Why are you participating for Based Africa?

As a team deeply committed to fostering solutions that address real-world challenges, Paycrest’s participation in Based Africa stems from a genuine belief in the transformative potential of blockchain technology. Our motivation is grounded in a desire to empower local communities with tools that bridge financial divides and promote economic inclusivity.

In many African communities, access to global financial or onchain services remains limited, slowing down growth and creating barriers to participation in the global economy. At Paycrest, we see these obstacles firsthand. They fuel our drive to create basepay.link, a product that generates unique ‘linked addresses’ - onchain representations of users’ bank or mobile money accounts. These linked addresses enable anyone to receive stablecoins and have them automatically settled as local currency in their traditional financial accounts, seamlessly bridging the gap between decentralized and traditional finance.

What challenges are you focusing on?

In our African communities, we’re tackling three interconnected challenges that significantly impact local economic growth and financial inclusion:

The Crypto-to-Bank Account Friction: The primary challenge we’re addressing is the complex, time-consuming process of converting cryptocurrency to local currency. Currently, many Africans who receive crypto payments must navigate multiple platforms, endure long waiting periods, and pay excessive fees to access their funds in their bank accounts. This friction point discourages crypto adoption and limits economic opportunities, particularly for freelancers, digital creators, and small business owners who could benefit from global payment systems.

Financial Literacy and Blockchain Adoption Barriers: There’s a significant knowledge gap in our communities regarding blockchain technology. Many potential users, especially merchants and local businesses, shy away from crypto payments not because they don’t see the value, but because the technology seems overwhelming. The technical complexity of managing wallets, understanding gas fees, and handling crypto addresses creates a barrier that prevents widespread adoption.

Payment Settlement Delays and Cross-Border Transaction Costs: Traditional cross-border payments remain a major pain point, with settlement times often taking 3-5 business days and fees consuming up to 10% of the transaction value. This particularly affects small businesses engaging in regional and global trades and families receiving remittances, forcing them to either absorb high costs or use informal, risky channels.

How does your submission address this challenge?

Technical Solution

• Generate a unique linked address that serves as a unified endpoint for receiving crypto payments into local bank or mobile money accounts
• Generate personalized payment links that can be shared as a payment receipt to anyone
• Make the payment links more user-friendly (readable and memorable) by enabling Basenames
• When crypto payments are received, they’re automatically converted and deposited into the bank or mobile money account
• The entire flow happens in seconds, not days

Key Features

1. Instant Settlement

• Automated conversion and settlement to local accounts in seconds

2. Simplified User Experience

• Create embedded wallet by signing up with email
• Onboard users onchain in minutes
• No wallet management required
• Simple dashboard for transaction monitoring

3. Cost-Effective

• Leverages Base’s low-cost infrastructure
• Zero processing fees compared to traditional remittance services

Potential Impact

1. Economic Empowerment

• Enable 10M+ local businesses to accept crypto payments in fiat
• Opens up global market access for African freelancers and digital creators
• Reduces remittance costs for millions of families

2. Financial Inclusion

• Brings blockchain benefits to the unbanked/underbanked population via mobile money
• Empowers local merchants with modern payment solutions

3. Market Growth

• Projected to facilitate $20M+ in transactions within first year
• Potential to scale across multiple African countries and beyond
• Creates new opportunities for cross-border trade

4. Educational Impact

• Introduces blockchain technology through real-world use cases
• Builds trust in cryptocurrency through reliable service delivery
  Our solution doesn’t just solve technical problems – it creates a new paradigm for financial transactions in Africa. By making blockchain technology accessible and practical, Basepay paves the way for broader adoption and economic growth across the continent.

Challenges we ran into

We initially tried resolving Basenames to addresses using Thirdweb SDK but realized it didn't work due to IP restrictions and required a VPN. This made us look closer into the OnchainKit library until we discovered we could also do the same but without IP restriction issues.