Kebaya Mwamba, CEO of Mystocks.Africa, says the continent is “moving toward more open and efficient capital markets.” His comments follow the company’s announcement that mystocks.exchange, one of its flagship products, has been awarded a strategic grant from Coinbase and the Base ecosystem to accelerate the tokenisation of African stocks and government bonds.
The funding marks a quiet but important shift in Africa’s capital-market evolution. As global investors seek yield and diversification in a high-rate environment, digital assets linked to real-world instruments have gained momentum from São Paulo to Singapore. Africa, long constrained by fragmented markets and narrow liquidity pools now finds itself part of this broader shift toward 24/7, borderless financial rails.
“The support will advance Mystocks’ mission to build a 24/7 market infrastructure that gives global investors secure on-chain access to African assets while enabling local issuers to reach deeper sources of liquidity,” Mwamba said.
Mystocks.Africa aims to build precisely that. The grant will help the Botswana-built firm strengthen its backend infrastructure, pilot compliant tokenised instruments and deepen collaborations with regional market authorities. The goal is to give global investors secure on-chain access to African equities and bonds, while enabling African issuers to tap deeper, more reliable liquidity beyond traditional exchanges.
“The initiative positions Mystocks to pilot compliant tokenized instruments, strengthen its technology stack and collaborate with regional partners as Africa moves toward more open and efficient capital markets,” Mwamba added.
Tokenised real-world assets (RWAs) have emerged as one of the fastest-growing segments in global finance. Major banks, from JPMorgan to Standard Chartered, are already testing blockchain-based settlement layers. The World Economic Forum estimates that more than US$16 trillion in assets could be tokenised within the decade. For African markets often overlooked or priced inefficiently, the move could tackle long-standing challenges around transparency, settlement times and cross-border participation.
Mystocks.Africa currently provides access to more than 2,000 African stocks, powered by BridgeAi. Its platform, designed as a bridge between African enterprise and global risk capital, offers investors a single window into markets that are traditionally siloed.
Tokenisation could democratise exposure to African growth stories from Lagos-listed banks and Nairobi’s fintech champions to Botswana’s own mining and energy plays. For entrepreneurs, the model presents a future where capital formation is no longer constrained by geography, time zones or legacy infrastructure.
Industry analysts note that Africa’s push follows rising interest in emerging-market digitisation, climate-aligned investments and frontier-market venture building. With younger founders leading a wave of innovation from payments and logistics to renewable energy, the continent’s investment narrative has broadened beyond the usual optimism. Investors are now looking for instruments that combine real economic output with modern market architecture, a niche that RWA platforms are designed to fill.
The Coinbase-Base partnership sends a signal that Africa’s financial innovation is not peripheral but part of the global conversation. The grant is both validation and a challenge. This is the moment for African entrepreneurs to build with precision, not hype.
As the region edges toward more open, efficient capital markets, the Mystocks.Africa initiative illustrates that African firms are shaping their own financial infrastructure rather than waiting for global incumbents to do it for them. The development also underscores a rising truth, the next wave of African entrepreneurship is technical, regulatory-aware and globally connected, yet still grounded in local realities.
