Meet Agbona “A.G.” Igwemoh, a Nigerian entrepreneur whose journey reads like a blockbuster script – college projects, family businesses, then the Web2-to-Web3 leap that few see coming. A.G got his start as BEAM Privacy’s Lagos Ambassador, growing its community on the ground in Africa. He later became the Africa Lead for BEAM and even Chief Marketing Officer of the Polkadot-based Kylin Network.
Along the way he co-founded Bictory Finance, a project on Concordium’s blockchain , raising over $6 million in private rounds and launching the Concordium Name Service (CNS) for easy, human-friendly blockchain addresses. (Fun fact: Bictory’s CNS lets you replace those nasty wallet-address strings with cute names like “agbona.ccd”.) A.G. even co-led Glacier Network, a data-storage blockchain (he’s still listed as co-founder).
Along the way he met his future co-founder Kparobo Abala at a Nigerian wedding, proving sometimes the best startup partnerships begin at the party. (His advice? “Pick your cofounder wisely, pick someone you like… you’re looking at them from a human perspective,” he jokes.)
Together, they’ve since moved full-speed into building Finna and Chiss Protocol: two DeFi projects aimed squarely at Africa’s money problems. “We’ve been in full business-building mode no holidays, just relentless work,” the Chiss co-founders admitted after winning Avalanche’s Codebase accelerator, quipping that their motto is “Make it exist first, then you can make it good later.”
Finna: Inflation-Proof Finance for Africans
Finna is A.G.’s first stop in this new chapter. It’s a Nigerian fintech powered by stablecoins – think of it as a mobile app that turns your USDC or USDT into low-cost Naira cash. Using Finna, individuals and businesses can borrow Naira (local currency) against their dollar-stablecoin collateral at around 4% monthly interest – a bargain next to local moneylenders charging 30% or more.
This means you keep your digital dollars parked safely even when you need Naira for bills or wages. One Finna user quipped: “It’s the best platform since Binance, please don’t turn shitty when you get big numbers,” highlighting how smooth it feels so farfinnaprotocol.io (okay, that was an actual testimonial on their site!).
Why does this matter? Nigeria’s inflation crisis is brutal: the naira lost over half its value in just one year. What was ₦500,000 in your bank a year ago buys only ₦250,000 worth today. Think of it like cooking expensive jollof – the price of ingredients keeps doubling, so you either eat raw rice or find a secret recipe. Finna’s secret recipe is stablecoins. By saving in digital dollars, Nigerians can preserve value while still living local.
As Finna’s blog points out, this lets Nigerians “minimize inflation exposure with low-interest fiat loans using digital assets as collateral”. In short, instead of selling your dollars for a smaller pile of Naira next year, you take a cheap loan and pay it back, effectively letting your stash ride out inflation.
And Finna isn’t just about loans. It offers invoice settlement and global payments, too. Small businesses can issue invoices paid in stablecoins, ensuring they aren’t left hanging by bounced checks or delayed transfers. They can swap between Naira and digital dollars instantly, or send money overseas with lightning speed. It’s like turning your smartphone into a pocket bank that never sleeps. (If you’ve ever sent Airtime or money via M-Pesa in Kenya, you’ll appreciate the ease here – only now it works with crypto and spans continents.)
Chiss Protocol: A Faster On-Chain FX Market
If Finna is about beating inflation at home, Chiss Protocol is about ditching the hurdles of cross-border trade. Chiss (named after the tenacious Star Wars character Grand Admiral Thrawn) is building a permissionless, on-chain foreign exchange (FX) market backed by stablecoins. In plain terms, it’s a way to swap currencies – like Naira to Turkish Lira or Kenyan Shilling to US Dollar – instantly and cheaply on the blockchain. Chiss won Avalanche’s Codebase Season 2 accelerator grand prize ($500K) in December 2023 to kickstart this mission.
Why does Africa need this? Cross-border payments are notoriously slow and expensive. According to A.G. and his co-founder, sending money from Africa to Turkey (or between many African nations) can literally take hundreds of days due to FX limits – and third-party fees of 5-10% per transaction practically eat up profits. Imagine waiting months to pay your Turkish supplier, while losing a chunk to fees every day. Chiss flips the script by enabling on-chain settlements that take seconds and cost fractions of a percent, using liquid stablecoins instead of scarce cash.
In other words, Chiss makes foreign currency swaps feel as easy as sending a mobile money payment. Using Chiss’s code (it’s built on Avalanche, the super-fast blockchain), an African trader can borrow or earn in dollars or euros instantly, without dealing with banks or license restrictions. It’s the global trade lane of the future – Africa meets Ankara with a jingle of smart contracts. The Avalanche blog sums it up: “Chiss Protocol is a permissionless, real-time, on-chain FX market for seamless cross-currency lending, payments & trade”.
Crypto Across Africa: Numbers Tell the Story
A.G.’s work fits into a larger pattern: crypto is already a lifeline across Africa. Chainalysis reports that Nigeria is #2 globally in crypto adoption, and countries like Kenya, Ethiopia and South Africa all crack the top 30 of global rankings. In Ghana, rampant inflation (42.5% in 2023) pushed citizens to crypto as a savings tool; Ghana is now the 7th-highest crypto adopter in Sub-Saharan Africa. In fact, stablecoins alone account for about 43% of all crypto transactions in the region, reflecting their role as a digital proxy for dollars.
Why the surge? Many Africans lack access to cheap dollars or banking. About 70% of African countries face foreign-exchange shortages, meaning businesses can’t get dollars to import goods. Only roughly half of Sub-Saharan Africans even have a bank account – but nearly 60% own mobile phones. That’s why M-Pesa and mobile money took off, and why crypto has too. In Kenya, for example, the ubiquitous M-Pesa system has made everyday Kenyans comfortable with digital payments; crypto smoothly piggybacks on that infrastructure, offering a “cheaper, faster” alternative to banks for cross-border remittances. Young Africans now send U.S. dollars via stablecoins to pay for import-export deals or even just relatives abroad, bypassing red tape.
In South Africa, crypto volumes are booming too: roughly $26 billion flowed into crypto last year, with both retailers and big banks (like Absa) eyeing stablecoins to hedge currency swings. Everywhere you look, a local startup or exchange (think Yellow Card, Luno, Bundle, etc.) is giving people a leg up. As the African Leadership Magazine notes, African youth are treating crypto “not just as an investment, but for everyday transactions and entrepreneurship”, even growing communities of millions on Telegram to share tips.
All this means A.G.’s timing is spot-on. Nigerians already use crypto to buy airtime, pay bills or send money – sometimes more often than they check their email. Finna and Chiss are simply offering new, tailored tools for those habits: stablecoin-backed naira loans and instant FX swaps. As one crypto executive put it, people in Africa “don’t care about crypto” per se, but they love practical fixes like faster payments and a safe store of value. Finna and Chiss slide right into those real-world needs.
Blending Business with Jollof and Humor
Talking with A.G. is like chatting with that witty friend who can speak tech and street slang in one breath. He peppers his English with local color: for example, he’s fond of joking that saving in naira today is like trying to keep jollof rice warm in a thunderstorm, it ain’t gonna hold up. With Finna, he quips, “we’re putting your money into a sufuria (pot) that resists even the hottest fire.”
He also riffs on Africa’s other debates. While Nigerians and Ghanaians famously argue whose jollof rice recipe is best, A.G says inflation is no joke for families. “Why fight over rice when your money’s burning?” he might say, noting that stablecoins let everyone eat from the same cost-of-living menu. And if stablecoins were dinner, Finna is the firm hand that keeps your portion safe from greedy cousins (hyperinflation).
As for mobile money, A.G. sees a clear parallel. In Kenya, anyone can send cash with a few taps on M-Pesa; A.G envisions Finna doing the same with crypto-stablecoins in Nigeria. He laughs that one day we’ll repay boda-boda (motorbike taxi) fares in USDC instead of naira. And he isn’t afraid of drama: after Codebase, he said “no holidays, just relentless work” – which in Africa translates to bringing home success like a well-cooked pot of egusi soup without a single burnt bit.
Through all the tech talk, A.G remains relatable. He loves a good jollof, he knows that many Africans need finance tools as badly as they need Netflix, and he isn’t above internet memes. But he’s deadly serious about solving problems. He told an interviewer that building Finna was about “reshaping access to financial services in Africa,” and that stablecoins are “key to financial freedom in emerging markets.” When asked why he went crypto, he’ll note that it’s less about speculating on tokens and more about giving people a fighting chance against currency collapse.
A New Recipe for Africa’s Economy
In the end, A.G. Igwemoh’s story is a reminder that African entrepreneurs are redefining fintech with local flavor. With Finna’s stablecoin-backed loans and invoice settlement, and Chiss’s on-chain FX market, he’s putting powerful tools in the hands of those who need them most. No longer do importers need to wait months for dollars, or households need to watch their life-savings evaporate in a year. Instead, an African farmer, trader or shopkeeper can hug their crypto like a family elder’s blessing – steady and reassuring.
It might not be as spicy as the jollof debate, but this is just the beginning of a satisfying new recipe. As A.G would say, first “make it exist” – and he’s already done that. Next comes making it even better, one laugh (and one fintech hack) at a time.
🎙️ Want to hear A.G. tell his story in his own words?
Don’t miss our exclusive TawkCrypto Podcast episode with Agbona “A.G.” Igwemoh, where he breaks down, the backstory behind Finna, and what’s next for crypto in Africa.
And get inspired by one of Africa’s boldest blockchain builders.
