Syncing Cleva's USD, card and stablecoin ledgers into your own systems

A single Cleva account can hold a US-dollar balance funded by ACH and wire, a Naira balance, a virtual USD card, and a USDT or USDC wallet — four rails under one login PIN. That mix is exactly what payroll, treasury and accounting teams want pulled into their own books, and it is the reason this brief exists. The app's store listing describes more than 700,000 users; the data they generate sits server-side, not on the phone.

Account surfaces an integrator can reach

Each row below is a real surface the app exposes to its own logged-in user. The granularity column is what we have seen the client return, confirmed during the build rather than assumed.

Getting to Cleva's data, and the path we run

Three routes genuinely apply here. We name the one we would actually build first.

1 — Authorized interface and protocol analysis (the spine)

We observe and document the authenticated calls the Cleva mobile and web client makes on a consenting account: the PIN session, the optional 2FA step, then the reads for balances, statements, card activity and transfers. This reaches every domain in the table above, holds up well because it follows the same path the app uses, and is the route we recommend leading with. Access is set up with you during onboarding against a consenting account — we handle that step, you do not pre-clear it.

2 — User-consented credential access

For a deployment that runs continuously, the integration operates under the explicit consent of the account holder, with credentials supplied and revocable by them. Same reach as route 1; the difference is that consent and key custody are formalized so an unattended sync is auditable. We design the consent capture and the revocation path as part of the deliverable.

3 — Native statement export (reconciliation fallback)

Cleva produces downloadable account statements that users pull for visa and verification purposes. As a fallback or a cross-check, we parse those exports into the same schema as the live reads. Lower effort, coarser timing, useful for period reconciliation rather than real-time sync.

Recommendation, in plain terms: build on route 1, formalize it as route 2 for anything that runs unattended, and keep route 3 wired in as an independent check on the numbers. We say which calls map to which route in the handover doc.

The package you receive

Everything below is scoped to Cleva's actual surfaces, not a generic kit:

• An OpenAPI specification covering the balance, statement, card, transfer and stablecoin-receipt reads as they behave on a live account.
• A protocol and auth-flow report: the PIN session, the TOTP 2FA step, token lifetime and refresh, and how a pre-KYC account differs from a verified one.
• Runnable source for the key endpoints in Python and Node.js — authenticate, list transactions, fetch a USD statement, read card and stablecoin activity.
• Automated tests against recorded responses so a Cleva app update that shifts a field is caught before it reaches your data.
• Interface documentation that ties each call to the data domain it serves.
• Compliance and data-retention notes written for the NDPA and the CBN consent posture, including what not to store.

A worked example: pulling a USD statement

Illustrative shape of the authenticated flow, confirmed against a consenting account during the build. Field names are normalized in delivery; this shows the sequence and the error a 2FA-enabled account returns.

POST /auth/session
  { "phone": "+234...", "pin": "******" }
-> 200 { "session": "ey...", "twofa_required": true }

POST /auth/2fa            # only when the holder enabled TOTP
  { "session": "ey...", "totp": "418205" }
-> 200 { "access_token": "ey...", "expires_in": 900 }

GET /accounts/usd/statement?from=2026-04-01&to=2026-04-30
  Authorization: Bearer ey...
-> 200 {
     "account_ref": "USD-****8821",
     "currency": "USD",
     "balance": 4120.55,
     "entries": [
       { "type": "ach_credit", "amount": 1500.00,
         "counterparty": "ACME LLC", "posted_at": "2026-04-09T14:22Z" },
       { "type": "card_spend",  "amount": -12.99,
         "merchant": "Subscription", "posted_at": "2026-04-11T08:03Z" }
     ]
   }

# Missing/expired 2fa -> 401 { "error": "twofa_required" }
# Account not yet KYC-verified -> 409 { "error": "account_unprovisioned" }

Our client retries the 2FA step, refreshes the short-lived token before expiry, and reports account_unprovisioned as a clean state rather than a crash.

Where teams plug Cleva in

• A freelancer-services platform reconciling Upwork-style USD payouts landing in clients' Cleva accounts against its own invoices.
• An accounting tool that needs card spend and USD credits as ledger lines without manual statement uploads.
• A treasury dashboard tracking USDT/USDC inflows and the conversion legs that move them into spendable USD.
• A remittance analytics build measuring effective FX and delivery time per corridor across Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda.

Authorization, FinCEN, the CBN and the NDPA

Per its own public statement, Cleva is registered with FinCEN as a US Money Service Business and licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria as an International Money Transfer Operator; its funds are processed by US banking partners that are not publicly named and are not asserted here. Personal data of Nigerian users falls under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, effective June 2023 and supervised by the NDPC, which treats fintechs handling large user volumes as data controllers of major importance. The CBN's Operational Guidelines for Open Banking in Nigeria, issued March 2023, set the posture we work to: customer consent is the sole basis for sharing account information, and OAuth 2.0 with OpenID Connect is the minimum authentication standard. We build accordingly — consent recorded and revocable, access logged, identity fields minimized, and an NDA in place where the engagement needs one. We do not retain BVN or document images; verification state is enough downstream.

What we account for building against Cleva

Specifics that shape the build, all handled on our side:

• Cleva keeps a login PIN as the first factor and an optional TOTP code from Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator or 1Password. We design the session handler to carry both, and coordinate enrolment with the account holder so a 2FA-enabled account does not silently stop syncing.
• The USD account only exists after BVN, government-ID and liveness-selfie KYC completes. We model the pre-KYC and verified states explicitly so the integration reports an unprovisioned account cleanly instead of erroring.
• One user spans a USD balance, a Naira balance, a card balance and a stablecoin wallet. We normalize them into a single tagged ledger so a conversion between two of them is not double-counted.
• Cleva ships a mobile app and a web app on a shared backend; the store listing's stated minimum supported version moves over time. We map the more stable surface and schedule a re-check whenever a new build lands, so a field rename surfaces in tests, not in your data.

Working with us, and what it costs

You give us the Cleva app and what you need out of it; we work out the route, build it, and hand it over. Two ways to pay, and you pick after seeing how the work runs. Source-code delivery starts at $300: you receive the runnable code, the spec, the tests and the docs, and you pay once it is delivered and you are satisfied. Or use it as a hosted API and pay per call, with no upfront fee. Either way the cycle is one to two weeks, and the consenting account, any sandbox and the compliance paperwork are arranged with you during onboarding rather than asked of you first.

Screens we mapped

App screens reviewed while tracing the surfaces above. Open any to enlarge.

Sources, and when we checked

Surfaces were traced and the regulatory frame confirmed in May 2026 against the app's onboarding and help material, Cleva's own public statements on its licensing, and the primary regulator documents. Cited deep links:

• Cleva's public statement on FinCEN MSB registration and CBN IMTO licensing
• Cleva Help Center — KYC verification (BVN, ID, liveness selfie)
• CBN — Operational Guidelines for Open Banking in Nigeria (2023)
• NDPC — Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023

Mapped by the OpenBanking Studio integration desk · May 2026.

Other apps in the diaspora-payments space

Same category, named for keyword reach and because a unified integration usually spans several of them — no ranking implied.

• Grey — multi-currency USD, GBP and EUR accounts with virtual cards and invoicing; similar receivables data.
• LemFi — diaspora-focused multicurrency wallet and African-corridor transfers; overlapping payout records.
• Raenest (formerly Geegpay) — dedicated USD, GBP and EUR accounts aimed at freelancers; comparable inflow ledgers.
• Juicyway — cross-border payments and stablecoin rails between Africa and global markets.
• Monieworld — diaspora remittance and money management for African users abroad.
• Afriex — instant Africa-to-diaspora transfers with stablecoin settlement under the hood.
• Chipper Cash — pan-African wallet covering transfers, cards and US-stock access.
• Leatherback — multi-currency accounts and cross-border payments across several regions.

Questions integrators ask about Cleva

Can you pull data from a Cleva account that has 2FA switched on?

Yes. Cleva keeps a login PIN as the first factor and lets the holder add a TOTP code from Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator or 1Password. The session handler we build carries the PIN and a one-time code step, and we coordinate enrolment with the account holder during onboarding so a 2FA-enabled account keeps syncing.

Does the USD account expose ACH and wire details we can reconcile against?

A verified Cleva user gets a dedicated USD account that receives ACH and wire deposits, and the app produces downloadable statements used for visa and verification purposes. We map the account identifiers, the credit entries and the statement export so incoming USD can be matched line by line.

How do you handle the USDT/USDC wallet alongside the USD and Naira balances?

A single user can hold a USD balance, a Naira balance, a virtual-card balance and a stablecoin wallet that receives USDT or USDC. We normalize all of them into one ledger schema with a currency or asset tag per entry so a conversion is not counted twice in downstream reconciliation.

Which regulator and data law govern a Cleva integration?

Per Cleva's own public statement it is registered with FinCEN as a US Money Service Business and licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria as an International Money Transfer Operator. Personal data of Nigerian users falls under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, supervised by the NDPC, and the CBN open banking guidelines set the consent-first posture we work to.

We only have the Cleva app and a requirement to receive USD-account data — is that enough to start?

That is enough. Give us the app and the data you need out of it; the consenting account, any sandbox and the compliance paperwork are arranged with you as part of the engagement, not asked of you up front.