An ElementPay alternative for your stablecoin payouts beyond Kenya
ElementPay's order API serves Kenya only. Beyond Kenya, an ElementPay alternative lets companies pay out or collect from their own USDT or USDC, with their own fee. For USSD or ramps to users' wallets, stay with ElementPay.
When to stay with ElementPay
You want sandbox keys before any call
On ElementPay you register on its console and create a sandbox API key yourself, and its quote endpoint shows the KES rate without a key. A Payments API integration starts with a call, and Unigox API keys follow KYB.
Your users keep tokens at their own EVM address
ElementPay delivers on-ramped tokens to the customer's address and spends off-ramp tokens from it after an ERC-20 approval, using USDC or USDT on Polygon, BNB Smart Chain or Scroll, USDC on Base or USDT on Lisk. The Payments API settles with your partner wallet instead.
Your customers pay from a basic phone
ElementPay builds USSD menus for a business, and a customer who dials one gets a stablecoin wallet with no app or internet. Payouts and collections on the Payments API run inside your own app.
ElementPay's off-ramp API next to the Unigox Payments API
| Topic | ElementPay | Unigox |
|---|---|---|
| Local currency | The order's currency field defaults to KES, and the docs say another currency will fail. The site lists Ghana, South Africa and Uganda among its markets. | Set per quote, from the currencies live on Unigox. |
| Where the stablecoins sit | At the EVM address named on the order, which the docs call the customer's: on-ramped tokens arrive there, and an off-ramp spends from it once that address has approved the ElementPay contract. | In your partner wallet, which funds payouts and receives collections. Your server signs each order's transfer into on-chain escrow, and a payout that stops is refunded. |
| Payout destinations | M-Pesa phone numbers, Buy Goods tills, PayBill numbers and Kenyan bank accounts chosen by bank code. | Bank and mobile money accounts: the verified customer's own or, on supported routes, a person or business the customer pays. A payment business connected to Unigox or a P2P merchant makes the payment, and a quote can be limited to payment businesses. |
| Collections | An M-Pesa STK push to the payer's phone; once it is paid, the tokens go to the EVM address on the order. | The customer pays by bank transfer or mobile money, and USDT or USDC is released into your partner wallet. |
| Pricing | The KES rate includes a markup, and a public quote returns that rate before any order. The Terms say fees are shown at the point of use, but no fee schedule is published, and the order has no field for a fee of your own. | One quote shows the rate, the Unigox fee, the fee you add on top and the total. Your fee is paid into the partner wallet once the order completes. |
| Regulation | Its Terms name no licence or registration. They apply Kenyan law to Kenyan users and say KYC documents may be required. | Unigox works through two companies: UNIGOX NETWORK CORP. in Canada handles the local-money side and is registered with FINTRAC as a money services business and with the Bank of Canada as a payment service provider; UNIGOX NETWORK CORP. in Panama handles the crypto side, including wallets and escrow. |
UnigoxMove ElementPay ramp orders to Unigox
Agree markets beyond Kenya
Tell the Unigox team where you pay out and collect, then send your company documents for KYB. Your ElementPay console keys do not carry over; Unigox issues its own once KYB is approved.
Swap the token approval for a quote and an order
An ElementPay off-ramp spends a customer's approved tokens. On Unigox you request a quote, place an order for a customer verified with Unigox and sign the transfer from your partner wallet, first on api-staging.unigox.com.
Top up USDT or USDC and go live
Fund the partner wallet with USDT or USDC, then switch production calls to api.unigox.com. USSD menus and ramps to your users' own addresses can stay on ElementPay.
Questions about leaving ElementPay
What does ElementPay do, and when does Unigox fit better?
ElementPay offers USDC invoicing, an off-ramp to M-Pesa, collections and USSD wallets from Nairobi. A company that holds its own USDT or USDC and pays or collects by bank or mobile money in KES or another currency live on Unigox, adding its own fee, can use the Unigox Payments API instead.
See the Payments APIIs there an ElementPay alternative outside Kenya?
ElementPay's docs say its order API takes KES only. The Unigox Payments API quotes payouts and collections in the currencies live on Unigox, funded from USDT or USDC in your partner wallet.
Who are ElementPay's competitors in Africa?
Bitnob and Kotani Pay both pay mobile money and bank accounts in Africa from stablecoins, and each has its own comparison with Unigox. Unigox quotes each currency live on Unigox from your USDT or USDC, with your own fee added.
Read the Bitnob comparisonCan a Kenyan app keep ElementPay and add Unigox?
Yes. USSD menus and ramps to your users' own addresses can stay on ElementPay. Payouts and collections funded from your company's USDT or USDC, in KES or another live currency, run through Unigox once your company passes KYB.
Tell us which ElementPay routes you run
Send the M-Pesa and bank payouts you run through ElementPay, the countries outside Kenya you want to pay into, and whether your company holds USDT or USDC. We reply with what the Payments API pays in each.
ElementPay and other names and logos are trademarks of their respective owners. Unigox is not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by them. Information about other companies comes from public sources, mainly the companies' own websites, and each company can change its products and fees at any time.