- The IOTA Foundation is partnering with an African trade initiative to strengthen the continent’s digital trade architecture.
- According to a statement, the collaboration aims to accelerate adoption of distributed ledger technology across Africa’s trade ecosystem.
- This development could support IOTA’s price performance by boosting real-world use and demand.
IOTA has secured a significant boost in adoption after the launch of the Africa Digital Trade Access and Public Infrastructure Initiative (ADAPT) within the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
With the program now underway, IOTA co-founder Dominik Schiener said the initiative could mark the beginning of a major turning point for the decentralized network.
On Thursday, November 20, 2025, IOTA traded at $0.12, a modest increase over the previous 24 hours as broader market pressures continued to weigh on cryptocurrencies.
IOTA to power Africa’s digital trade backbone
This week AfCFTA launched the ADAPT program, which aims to transform Africa’s trading landscape by establishing a unified digital backbone for identity, data and financial transactions.
The pilot will be powered by IOTA’s distributed ledger platform.
According to AfCFTA, IOTA will play a central role as ADAPT leverages decentralized ledger technology to build a foundation for seamless, interoperable cross-border payments and digitized trade documents.
AfCFTA Secretary-General Wamkele Mene said:
“This is Africa’s roadmap for digitizing and modernizing trade: a system that replaces fragmentation with integration, friction with trust and inefficiency with scale.”
The initial rollout targets programs across Kenya and Ghana, with expansion planned across the continent by 2035.
The ambitious deployment is expected to incorporate stablecoin-based settlements and tokenized assets, all supported by IOTA’s technology.
A new era of African trade is unfolding.
“With ADAPT, we’re demonstrating how decentralized infrastructure can serve governments and businesses alike, creating a foundation for cross-border collaboration that’s efficient, secure, and future-proof” @DomSchiener pic.twitter.com/BGiePLLZEe— IOTA (@iota) November 20, 2025
According to IOTA Foundation co-founder Dominik Schiener, the partnership is a major step toward bringing real-world assets onto IOTA.
In a post on X, Schiener noted:
“Being chosen as a partner for ADAPT means we’re bringing our original vision to life. It’s an incredible opportunity to help build the digital infrastructure that will connect an entire continent.”
Schiener added that the ADAPT initiative validates IOTA’s long-term strategy, with future use cases including cross-border payments, tokenized critical minerals and digital identities.
Those remarks highlight IOTA’s potential, where increasing adoption could drive further momentum amid growing global use.
IOTA price outlook
The IOTA token has been in a downtrend since May 2021, when its price peaked near $2.10.
Despite recent volatility, the altcoin remains above the historical lows below $0.10 reached in March 2020.
Over the past month, IOTA has declined around 24%, and it is down about 14% in the past week.
While short-term price movements remain uncertain, the long-term implications of stronger adoption and real-world deployments are broadly positive for IOTA’s valuation and utility.