Hamilton Labs receives backing from AXIAN to scale dollar stablecoin infrastructure in Africa

Hamilton Labs, an Egyptian financial infrastructure provider, has raised an undisclosed investment from AXIAN Investment, the venture arm of pan-African conglomerate AXIAN Group, to scale its dollar stablecoin infrastructure across Africa.

This funding will support the launch of Hamilton’s flagship stablecoin, USDh, and its expansion through integrations with fintech platforms to serve African consumers and businesses looking for dollar-denominated savings and payment tools.

Hamilton’s USDh is a dollar-pegged stablecoin backed by USD-denominated government bonds that embeds the returns generated from those bonds into a digital dollar. This means that users can hold a dollar asset that preserves value while also earning yield.

“For millions of people in Africa, access to stable dollars and reliable savings tools remains limited,” said Mo Kasstawi, co-founder and chief executive officer of Hamilton. “We believe programmable dollars like USDh can expand access to global financial infrastructure and help people protect and grow their savings regardless of where they live.”

This investment also marks AXIAN’s second bet on stablecoin infrastructure, reinforcing its view that digital assets will play a central role in the next phase of financial services across the continent.”

For Axian Investment, we are convinced about the stablecoin value added in the African landscape as it is a reliable means to keep financial inclusion and help people to thrive personally or throughout their businesses,” said Benjamin Toulouze, Head of Corporate Venture Capital, AXIAN Investment. “As Axian Group is a key player in the mobile money operations, stablecoin fits perfectly to widen the offer of our current operations and even go beyond by anticipating the next phase.”

With Hamilton, users can access USDh through exchanges, fintech apps, over-the-counter (OTC) desks, or DeFi platforms (blockchain-based financial systems). They can also redeem the stablecoin for dollars through the same channels, using a single Application Programming Interface (API) layer.

These fintech integrations are central to Hamilton’s distribution strategy, as partners can use the API to enable features such as dollar wallets, cross-border transfers, and yield-bearing balances without building that infrastructure themselves.

While Hamilton did not disclose specific partners, it said it would work with fintechs, wallets, exchanges, and infrastructure providers that already serve users with a strong demand for dollar-based financial services.

Hamilton is entering a space that includes traditional stablecoins like USDT and USDC, newer yield-bearing tokens, and tokenised treasury products. The company noted that its differentiation was in combining yield with fintech-ready infrastructure focused on making the token usable within financial products.

“Our approach is different. We’re building infrastructure for fintechs, combining yield, compliance, and distribution so they can offer dollar accounts, payments, and treasury products in their own markets,” Kasstawi said. “The gap isn’t just yield, it’s infrastructure that fintechs can actually use at scale.”

Beyond Africa, the company is already looking at other emerging markets with similar dynamics of limited access to reliable dollar savings, inefficient cross-border payments, and fragmented financial infrastructure. Hamilton intends to expand to new markets by leveraging partnerships to integrate into existing financial distribution channels.

“Africa is our starting point, but the problem we’re solving is global,” Kasstawi said. “We see strong demand in regions like the Middle East, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. The goal is to build a global dollar network, starting in markets where the need is most immediate.”