A production-ready backend bridging African mobile money (MTN, Airtel, Orange) with Stellar blockchain for instant cross-border payments and remittances.
# Mobile Money ↔ Stellar Bridge
A backend service that bridges African mobile money providers (MTN MoMo, Airtel Money, Orange Money) with the Stellar blockchain network — enabling low-cost cross-border payments and remittances across Africa and beyond.
## 🌟 The Problem
Sending money across African borders is expensive and slow. Traditional remittance services charge 7–10% in fees and take hours to days. Meanwhile, **500+ million people** across Africa already use mobile money for everyday transactions — but mobile money stops at the border.
## 💡 The Solution
This platform connects mobile money wallets to the Stellar blockchain, allowing users to:
1. **Deposit** mobile money (XAF) → receive Stellar tokens (XLM, USDC)
2. **Transfer** tokens across Stellar's network in ~5 seconds, for fractions of a cent
3. **Withdraw** Stellar tokens → receive mobile money in the destination country
The sender and recipient interact with their familiar mobile money apps. Stellar handles the cross-border settlement invisibly.
```
📱 MTN MoMo (Cameroon) 📱 Airtel Money (Kenya)
│ ▲
▼ │
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Mobile Money ↔ Stellar Bridge │
│ │
│ Deposit (XAF → USDC) ──► Stellar Network ──► Withdraw │
│ (settles in ~5s) │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```
### Use Cases
- **Remittances** — Send money home across borders at ~1–2% vs 7–10% with traditional services
- **Cross-border B2B payments** — Pay suppliers in other African countries without expensive wire transfers
- **Stable savings** — Convert volatile local currency to USDC via mobile money
- **Merchant payments** — Accept crypto, settle in local mobile money
- **D …