A day after Coinbase announced its groundbreaking partnership with Shopify which basically brings frictionless stablecoin payment option to merchants globally, I had a chat with David Machuche, who is building stablecoin solution for merchants and freelancers in Africa. Machuche wants to fix a payment headache he experiences as a freelancer himself.

"I realize is a lot of merchants and freelancers don't get paid out here," he explains. "I do some freelance work with guys in America, but I can't get paid. PayPal is not feasible because it does not work here in Tanzania."

So he's building Neda Pay to provide a solution to folks like him, but in even simpler format: simply generate a payment link and send to your customer or client, and they can pay via stablecoin from anywhere and at anytime. Neda Pay clearly impressed the judges at the just concluded Base Batches where it won the stablecoin category in Africa.

In this chat, which has been refined for clarity, we spoke about Neda Pay, Base Batches, IncuBase and his local stablecoin project.

Did you follow the Coinbase State of Crypto yesterday? All the announcements around stablecoins supercharging commerce globally.

I thought it was really interesting that the projects that came on top from Base Batches in Africa are pretty similar to the same ones that Coinbase has been rolling out, as part of the announcements. For me, I see it as how we actually get that global distribution because if Shopify now accepting USDC, that makes it easier for other merchants in the not-too-distant future to start accepting even other local stablecoins. Let's say Amazon and the likes of Alibaba. That enables a whole new field where they can even on-ramp, off-ramp, send to different ecosystems — that's a game changer. So, for projects here in Africa, like Neda Pay, it unlocks a whole new wave of opportunities. Businesses easily conducting trade and seamless interactions and transactions in a matter of seconds, rather than days.

Now to NedaPay, what were the problems you saw that prompted building NedaPay?

Great question. I realized that cross-border payment takes days. The existing rails are there, you can send money across borders, but it takes days. The other issue I realize is a lot of merchants and freelancers don't get paid out here. I do some freelance work with guys in America, but I can't get paid. PayPal is not feasible because it does not work here in Tanzania.

So what are the ways to get paid?

Imagine if you can generate a payment link in 60 seconds and send it to them, and they don't have to worry about copying their wallet address. Just press pay. I started thinking about that kind of mechanism, how can we now simplify this process? How can we make it easier for merchants with cross-border trade and freelancers with payment issues? And me being one of the guys who face this issue firsthand, we started building this and saying how can we leverage other local stablecoins because if I am facing this issue in Tanzania, I am sure guys in Nigeria are facing the same.

Explain how the payment link feature works?

We've tried as much as possible to simplify the UX experience for the user. This starts with even signing up, you don't need to have a Web3 wallet; we've integrated Privy. You can just use a social login such as Gmail or Twitter or Farcaster. Then you're in.

Immediately, you'll see options to generate payment links, generate an invoice, swap, as well as withdraw to fiat. Once you press generate link, you're going to say, "hey, I'm requesting, let's say, 50 USDC for developer's work". You put the description there. You put the amount, select the token, and generate the payment link. And in less than a second, the payment link is going to be generated.

Once the link is generated, you have options to either copy it and share it via WhatsApp, iMessages, email, Farcaster, etc. That's how you basically generate a payment link in less than 60 seconds. It simplifies the invoice-payment process because you literally just send the link to whoever you want to get paid by, and they click pay by wallet.

And once they pay, you receive an instant notification on your dashboard. They'll also receive a notification instantly, your payment to Daniel for 50 USDC has been completed.

Neda Pay won at the recently concluded Base Batches program. How did that make you feel? Stablecoin is like the current meta right now and you are the winner in that category!

First of all, I was shocked, bro. I'm not gonna lie. I was really shocked because we've been trying to build a local stablecoin for a while and in my head, it made total sense, but the fact that it also made total sense to the judges, that was crazy! Because I was seeing some incredible projects in the Base Batches as well. That we came number one was insane, man, like, honestly. But again, we've been grinding for a while.

What was the program like? For someone who actually participated, what was the Base Batches like?

First, I got a chance to see so many incredible projects from all over Africa. Then at the event, you get a chance to meet so many people out here. I even met my teammate who actually helped us win. That happened because we had physical events.

Another thing I realized, man, you got to build in public. You got to be out there. You got to talk about what you're building. You just got to push. And that's something that Base also really encourages.

Another thing Base encourages is the use of AI. Of course, you need to know what you're doing, but the use of AI tools comes in handy. And that also aligns with what I do as well, and what I'm building. I believe in shipping faster. And for me, it was a challenge to ship something of quality, that pretty much works, in less than a month. You can easily sign up seamlessly. They can generate a payment link. They can get paid. They can swap, right? Can they off-ramp? Can you do all these functionalities and they work? Because, honestly, the initial UI was kind of whack. So, for me, it's just been like the whole experience, the grind, the building in public, meeting people.

I think it creates a whole new energy and a whole new vibe out there because they say Base is for everyone, and I'm based in Tanzania, and there aren't really too many builders out here. But me coming number one in the stablecoin category, imagine the ripple effect that could have in other regions as well, where they'll be like, "hey, these guys from Tanzania actually won. I'm based in Namibia. I'm based in Cameroon. I'm based in Togo. I'm based in Algeria. Let me start building as well and actually win."

Something I really like about Base Batches is the fact that it's not just a hackathon that you do and go. They actually want to incubate builders and take it all the way. What are you learning from IncuBase so far?

I would encourage everyone to get into IncuBase if they actually extend it because the value that I've got so far is incredible. Branding, for instance, messaging, pitching, etc. How are you going to onboard Web3 users, and then non-Web3 users, the mom-and-pop shops, how are you gonna onboard those people onchain?

IncuBase started to make me think that way. You start thinking of the onboarding aspect, the business aspect: how you're going to get your first initial 100 users.

Another core thing: Jesse was talking about founder-led marketing the other day. There's nothing better than founder-led marketing, bro. People associate with you and your brand. People associate Jesse with Base, for instance. So, it's the same way people would associate Machuche with Neda Pay, right? It's your brand. So, it's how you put yourself out there, push content and engage with people.

I [believe] if you [already] have a solid MVP, by the end of IncuBase, you're actually getting your first users. Like, real-time users. Projects go from a hackathon to [death]. Some of them might take a while [before] they get their users because they don't have their refined go-to-market strategy or marketing. But now you have IncuBase, where you learn how to refine it. Personally, I believe we're definitely on track to get our first 100 users by the end of IncuBase.

Yo, that's super cool, man. And I agree with the point that a lot of times when people finish hackathons, they just are left behind with nothing. But Base wants to nurture founders, taking developers to builders, from builders to founders, which is what it should be. I'm going to round up with something I think that is really cool that you're building at Neda Pay, which is Tanzania's stablecoin. First of all, why a local stablecoin and how you guys also like going around building it?

So, transaction fees in Tanzania are insane. Like, you pay about 20%. I think it's the same for all of Africa, but I think it's kind of crazy in Tanzania. And in a kind of country where like I wouldn't say laissez-faire but if you say this is the rate today, people are going to go with it. The other day, I was checking out an article, and I think, if you wanted to send $200 back to Tanzania, you're paying $120 in fees. I'm like, that's crazy, that's insane!

Fortunately, the Central Bank here has been very supportive, progressive, saying, hey, let's really reduce these transaction fees.

So, how do we start reducing these fees?

Now, imagine if you can have a local stablecoin that's pegged one for one with [Tanzanian Shilling]. Even in terms of onboarding the government and the Central Bank, they can easily understand that we're not printing more money, because it's fiat-backed. It's backed by fiat money, like, government bonds, T-bills, and cash equivalents that you can actually see at our partner bank or reserve holder. You can check everything. You can have independent audit reports every month.

A day after Coinbase announced its groundbreaking partnership with Shopify which basically brings frictionless stablecoin payment option to merchants globally, I had a chat with David Machuche, who is building stablecoin solution for merchants and freelancers in Africa. Machuche wants to fix a payment headache he experiences as a freelancer himself.

"I realize is a lot of merchants and freelancers don't get paid out here," he explains. "I do some freelance work with guys in America, but I can't get paid. PayPal is not feasible because it does not work here in Tanzania."

So he's building Neda Pay to provide a solution to folks like him, but in even simpler format: simply generate a payment link and send to your customer or client, and they can pay via stablecoin from anywhere and at anytime. Neda Pay clearly impressed the judges at the just concluded Base Batches where it won the stablecoin category in Africa.

In this chat, which has been refined for clarity, we spoke about Neda Pay, Base Batches, IncuBase and his local stablecoin project.

Did you follow the Coinbase State of Crypto yesterday? All the announcements around stablecoins supercharging commerce globally.

I thought it was really interesting that the projects that came on top from Base Batches in Africa are pretty similar to the same ones that Coinbase has been rolling out, as part of the announcements. For me, I see it as how we actually get that global distribution because if Shopify now accepting USDC, that makes it easier for other merchants in the not-too-distant future to start accepting even other local stablecoins. Let's say Amazon and the likes of Alibaba. That enables a whole new field where they can even on-ramp, off-ramp, send to different ecosystems — that's a game changer. So, for projects here in Africa, like Neda Pay, it unlocks a whole new wave of opportunities. Businesses easily conducting trade and seamless interactions and transactions in a matter of seconds, rather than days.

Now to NedaPay, what were the problems you saw that prompted building NedaPay?

Great question. I realized that cross-border payment takes days. The existing rails are there, you can send money across borders, but it takes days. The other issue I realize is a lot of merchants and freelancers don't get paid out here. I do some freelance work with guys in America, but I can't get paid. PayPal is not feasible because it does not work here in Tanzania.

So what are the ways to get paid?

Imagine if you can generate a payment link in 60 seconds and send it to them, and they don't have to worry about copying their wallet address. Just press pay. I started thinking about that kind of mechanism, how can we now simplify this process? How can we make it easier for merchants with cross-border trade and freelancers with payment issues? And me being one of the guys who face this issue firsthand, we started building this and saying how can we leverage other local stablecoins because if I am facing this issue in Tanzania, I am sure guys in Nigeria are facing the same.

Explain how the payment link feature works?

We've tried as much as possible to simplify the UX experience for the user. This starts with even signing up, you don't need to have a Web3 wallet; we've integrated Privy. You can just use a social login such as Gmail or Twitter or Farcaster. Then you're in.

Immediately, you'll see options to generate payment links, generate an invoice, swap, as well as withdraw to fiat. Once you press generate link, you're going to say, "hey, I'm requesting, let's say, 50 USDC for developer's work". You put the description there. You put the amount, select the token, and generate the payment link. And in less than a second, the payment link is going to be generated.

Once the link is generated, you have options to either copy it and share it via WhatsApp, iMessages, email, Farcaster, etc. That's how you basically generate a payment link in less than 60 seconds. It simplifies the invoice-payment process because you literally just send the link to whoever you want to get paid by, and they click pay by wallet.

And once they pay, you receive an instant notification on your dashboard. They'll also receive a notification instantly, your payment to Daniel for 50 USDC has been completed.

Neda Pay won at the recently concluded Base Batches program. How did that make you feel? Stablecoin is like the current meta right now and you are the winner in that category!

First of all, I was shocked, bro. I'm not gonna lie. I was really shocked because we've been trying to build a local stablecoin for a while and in my head, it made total sense, but the fact that it also made total sense to the judges, that was crazy! Because I was seeing some incredible projects in the Base Batches as well. That we came number one was insane, man, like, honestly. But again, we've been grinding for a while.

What was the program like? For someone who actually participated, what was the Base Batches like?

First, I got a chance to see so many incredible projects from all over Africa. Then at the event, you get a chance to meet so many people out here. I even met my teammate who actually helped us win. That happened because we had physical events.

Another thing I realized, man, you got to build in public. You got to be out there. You got to talk about what you're building. You just got to push. And that's something that Base also really encourages.

Another thing Base encourages is the use of AI. Of course, you need to know what you're doing, but the use of AI tools comes in handy. And that also aligns with what I do as well, and what I'm building. I believe in shipping faster. And for me, it was a challenge to ship something of quality, that pretty much works, in less than a month. You can easily sign up seamlessly. They can generate a payment link. They can get paid. They can swap, right? Can they off-ramp? Can you do all these functionalities and they work? Because, honestly, the initial UI was kind of whack. So, for me, it's just been like the whole experience, the grind, the building in public, meeting people.

I think it creates a whole new energy and a whole new vibe out there because they say Base is for everyone, and I'm based in Tanzania, and there aren't really too many builders out here. But me coming number one in the stablecoin category, imagine the ripple effect that could have in other regions as well, where they'll be like, "hey, these guys from Tanzania actually won. I'm based in Namibia. I'm based in Cameroon. I'm based in Togo. I'm based in Algeria. Let me start building as well and actually win."

Something I really like about Base Batches is the fact that it's not just a hackathon that you do and go. They actually want to incubate builders and take it all the way. What are you learning from IncuBase so far?

I would encourage everyone to get into IncuBase if they actually extend it because the value that I've got so far is incredible. Branding, for instance, messaging, pitching, etc. How are you going to onboard Web3 users, and then non-Web3 users, the mom-and-pop shops, how are you gonna onboard those people onchain?

IncuBase started to make me think that way. You start thinking of the onboarding aspect, the business aspect: how you're going to get your first initial 100 users.

Another core thing: Jesse was talking about founder-led marketing the other day. There's nothing better than founder-led marketing, bro. People associate with you and your brand. People associate Jesse with Base, for instance. So, it's the same way people would associate Machuche with Neda Pay, right? It's your brand. So, it's how you put yourself out there, push content and engage with people.

I [believe] if you [already] have a solid MVP, by the end of IncuBase, you're actually getting your first users. Like, real-time users. Projects go from a hackathon to [death]. Some of them might take a while [before] they get their users because they don't have their refined go-to-market strategy or marketing. But now you have IncuBase, where you learn how to refine it. Personally, I believe we're definitely on track to get our first 100 users by the end of IncuBase.

Yo, that's super cool, man. And I agree with the point that a lot of times when people finish hackathons, they just are left behind with nothing. But Base wants to nurture founders, taking developers to builders, from builders to founders, which is what it should be. I'm going to round up with something I think that is really cool that you're building at Neda Pay, which is Tanzania's stablecoin. First of all, why a local stablecoin and how you guys also like going around building it?

So, transaction fees in Tanzania are insane. Like, you pay about 20%. I think it's the same for all of Africa, but I think it's kind of crazy in Tanzania. And in a kind of country where like I wouldn't say laissez-faire but if you say this is the rate today, people are going to go with it. The other day, I was checking out an article, and I think, if you wanted to send $200 back to Tanzania, you're paying $120 in fees. I'm like, that's crazy, that's insane!

Fortunately, the Central Bank here has been very supportive, progressive, saying, hey, let's really reduce these transaction fees.

So, how do we start reducing these fees?

Now, imagine if you can have a local stablecoin that's pegged one for one with [Tanzanian Shilling]. Even in terms of onboarding the government and the Central Bank, they can easily understand that we're not printing more money, because it's fiat-backed. It's backed by fiat money, like, government bonds, T-bills, and cash equivalents that you can actually see at our partner bank or reserve holder. You can check everything. You can have independent audit reports every month.