HesabPay handles 30% of Afghanistan’s electricity bills on Algorand

2026-07-08

chain-only · discovery · payments · stablecoin · humanitarian · afghanistan · algorand · updated

A Financial Bridge in a Cash-Dominated Economy

Afghanistan’s financial landscape is defined by exclusion: 97% of the population lives below the poverty line, 80% lack access to traditional banking, and daily transactions rely almost entirely on physical cash. In this environment, HesabPay has emerged as a critical digital payments infrastructure, enabling utility bill payments, person-to-person transfers, mobile top-ups, and merchant transactions. Founded in 2016 by Afghan-American entrepreneur Sanzar Kakar in Kabul, the platform has evolved into Afghanistan’s leading digital wallet, accessible via iOS, Android, web, and USSD (*580#) for feature phone users, with a prepaid card option and point-of-sale capabilities for merchants.

The platform’s role became particularly vital after the 2021 regime change, when humanitarian aid distribution faced severe logistical challenges. HesabPay’s interoperable design connects financial institutions and payment networks, allowing over a dozen humanitarian organizations to send funds directly to beneficiaries across all 400 districts and 34 provinces. Recipients can access aid through the app, SMS-based phones, or QR code cards, ensuring inclusion for those without smartphones.

Scale and Impact on Algorand

HesabPay migrated its payment processing to the Algorand blockchain in 2022, leveraging the network’s low-cost, high-throughput infrastructure. Since then, the platform has processed over 3.5 million transactions on Algorand, serving nearly 4,000 daily users and 1,700 active merchants. Monthly, it handles 170,000 electricity bill payments totaling $4 million—a figure that represents 30% of Afghanistan’s total electricity bill payments, according to an Algorand case study. In 2025, over a million Afghans received humanitarian payments via HesabPay, demonstrating its dual role in both everyday commerce and aid distribution.

The platform’s technical foundation is Algorand’s Pure Proof-of-Stake (PPoS) consensus mechanism, which ensures near-instant finality (transactions settle in ~4 seconds) and sub-cent fees. These attributes are critical in a cash-based economy where traditional financial channels are often unreliable or inaccessible. Sanzar Kakar, HesabPay’s founder, emphasized the network’s reliability: "Transaction fees on Algorand are very low and consistent. Settlement is extremely fast, and the network is never down, making it the perfect solution for our needs."

The HAFN Stablecoin: A Closed-Loop Financial Rail

At the heart of HesabPay’s ecosystem is the Hesab Afghani (HAFN), an Algorand Standard Asset (ASA) stablecoin with over 78,000 on-chain holders. ASAs are Algorand’s native token standard, enabling the creation of custom digital assets without smart contracts. This design ensures that HAFN transactions benefit from Algorand’s base-layer efficiency, avoiding the latency and cost overhead associated with smart contract execution on other networks.

In 2024, HAFN transactions approached $10 billion, with a market capitalization exceeding $122 million. The stablecoin’s total supply is 1.845 quadrillion HAFN (184,467,440,737,095,516,150 raw units with 2 decimals), of which 15.1 billion HAFN are in circulation. HAFN operates as a closed-loop financial rail within HesabPay’s platform, facilitating seamless value transfer for payments, aid distribution, and merchant settlements.

Humanitarian and Regulatory Footing

HesabPay operates with an official financial license from Da Afghanistan Bank, the country’s central bank, and collaborates with Afghanistan Payments Systems (APS). This regulatory standing has positioned it as one of the few stable financial services in a region where most international payment providers have withdrawn. The platform’s reliability has made it a preferred partner for humanitarian organizations, eliminating paper-based processes, avoiding duplicate payments, and reducing distribution costs.

The platform’s impact extends beyond Afghanistan. In partnership with Mercy Corps, HesabPay expanded to Syria, where a pilot program delivered $30,000 in USDC to over 400 people for agricultural inputs. The pilot demonstrated the efficiency of blockchain-based aid distribution, achieving 96% faster and 60% cheaper delivery compared to traditional methods. Programs for Sudan and Haiti are currently in development, according to Phemex.

Why the Technology Matters

HesabPay’s deployment highlights the practical advantages of Algorand’s layer-1 infrastructure in high-friction environments. The network’s PPoS consensus ensures that transaction costs remain predictable and negligible, while its finality guarantees that payments are irrevocably settled within seconds. These attributes are particularly valuable in regions where financial infrastructure is fragile or nonexistent, as they eliminate the need for intermediaries and reduce the risk of fraud or delays.

The use of ASAs for HAFN further simplifies the technical stack, allowing HesabPay to issue and manage a stablecoin without relying on smart contracts. This reduces complexity and potential attack surfaces, a critical consideration for a platform serving millions in a high-stakes environment. For humanitarian organizations, the platform’s interoperability and transparency provide a verifiable audit trail, ensuring that funds reach intended recipients without leakage.

Operational Accessibility

HesabPay’s design prioritizes accessibility, catering to users across the technological spectrum. The platform’s availability via USSD (*580#) ensures that even feature phone users—who constitute a significant portion of Afghanistan’s population—can access digital payments. This inclusivity is reinforced by the platform’s support for QR code cards, which allow recipients to withdraw funds without requiring a smartphone or internet connection.

Source

• HesabPay
• Algorand Case Study: HesabPay
• Algorand Case Study: Humanitarian Aid
• Coinedition: Algorand Powers 30% of Electricity Bills
• HAFN on Pera Explorer
• Mercy Corps Ventures: Syria Pilot
• Phemex: HesabPay’s Global Reach
• Pilot Launch | HesabPay - Boosting financial access: Stablecoin aid payments to strengthen agricultural livelihoods in N
• Hesab Afghani (849191641) | Pera Algorand Explorer

Source: editorial://brief/5173fc94-dc3c-4e84-a3f6-58da21471341