Africa’s blockchain industry is consolidating its position as one of the continent’s most resilient venture categories, according to the fifth edition of the CV VC African Blockchain Report, published in association with Absa Group.
The report shows blockchain accounted for 5.3% of all African venture funding in 2025, nearly double the global average of 3%, even as overall capital flows into the sector contracted. In deal count terms, blockchain represented 6.9% of Africa’s all-sector activity, up from 6.1% the previous year, underscoring sustained investor appetite for the technology despite a broader slowdown in disclosed capital.
“Africa is not an emerging blockchain market. It is an arriving one,” said Mathias Ruch, founder and CEO of CV VC. He added that while global capital is consolidating around fewer, larger bets, Africa is widening its innovation frontier as blockchain becomes embedded in essential economic infrastructure.
Globally, blockchain venture funding rose 28.8% year-on-year to $15.4 billion in 2025, while all-sector venture funding climbed 24.7% to $512.8 billion. Africa’s $1.7 billion in total venture capital represented just 0.33% of that global pool, a gap the report frames as a strategic opportunity given the continent’s youthful demographics and accelerating digital adoption.
African blockchain startups specifically raised $90.1 million across 28 deals in 2025. Total capital deployed fell 26.6% year-on-year, yet Africa’s share of global blockchain deal activity climbed to a record 2.8%, with seed rounds accounting for nearly half of all disclosed funding.
Centralised blockchain services captured 67.9% of all blockchain capital deployed on the continent, spanning stablecoin-powered payments, digital asset banking infrastructure, tokenised real-world assets, cross-border settlement rails and blockchain-enabled credit systems.
Geographically, Pan-African startups led with 57.2% of total funding, followed by South Africa at 21.1% and Nigeria at 13.5%, with Egypt, Kenya, Ghana and Rwanda accounting for the remainder.
“Africa has already demonstrated its ability to leapfrog legacy infrastructure through mobile money,” said Jarryd Kennedy, CV VC’s Head of Investments Africa. He noted that blockchain and stablecoins are enabling the next leap toward a digitally native financial system that is faster, more accessible and increasingly interconnected across borders.
Regulation across the continent is also accelerating. Fifteen African countries now have formal digital asset frameworks in place, more than double the seven recorded a year earlier, reflecting a broader shift toward holistic licensing regimes and institutional-grade compliance standards.
“The African Blockchain Report is fast becoming the future ticker for the utility of blockchain technology across the continent,” said Rob Downes, Head of Digital Assets at Absa Corporate and Investment Banking. He added that institutions want secure, regulated infrastructure that allows digital assets to sit alongside traditional assets within the same trusted banking environment.
Beyond fintech, the report points to blockchain’s growing convergence with artificial intelligence, where it functions as a trust and coordination layer as African economies pursue greater financial and data sovereignty.
The 2025 CV VC African Blockchain Report draws on contributions from Absa Bank, Binance, Circle, BlockTower, Solcon Capital, SumSub, ZARP & cNGN and Yellow Card, alongside continent-based companies with global reach such as Turnstay, OkHi and Orca Fraud. It positions Africa as a globally significant frontier market for blockchain technology, and a compelling signal for investors, developers and policymakers worldwide.
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