How Cedar Makes Cross-Border Payments Simpler for African Businesses with Busha Business

Cedar is a cross-border B2B payments fintech that leverages stablecoins to streamline international transactions while keeping the experience simple and familiar. 

Serving a diverse range of businesses with a strong presence in Nigeria, Kenya, and Ivory Coast, Cedar enables timely, compliant payments for businesses navigating global trade.

Challenge

For an African business paying a supplier in Shenzhen or Norway, the expectation is simple: secure, reliable, cross-border payments that arrive on time.

Cedar launched its operations in early 2024. In the months that followed, its cross-border payments network expanded rapidly, connecting businesses across more than 130 countries.

The company’s rapid growth brought with it a critical challenge: building a robust payments infrastructure capable of handling high transaction volumes while maintaining strict compliance standards. 

In Nigeria, this meant finding a reliable way to collect Naira from merchants and convert it into stablecoins for international settlement. The team had to find a partner that was not only regulated and reliable but also aligned with Cedar’s stringent compliance processes. 

As Maya Har Noy, VP of Financial Strategy at Cedar, explains, “We were searching for a partner that is regulated, that works properly, and has the same compliance outlook on both the funds flow and the onboarding of merchants as we have within our company. There aren’t so many companies like that across the region.”

Moreover, Cedar faced a significant operational bottleneck. Each merchant required a trackable balance, and managing dozens of businesses through a single shared account would have led to manual reconciliation and increased the risk of errors. 

Solution

Cedar chose Busha Business as one of its infrastructure partners, primarily because Busha is one of the few Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) licensed by Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This regulatory compliance was crucial for Cedar, whose CEO, Benjy Feinberg, holds a steadfast rule: stay compliant.

On the operational front, Busha Business’s subaccount infrastructure proved to be a game-changer. Each merchant Cedar onboards receives a dedicated Nigerian bank account and wallet address, ensuring that every transaction is trackable and separate. This setup eliminates the need for manual reconciliation and allows Cedar to manage its operations more efficiently. When a merchant’s customer deposits Naira, Busha converts it into stablecoins, which Cedar then routes through its network of off-ramp partners in the US, Europe, and Hong Kong.

Cedar leverages Busha’s APIs and self-serve dashboard for seamless onboarding, fund tracking, and reporting. The dashboard’s user-friendly interface and robust API integration enable Cedar’s team to handle all transactions independently. “It really works smoothly.” Teodora Rubisa, Head of Operations at Cedar, notes, “The Busha dashboard is so intuitive that our team can handle everything without needing constant support.”

Outcome

Busha Business provided the infrastructure Cedar needed to support its growing payment operations in Nigeria and scale more effectively. At its peak, Cedar processed hundreds of millions of Naira in transactions through the platform.

With each merchant operating through a dedicated bank account and wallet address, Cedar gained clearer visibility into individual transactions and balances, making it easier to manage its growing network without the operational friction of a shared account structure.

The result was a more reliable payment experience for Cedar’s customers, helping the company deliver international payments on time while maintaining the compliance standards required to operate across multiple markets. As Maya Har Noy, VP of Financial Strategy at Cedar, puts it: “It’s safe to say with Busha Business, we’ve been able to deliver on our promise of timely payments that also meet compliance.”

Products used

1. Business API: Cedar uses the Busha Business API to connect its systems to Busha's payment and stablecoin infrastructure.
2. Subaccounts: Cedar uses subaccounts to give each merchant a dedicated bank account and wallet address, making it easier to track individual balances and transactions.
3. Business Dashboard: Cedar uses the self-serve dashboard to manage customer accounts and monitor transaction activity from one place.
4. Stablecoin On-Ramp: Cedar uses Busha Business's on-ramp infrastructure to convert the Naira it collects into stablecoins for cross-border settlement.

‍Ready to scale your global payment flows like Cedar? 

Busha Business gives you licensed, API-first infrastructure for on- and off-ramp stablecoin settlement, so you can move high volumes across borders, securely, reliably, and at scale. 

‍Talk to our team.