Tulupay, a fintech infrastructure company with operations spanning Estonia, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda and other markets, has announced the pre-launch of its Financial Operating System (FOS).
The FOS is a unified platform designed to bridge traditional finance and blockchain-based systems across Africa.
The company describes the initiative as a foundational infrastructure layer for the continent’s next-generation financial ecosystem, integrating banking systems, mobile money operators, digital wallets, stablecoins, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and blockchain networks into a single interoperable API framework.
A Push to Solve Africa’s Fragmented Financial Systems
At the heart of Tulupay’s proposition is an attempt to address long-standing inefficiencies in Africa’s financial infrastructure, particularly fragmented payment rails, high remittance costs and limited interoperability between financial systems.
Felix Achibiri, Founder of Tulupay, said the continent’s financial ecosystem requires a unifying infrastructure layer capable of connecting disparate systems.
“Africa still struggles with fragmented payment rails, high remittance costs, and the absence of a single infrastructure that connects banks, mobile money, and blockchain networks,” he said.
“As cross-border transfers remain slow and expensive, and as more African central banks move toward CBDCs, the need for a unifying, interoperable operating system has never been more urgent.”
He added that Tulupay is designed to serve as a bridge between traditional and digital finance, enabling what he described as a “borderless financial system” that supports seamless movement of money, identity and assets across jurisdictions.
Building for Africa’s $3.4 Trillion Trade Potential
According to the company, the Financial Operating System is being developed to support payments, remittances, trading, capital raising and investment activities across individuals, businesses and institutions.
Achibiri said the long-term ambition extends beyond payments infrastructure.
Lavina Ramkissoon, Executive Vice-President of Tulupay, said the platform is being designed as the underlying infrastructure for future financial services across the continent.
“We’re building the infrastructure that Africa’s future financial services will run on,” Ramkissoon added
Core Components of the Financial Operating System
Tulupay’s Financial Operating System is structured around several interconnected modules aimed at enabling interoperability, compliance and cross-border functionality.
The Tulu Compliance and Tulu Identity system is designed as a modular KYC and AML infrastructure built on W3C Verifiable Credentials and Decentralised Identifiers (DIDs), supported by Hedera Hashgraph’s consensus mechanism.
The system uses zero-knowledge proofs to allow users to verify identity without exposing sensitive data, while providing institutions with real-time verification capabilities.
Tulupay claims the system could reduce fraud by up to 90 per cent and cut onboarding costs by 70 per cent, with verification times of under two seconds for credentials ranging from government IDs to employment records.
The company is working with The Hashgraph Group (THG), a Swiss-based Web3 and AI technology firm operating within the Hedera ecosystem, to strengthen its compliance and trust architecture.
Understanding the Payment Interoperability Infrastructure
The Tulu Switch serves as a central payment orchestration and settlement layer, connecting banks, mobile money operators, digital wallets, blockchain networks, stablecoins and CBDC platforms through a unified API.
Regulatory bodies are integrated via a permissioned compliance framework, allowing developers to process payments across systems with automated foreign exchange conversion and real-time settlement.
The Tulu Gateway is designed to streamline cross-border trade by combining document tokenisation with smart contracts under a mutual recognition framework between African states.
It digitises trade documents such as invoices and letters of credit, enabling automated financing, customs clearance and settlement using regulated stablecoins, with fiat conversion at final settlement.
The Tulu Wallet and Tulu Purse provide a dual-layer custody system covering both digital and traditional assets.
While the Tulu Wallet supports cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and tokenised assets, the Tulu Purse manages fiat currencies, mobile money balances, CBDCs and loyalty points.
Together, they enable real-time asset movement and conversion across financial systems within a single interface.
Industry and Regulatory Alignment
The announcement also coincides with Tulupay’s inclusion in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Nigeria’s FinTech Incubation Programme, where the company is pursuing regulatory approval for digital asset custody, tokenisation and exchange services.
Tulupay said it is currently working with financial institutions, regulators, merchants, developers and development partners through pre-launch pilot programmes aimed at refining its infrastructure before wider rollout.
As Africa accelerates towards digital financial integration, platforms such as Tulupay are positioning themselves at the centre of a broader shift towards interoperable financial systems that bridge traditional banking and decentralised technologies.
If executed effectively, Tulupay’s model could mark a major step towards a more connected and interoperable African financial ecosystem.
Talking Points
It is significant that Tulupay is attempting to build what it describes as Africa’s first Financial Operating System, a unified infrastructure layer designed to connect banking, mobile money, and blockchain systems that have historically operated in silos.
This ambition directly speaks to one of the continent’s most persistent financial challenges: fragmentation. Cross-border payments remain expensive and slow, while interoperability between traditional and digital finance systems is still limited.
At Techparley, we see Tulupay’s approach as part of a broader shift towards infrastructure-led fintech innovation, where the focus is no longer just on consumer apps but on the underlying rails that power entire financial ecosystems.
The idea of a single API layer connecting fiat, stablecoins, CBDCs, and blockchain networks could significantly reduce friction for businesses operating across multiple African markets.
As Tulupay moves from pre-launch into pilot phases, strategic partnerships with regulators, banks, and development institutions will be critical in shaping credibility and early traction.
If successfully executed, Tulupay’s Financial Operating System could play a defining role in unlocking more seamless trade under the AfCFTA framework and advancing Africa’s long-term digital financial integration.
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