Grey pitches direct China payments to African businesses at Moonshot

Grey is offering businesses direct payments to Chinese bank accounts to reduce currency conversions and intermediaries involved in paying overseas suppliers, co-founder and chief operating officer Femi Aghedo told Moonshot by TechCabal in Lagos.

Demonstrating the service, Aghedo showed how Grey Business customers could convert dollar or stablecoin balances into renminbi and pay suppliers in China. The feature targets businesses whose international payments can pass through several banks and currencies, adding costs and delaying settlement.

For African importers buying from Chinese manufacturers, the service offers a more direct route to suppliers in one of the continent’s most important trading markets.

The expansion comes as Grey builds its business offering alongside its consumer platform. The company says it serves more than 3 million users across 70 countries and supports payouts to more than 170 destinations.

Stablecoins accounted for the largest share of Grey’s cross-border flows. Image source: TechCabal

Grey Business, launched in February, had processed $61.4 million in payment volume by June, according to the company. Stablecoins accounted for the largest share of its cross-border flows.

That mix offers an indication of how customers use digital currencies in their day-to-day financial operations. Grey allows businesses to hold USDC and USDT, transfer them, and convert them into local currencies when needed. The China payment feature extends that offering by allowing customers to convert balances into their suppliers’ required currency.

Aghedo’s demonstration also covered the more routine demands of managing a business account. Companies can hold dollar balances, issue prepaid expense cards to employees and control or freeze their use. They can make bulk payments by uploading a spreadsheet, using the exchange rates available at the time, or connect their own systems to Grey through application programming interfaces that automate payments.

Together, the tools position Grey Business as a service for managing international spending and company payments, as well as moving money across borders.

The commercial case rests on reducing friction in collecting revenue, holding funds, and paying suppliers. For a business earning in one currency and purchasing stock in another, each additional conversion or intermediary can erode its margin.

Aghedo’s presentation put the China service at the centre of that argument: businesses should be able to move from a dollar or stablecoin balance to a supplier’s bank account with fewer steps in between.