Puts African focused payment providers at the world’s center stage.
Twitter has announced that its tipping feature is now available to its Nigerian users. As an added bonus, along side Bitcoin and Ethereum wallet address support, Twitter has added pan-African payment solutions Paga and Flutterwave as payment providers for its new feature.
Twitter started its tipping feature in September of 2021, supporting Bitcoin via the lightning network, as a way for people to send money through cryptocurrency and other means on its social media platform. Although criticized, the feature is used by a large number of the people in the country the feature is supported.
The inclusion of additional African-focused payment providers to Twitter’s Tips feature shows that the social media giant is trying to create access and bridge the gap between Africa and the rest of the world. It also shows the microblogging site’s willingness to create opportunities for people on the African continent especially now that it has set up an office in Ghana.
- Nigeria is not the only African country that now supports the feature. As you would expect, Ghana is also on the list. Outside Africa, the firm added India to the list and also added an Indian-focused payment provider, Paytm.
- Flutterwave and Paga are companies both leading when it comes to the payment and financial services ecosystem of Africa. Flutterwave in particular will use its by-product known as Barter, on the tipping feature. Barter is a web and mobile app that allows its users to send and receive money from abroad instantly, and safely, at affordable rates.
- Flutterwave also made news as the firm was able to raise $250 million in funding round led by B Capital Group and also saw participation from Alta Park Capital, Whale Rock Capital, Lux Capital among others while existing investors involved include Glynn Capital, Avenir Growth, Tiger Global, Green Visor Capital and Salesforce Ventures. This funding round put the company’s valuation at $3 billion.
Commenting on its inclusion, Olugbenga Agboola, the CEO and Founder of Flutterwave stated, “As a frequent Twitter user, creators, artists and businesses add immense value to my experience on the platform —creating an avenue to reward or tip them is a good step in the right direction by Twitter.
“So we’re excited to be partnering with them to create a safe, fast and easy way to tip these amazing creators through Barter by Flutterwave. We have the reach and abilities to enable creators from Africa to receive tips from parts of the world. I will likely be one of the biggest users of Tips, and that’s because it’s an awesome feature that has huge potential for the creator economy in Africa.”
Tayo Oviosu, the Founder and CEO of Paga stated, “Our mission at Paga is to simplify payments for individuals and businesses. Through this partnership with Twitter, via Tips, we can create an effective way for Creators to get paid into their Paga accounts, directly from Twitter. As an avid Twitter user, I’m thrilled about this partnership. Creators are a key demographic we are building for at Paga, and this partnership allows us to enable them to effectively monetize their work. We are really excited about solving payments in the most innovative ways, especially with companies such as Twitter.”
This puts African focused payment providers at the world’s center stage and shows the capability of what these two platforms are building and able to provide for their users. It also marks a major step forward for cryptocurrencies as the feature will further encourage more people to participate in the economy and help people send each other money across borders and with as little friction as possible.
