Alliance-backed Daya wants to help businesses manage money using stablecoins

As a Nigerian business owner, Tomiwa “Aleph” Lasebikan knows firsthand the frustration of trying to settle international transactions. His experience at Y Combinator-backed crypto startup Helicarrier, which he co-founded after leaving Microsoft in 2018, highlighted a glaring disconnect: while sending emails to suppliers abroad takes seconds, paying them can take days. This disconnect is a common problem for many Nigerian businesses that rely on international trade. Now, Lasebikan is betting on stablecoins to solve this problem.

Daya, Lasebikan's new startup, is building a payments platform that leverages stablecoins to help businesses access dollar liquidity, settle international transactions, and move money across borders. The startup has already raised $350,000 from Alliance DAO, a US-based crypto accelerator, in 2025. With this funding, Daya is poised to join a growing list of companies building financial infrastructure around stablecoins. These companies argue that blockchain-based settlement can revolutionize cross-border payments, much like the Internet transformed communication.

Stablecoins have gained significant traction in recent years. In 2024, they settled $15.6 trillion in transactions globally, a volume comparable to Visa's. By 2025, this figure grew 79% to $28 trillion, according to blockchain research firm Chainalysis. Most of these transactions are driven by economic needs, including business-to-business (B2B) payments, treasury management, and remittances. Daya's payments platform aims to tap into this growing market by connecting traditional banking systems with blockchain networks.

Daya's platform provides businesses with dollar-denominated accounts, converts incoming payments into stablecoins for settlement, and allows firms to move funds across borders or convert them into local currency for withdrawal in Nigeria. Founded by Lasebikan and Paul Joe in October 2025, Daya is seeking to capture a share in the global commercial B2B payments market. This market is massive, with a projected value of $47.8 trillion by 2032, according to US-based research firm FXC Intelligence.

While Daya's vision is ambitious, the Nigerian cross-border payments landscape is still far from seamless. Businesses often rely on correspondent banking infrastructure, which can be slow and expensive. The World Bank estimates that consumer remittances totalled $905 billion globally in 2024, a tiny fraction of the $31.7 trillion global B2B cross-border payments market. Daya's platform may not solve all of Nigeria's cross-border payment problems overnight, but it's a step in the right direction.

As Daya and other startups continue to build financial infrastructure around stablecoins, I predict that we'll see a significant increase in their adoption in Nigeria. The country's businesses will increasingly rely on blockchain-based settlement to speed up cross-border payments. While there are still challenges to overcome, Daya's gamble on stablecoins is a bold one that could pay off in the long run.

**Daya's success will depend on its ability to navigate Nigeria's complex regulatory landscape and build trust with traditional banking systems.