Somewhere in Nairobi, someone just paid for a cab ride with Bitcoin. Not in the “sold BTC on an exchange, withdrew to a bank account, then transferred funds” kind of way. The actual, tap-your-phone-and-go kind of way. And the driver received Kenyan shillings instantly without ever touching a crypto wallet.
That’s the promise of Tando, a Kenyan payments app founded by Jason and Sabina Waithira that has quietly built a bridge between Bitcoin’s Lightning Network and M-Pesa, Kenya’s dominant mobile money system.
How Tando actually works
A customer pays in Bitcoin over the Lightning Network. Tando converts it to Kenyan shillings instantly. The merchant receives KES directly into their M-Pesa account. No crypto wallet required on the merchant’s end, no volatility risk, no waiting around for block confirmations.
The app launched in July 2024 and was already processing over 100 transactions daily by mid-2025. Users pay no additional transaction fees, which removes one of the biggest friction points that has historically plagued crypto payments.
