Finery Markets, one of the most recognized names in non-custodial crypto ECN (Electronic Communication Network) and SaaS trading infrastructure, has officially announced a strategic partnership with Cape Town-based OVEX, a fintech company laser-focused on cross-border payments and digital asset access across the African continent. The collaboration is being hailed as a landmark moment for crypto adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa, and for good reason.
What’s the Deal, Exactly?
Under the terms of the agreement, OVEX becomes Finery Markets’ exclusive partner for African rails, meaning OVEX is now the designated gateway connecting African markets to Finery Markets’ sprawling global institutional network.
That’s not a small thing. Finery Markets’ technology will now power institutional-grade liquidity provision covering:
- $450 million in monthly trading volume
- 150+ digital assets
- 26 African countries
If you’re tracking where serious crypto capital is starting to flow, Africa just moved up the map in a meaningful way.
Why Africa, and Why Now?
Here’s where it gets really interesting for crypto watchers. Sub-Saharan Africa didn’t just quietly become relevant, it became the third-fastest growing market for on-chain value in 2025. The region has been building out regulatory frameworks that are, by many accounts, more advanced than what you’d find in several developed markets. Institutions are noticing.
And stablecoins? They’re already doing heavy lifting here. According to data backing this partnership, stablecoins accounted for 43% of all crypto transaction volume in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2024. That figure is a clear signal that people across the continent aren’t just speculating, they’re using crypto as a practical financial tool for payments, remittances, and wealth preservation.
That kind of real-world utility tends to build stickier, more sustainable adoption than pure speculation. It’s exactly the kind of environment institutional players look for when deciding where to deploy infrastructure.
The Crypto Infrastructure Play: What Makes This Partnership Different
From a purely technical standpoint, this partnership is built on some genuinely differentiated infrastructure. Finery Markets holds the distinction of being the first, and only, crypto ECN technology provider offering all-in-one institutional infrastructure that bundles RFQ (Request for Quote), order book, and quote stream trading methods from a single connection point.
That “single connection point” detail matters more than it might seem. For institutional traders and liquidity providers, fragmented infrastructure means fragmented risk, higher latency, and operational overhead. Having everything accessible through one unified system is a meaningful competitive edge, especially when you’re trying to scale across a continent with 26 different country markets.
Through this partnership, OVEX can now push price distribution seamlessly to institutional counterparties across Africa, plugging them directly into global crypto capital markets without the usual friction.
Local Currency Liquidity: The Real Unlock
One of the most underappreciated aspects of this deal is what it means for local currency liquidity. OVEX has built out deep liquidity across some of Africa’s most important currency pairs, including:
- GHS – Ghanaian Cedi
- KES – Kenyan Shilling
- NGN – Nigerian Naira
- TZS – Tanzanian Shilling
- XAF – Central African CFA Franc
- XOF – West African CFA Franc
- ZAR – South African Rand
For institutions wanting to do large-block trades in local currencies, not just USD or EUR pairs, this is a game changer. Historically, that kind of deep local liquidity has been one of the biggest barriers to institutional participation in African crypto markets. This partnership directly addresses that gap.
What the Executives Are Saying
Konstantin Shulga, CEO of Finery Markets, didn’t mince words about the opportunity:
“We are incredibly pleased to welcome OVEX, a key player in the African digital assets market, to our ecosystem. It gives our clients an upper hand in scaling their liquidity provision operations globally, backed by a trusted institutional-grade setup. As stablecoins become a critical layer in digital finance, our partnership delivers enterprise rails to a market where adoption is accelerating at unprecedented speed and scale.”
The mention of stablecoins as “a critical layer in digital finance” is telling. Shulga isn’t framing this as a speculative bet, he’s describing stablecoins as infrastructure. That’s a perspective shift that’s been gaining momentum across institutional crypto circles globally, and it aligns perfectly with what we’re seeing on the ground in Africa.
OVEX’s Chief Commercial Officer Salman Allana echoed that sentiment, framing the move as part of a deliberate long-term strategy:
“At OVEX, we’re focused on building the financial infrastructure that connects Africa to global digital asset markets. Finery Markets’ ECN technology allows us to instantly scale price distribution across institutional counterparties. This partnership is a deliberate step in our broader mission to provide African market players with world-class trading infrastructure.”
The phrase “deliberate step” stands out. This isn’t OVEX stumbling into a partnership of convenience, it’s a calculated infrastructure move as part of a broader continental vision.
The Bigger Picture for Crypto Markets
Let’s zoom out for a second. What does this actually mean for crypto as a whole?
Africa has long been discussed as a massive potential market for crypto, but the conversation has often stayed at the theoretical level. This partnership is operational and institutional, it’s about actual trading infrastructure, actual liquidity, and actual institutional counterparties. That’s the kind of foundation that turns potential into volume.
The stablecoin angle is particularly significant. With 43% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s crypto transaction volume already in stablecoins, and with a partnership now in place to bring institutional-grade rails to the region, you have the ingredients for serious growth in stablecoin-denominated trading activity. That feeds into broader narratives around stablecoin regulation, cross-border payment efficiency, and the long-term role of crypto in global financial infrastructure.
