TechFlow reports that on May 19, according to official announcements, the blockchain infrastructure protocol project IOTA announced Kenya, Morocco, and Nigeria as the first countries to implement the ADAPT initiative. These three countries were selected through a rigorous evaluation process assessing their political commitment, regulatory readiness, maturity of digital infrastructure, and private-sector engagement.
Launched in November 2025, the African Digital Access and Public Trade (ADAPT) initiative is a continental effort led by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, co-developed with the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, the World Economic Forum, and the IOTA Foundation. ADAPT aims to build shared digital infrastructure for intra-African trade, covering digital identity, cross-border data exchange, and payment interoperability.
Implementing ADAPT signifies IOTA’s active development of concrete digital trade infrastructure—including establishing national ADAPT implementation forums, integrating digital identity systems and payment channels, and aligning national infrastructure with continental interoperability standards based on TWIN, the open digital trade infrastructure underpinning ADAPT.
Currently, ADAPT focuses on enabling real-time cross-border data exchange and digitizing trade documentation at the source—replacing paper-based processes with verified, tamper-proof digital records. Additionally, the three countries will begin piloting regulatory frameworks for digital currencies—including stablecoins—to lay the groundwork for faster, cheaper cross-border settlements.
