Pretium
“Can a stablecoin-to-fiat settlement layer for Africa become the payments backbone for both human and AI-agent-driven financial workflows across emerging markets?”
HQNairobi, Kenya
IndustryFintech / Cross-border payments
The story
Pretium (operated by XWIFT, Inc.) started as a stablecoin payments app targeting African consumers and merchants, enabling USDT/USDC to be converted into local fiat across M-Pesa, MTN, Airtel Money, and bank rails. The company expanded its developer offering with a Payment API and Checkout widget, then pivoted further in 2026 toward 'Agentic Payments' — programmable AI-agent payment infrastructure using the Model Context Protocol (MCP), positioning Pretium as a stablecoin-to-fiat settlement layer for AI-driven financial workflows across 7+ African markets.
Last 12 months
Product timeline
2025
Pretium launched on Google Play, enabling crypto payments for everyday transactions in Africa.· banking
2025
Enabled stablecoin payments via Payment API across 7+ African markets, bridging USDT/USDC to M-Pesa and bank rails.· pivot
2026
Launched Agentic Payments product, allowing AI agents to autonomously send money, pay bills, and settle invoices across Africa via MCP or REST API.· banking
2026
Featured as a startup bridging blockchain ecosystem with mobile money and banking rails at Africa Tech Summit Nairobi 2026.· pivot
The stack
1 layer disclosed in Pretium’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
Pretium Payment API (self-operated)
Accounting gap: minor