transit. The ecosystem recorded an 83% withdrawal-to-deposit ratio, meaning users treat stablecoins as a payment tool, not savings.
Not every sector shared in the gains. Infrastructure startups, those building stablecoin rails and payment interoperability tools, raised only $4 million in 2025, down sharply from $11 million in 2024. Nigeria’s Web3 entertainment sector, including gaming and social apps, also fell 50% to just $1 million.
Regulatory developments added another layer to the picture. Nigeria’s Investments and Securities Act, passed in March 2025, formally recognised digital assets as securities under the Securities and Exchange Commission. Subsequently, the Central Bank of Nigeria launched a supervisory pilot programme in March 2026 to monitor stablecoin issuers and exchanges, including Flutterwave and Paystack, for anti-money laundering compliance.
Still, regulatory clarity lags behind the activity. The SEC also raised minimum capital requirements for Digital Asset Exchanges to ₦2 billion ($1.4 million), raising entry barriers for smaller operators. Overall, with over 110 startups and more than $170 million raised since 2020, Nigeria remains one of Africa’s most active Web3 hubs. Yet, the structure of its latest Nigeria Web3 funding cycle shows a market still in formation, growing fast, but not yet scaling deep.
